Ostend Belgium Sailmaker’s Illustrated Polychrome Trade Card.
An exceptionally busy and handsome gilt and cream card for Michel Pieters of Ostend, Sail-maker. Printed by Daveluy in Bruges.
Clay-coated-stock polychrome card. 5.5”x4”. Minor soil, light wear. Removed from an album with some paper residue on the back. $275
Vintage Lancaster Pennsylvania Dentist Trade Card-
Dr. J.B. McCaskey of Lancaster, Pennsylvania was putting his money where your mouth was, so to speak- right up front on this dramatic if slightly unsettling trade card. The good doctor extracted teeth “absolutely without pain with gas; vitalized air, local injection method on gums”. Vitalized air sounds intriguing.
Card. 5.25”x4”. Minor soil, light wear, a few small dings on the sides. $35
A trade card for Prod. A. Lugano & Cie. of Havana, “Soins speciaux pour la vue - Opticiens”. The card notes that the firm was located in the Spanish section. The 1885 Exposition Internationale d'Anvers was held between May 2 and November 2 in Antwerp, during the 20th anniversary year of Leopold II’s ascension to the throne of Belgium. Spanning 54 acres and featuring displays from 25 countries, it drew 3.5 million visitors and cost 4 million Belgian francs.
3.5”x2”. Minor soil. $35
Announcing the first issue of our new catalog series, A Note from the Editors. We’ll be publishing these every month, with a selection of recent acquisitions, interesting or odd backstock, and other bits and pieces that we find along the way and want to share- this & that, flotsam & jetsam, pictures & poems, whatever amuses us. There are a lot of catalogs out there these days, a lot of stock, a lot of things screaming for your attention, and we hope to make it worthwhile to spend a bit of time with us each month because we give you something a bit different. Whether or not you find anything here to buy, we want you to have some fun along the way. -the editors.
Oh yes, and here’s the catalog-
http://www.joslinhall.com/Catalog417.pdf
We are pleased to announce a new catalog series, “Amusing Things of Little Consequence”. The first catalog in this series comprises a selection of letterheads, ranging in date from 1866 to the 1950s.
You may browse or download the catalog here.
1910 German Airship Dirigible Black Forest Folk Humorous Dialect Postcard
A humorous glimpse of “Folk Life in the Black Forest”, as the locals are bothered by a fleet of airships (they apparently have come to steal everyone's tri-corn hats).
Postcard. Minor wear, light soil. Unposted. $25
"Elephant Pipes and Inscribed Tablets in the Museum of Academy of Natural Sciences, Davenport, Iowa".
By Charles E. Putnam.
Davenport; Glass & Axtman, printers: 1886. 2nd, enlarged edition.
In the winter of 1877 amateur archeologist Rev. Jacob Gass made a series of incredible discoveries while excavating an ancient Indian burial mound on a farm in Davenport, Iowa. The relics in question eventually included several incised slate plaques, one apparently with a calendar and another with writing, and a pair of stone "elephant" pipes.
Controversy over their authenticity raged almost from the moment of their discovery, but the Davenport Academy, including a young scholar named J. Duncan Putnam, staunchly defended them. When young Putnam died at the age of 26 in 1881 his father, Charles E. Putnam, took up the cause. A wealthy lawyer, Putnam was one of the major funders of the Academy, though not one of its "inner" social set. Putnam published his first broadside in defense of the pipes and tablets in 1885, followed a year later by this, much expanded edition.
He was shouting into the wind. After a series of disparaging reports by, among others, the Smithsonian, Putnam swung into full gear and what followed soon began to resemble a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta. Critics within the Academy were "investigated" and expelled in a witchunt resembling the Red Scare of the 1950s; lawsuits for defamation swirled around like raindrops, and yet... and yet... many of the Academy members, though evidently not Charles Putnam, knew all along that the whole thing was a hoax.
They knew it because they did it.
As it later turned out, many members of the "inner" social circle within the Academy were jealous of Gass, an outsider who didn't speak very good English, and decided to have some fun with him by burying some hastily faked artifacts in a mound they knew he would be digging in over the winter. Evidence suggests that Gass himself came to realize this in his later years. Whether Putnam ever did will remain an unanswered question, but he may have. In June of 1887 his mansion and all his papers burned. Charles Putnam died six weeks later at the age of 63.
Softcover. 6”x9", 95 pages, line illustrations. Slight spine loss but otherwise fine and clean. [42968] $75
Ancient Roman Pottery Lamps- 1728 Dramatic Engraved Print by Bellori.
An engraved print of ancient Roman lamps, probably from Giovanni Pietro Bellori’s 1728 book, “Veterum Lucernae Sepulcrales”. Giovanni Pietro Bellori (1613-1696) was not only a talented artist, he was also an important and prolific biographer of other 17th century artists, and has been called the Vasari of his era. As if that was not enough to keep him occupied, he also acted as Curator of Antiquities to Pope Clement X, and as Librarian and Antiquarian to Queen Christina of Sweden. And obviously he had an interest in ancient Roman antiquities, which tended to pop up every now and again in Renaissance Rome.
