pastispresent.org
an online forum for early American discovery, discussion, and diversion from the American Antiquarian Society

March 12, 1870 Saturday, In the Life of a Blacksmith: Blacksmithing again.  Did several jobs and then went to making step pads and worked on them about all the rest of the day.  Went to a church meeting in the eve.

Archive for the ‘Acquisitions’ Category

The Acquisitions Table: More Slates

February 19th, 2010, by Tom Knoles

0

In my last post (”The Acquisitions Table: Matters Bibliopegistical”) I promised a curious story of synchronicity.  Readers may recall Curator of Graphic Arts’ Lauren Hewes’s January 27 entry “Slate, before the hype” about writing slates in the AAS collections.  If you didn’t read it, feel free to scroll down and read it now.  I’ll be here when you come back.)

(You’re back? Good.  I’ll continue.)  Lauren drafted her post on the 26th, and I read it late that afternoon.  Less than two hours later, and before the post was put up,  I got an e-mail from one of our bookseller friends, Ian  Brabner, offering AAS this curious home-made slate.

IMG_0234

What we have here is a pair of covers and spine, probably from an old account book, to which someone has attached a piece of cardboard treated with a black coating.   The covers bear the handwritten date 1811, but we think the piece of cardboard was probably manufactured a few decades later.

Of course we wanted it.  What I like most about this item is that a small piece of sponge is attached to the book to serve as an eraser.  Someone made this for personal use, or perhaps for the use of a child.  I’ve never seen anything quite like it, but it offers an evocative glimpse into nineteenth century writing technology.

IMG_0240

Since we’re on the subject of slates, here’s another one:  This one, also made of treated cardboard,  is much smaller and is in our manuscript collection of papers of the poet and editor Frances Sargent Locke Osgood (1811-1850).  It came housed in a paper enclosure with this note:  “The Slate on which Frances S. Osgood used to write after speech failed and the last word ‘Angell’ (which was addressed to her husband S[amuel] S[tillman] O.) is there as she wrote it.” Osgood’s last word is still visible on the upper part of the slate.  What does it mean? I’m not sure.  A religious sentiment? a near-death experience? a pet name for someone?


Tell us what you think!

The Acquisitions Table: Matters Bibliopegistical

February 3rd, 2010, by Tom Knoles

0

We have two more items this week. Both have to do with book binding, one as a subject, one as an exemplar.

Bradford, John. The poetical vagaries of a Knight of the Folding-Stick, of Paste Castle: to which is annexed, The history of the garret, &c. Gotham [i.e. Newark, NJ?]: Printed for the author, 1815.4P8V7398

A rare copy in original printed boards of an extraordinary and little-known verse collection. Although published anonymously, the book’s copyright was taken out by one John Bradford, who worked as a bookbinder in New York City from 1809-1819. Indeed, the first section consists mostly of poems about bookbinding—one of the very, very few instances of bibliopegistical poetry in all of Western culture. The poems include “This World’s a Huge Bindery,” “Receipt for Binding a Book,” “The Binder’s Curse,” and “An Enigmatical List of Binder’s Tools,” consisting of 34 devilishly difficult verse riddles. Here’s a simpler one that this curator managed to solve:

The two ninths of one who commences a suit,

O—U. G—and the eleventh of a hot biting root.

[answer: PLOUGH]

One of the two inserted engravings depicts the Knight of the Folding-Stick, a fantastical creation fashioned from binder’s tools. The book concludes with “The History of the Garret,” a facetious prose history of Newark, NJ. Purchased from L. & T. Respess. NEH Challenge Grant Fund.

~ David Whitesell

4P8V7403Headley, Joel Tyler, 1813-1897. The sacred mountains. New York: Baker and Scribner, 1848.

A recurring theme of these reports has been the extraordinary creativity shown by the designers of American publisher’s cloth bindings, especially ca. 1847-1852. During this brief period binders focused particularly on the cloth substrate, employing striped cloths, cloths color-printed with decorative patterns, even cloths bearing custom-printed illustrations. This publisher’s binding in almost mint condition adds another highly unusual cloth variant—one not previously documented in the AAS collections. The diagonally ribbed cloth has been woven from white and blue threads. In other words, the binding is made from denim! The fabric’s rough, washed-out surface, however, does not show the elaborate gold-stamping to advantage, perhaps explaining why denim bindings did not catch on. Purchased from Mark Craig. Michael Papantonio Fund.

~ David Whitesell

Finally, stay tuned for next week’s report from the acquisitions table. I’ll have a rather remarkable piece of synchronicity to show you.


Tell us what you think!
Tags: ,