Ancient Rome itself had been more or less awash in small pottery oil lamps with stamped decorations, which were used for everything from religious offerings to tourist souvenirs to actual lighting. By the time of the Renaissance these had become sought-after by antiquities collectors, who often published illustrated catalogs of their collections featuring engravings such as this.
Single sheet. About 10.5”x16”, uneven edges, minor age-toning and soil. $20
Barry’s Tricopherous Hair Tonic Restorer Patent Medicine Victorian Trade Card.
Barry’s Tricopherous gets the award for least-pronounceable patent medicine name, and at least an honorable mention for Most Dubious Illustration. 3”x5.25”. Some soil, edge stains, some wear, crease. $15
The New York Hooroarer, or, A Story of Newspaper Enterprise, Containing a Visit to the Infernal Regions and Return.
By the Rev. Charles Edwards.
Published in New York by the Humbodlt Publishing Co. in 1893. 2nd edition.
Reverend Charles Edwards was the pastor of the Freeport Baptist Church between about 1888 and 1893, resigning from the church at about the same time this little volume of satire, poking fun at both the press and religion, was published. Edwards sets his story in the editorial office of the New York Hooroarer, where the editor is lamenting the lack of fresh scandal and gossip with which to entertain his readers. His answer is to send reporter Scribble-Scrub down to Hell to interview the Devil, which Scribbs obediently does, along with a parson and a deacon. Scribby makes it back, to provide the next day’s wonderful headlines. Edwards satire of not only America’s yellow-prose press, but also the popular fire-and-brimstone preacher’s concept of a literal Hell, struck some readers’ funny bones and made other readers apoplectic, a situation he attempts discusses i this edition’s Forward. As was noted earlier, he resigned his church position this same year, so his explanation may not have been well-received by everybody.
Stiff paper covers. 5”x7”, 63 pages, several line illustrations. Covers quite worn, a spot of adhesion loss to the design on the front, both front and rear covers detached but present, spine perished. Rear cover with edge chips and a tear. Last several text leaves detached but present. Page 38 printed very (very) lightly. Basically, cheaply printed on wood-pulp paper and quite fragile. $75
George Rehse American Collector of Indian Arts in Sioux Headdress- Gelatin Silver Photo.
Inscribed in pen on the back- “George Rehse in full Indian dress a part of his collection”. George Washington Rehse (1868-1939) was a political cartoonist and a collector of American Indian arts and artifacts. The Sioux headdress he is wearing in this image appears to be the one now in the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian. It was lent to the Museum by Rehse from 1922 to 1925, and then purchased by the Museum in 1938.
Silver photo. 6”x8”. Rough, including creases and corner damage, and a crease on the right side that is starting to turn into a crack/tear. $125
Mid 19th century Watercolor Still Life of Lillies and a Scroll
A delicate and formally naive watercolor rendering of lilies which is just lovely.
6.75”x10.5”. Minor soil, light wear, corner bend. $85
Four Printer's Proof Color Printing Process Postcards for Rochester NY Store.
An interesting set of four postcards printed for E. Kirstein Sons Co. of Rochester, New York, showing the four-color process of printing.
Four Postcards. Some shadow soiling on the backs, minor wear. $60
1860 Colored Woodcut Broadside Song Roll on Silver Moon H. de Marsan New York
An attractive hand-colored woodcut broadside of the song ‘Roll on Silver Moon’, published by H. De Marsan of New York in 1860. Marsan published “songs, ballads, toy books, paper dolls, small playing cards motto verses, &c”.
Single sheet. 6.25”x10”. Edges heavily chipped, some soil, wear; rough, but attractive. $25
Five 1963 Goddard Space Flight Center Satellite Information Cards.
A wonderful set of cards picturing and explaining the Syncom, OSO, Nimbus, Ariel I, and Tiros satellites. Although not dated, Syncom was noted to have been launched in February, 1963, and Nimbus “will be launched in 1963”. So we’re gonna go out on a limb and guess- 1963.
5 cards. 3.5”x2.5”. Minor soil, light wear. $35
January 1874 French Hair Advertising Broadside by Leon Pelleray & Fils Paris.
A handsome and informative broadside pricing sheet for a Paris hair and wig dealer for the Season starting January, 1874. We had a beautifully illustrated billhead from this firm a few years ago, and the Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera at Winterthur holds an illustrated advertisement from the firm dated 1869 which notes that they supplied "hair for men and women, long, frizzed, straight or crimped of first and second quality, priced by weight, partings for ladies called 'cachefolies' (early 19th century name for a lady's wig)". They also sold hairdresser's supplies, including a line of razors.
Single sheet. 10.5”x17”. Folds, edge chips, and short rips; printed on onionskin paper and very fragile. $250
Virginia Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge 1910 Fundraising Circular.
An appeal for monthly pledged contributions for “An army of over forty missionaries consisting of Clergy, Deaconesses, Teachers, Nurses and other workers”, who were “engaged in seeking to change and transform the conditions existing among the mountain whites of the Blue Ridge”.
