Booktryst Goes On Christmas Retreat

by Stephen J. Gertz

As usual, Booktryst migrates south for the winter. This year team Booktryst decided to go the southiest. It's not like we wanted to avoid Christmas and retreat as far away from the North Pole and Santa as we possibly could. We simply wanted to go someplace where the opportunities for Christmas shopping were non-existent. 

So, we followed a flock of terns anxious to escape the Arctic and here we are: stranded on an ice floe somewhere in the Ross Sea.

Despite my insistence that we carry only analog communications equipment, Booktryst contributor Alastair Johnston (at rear with flag) unfortunately brought along an iPad. Oh, he of little faith had little faith in fruit juice cans connected by string, my preferred method of telephonics.

Thus we were able to do a little last-minute Christmas shopping. On the J. Peterman website I (at far left) picked up a pair of pants after reading the pitch:

James Dean's Jeans.
James Dean was born on February 8, 1931 in the Seven Gables apartment house in Marion, Indiana. It was originally the apartment house of the eight gables but then Clark moved out, went to Hollywood, and the rest is movie history.

James Dean made movie history, too. In Giant, he wore a pair of blue jeans as insouciant as Dean was impudent. They hung on his hips like a louche gigolo hangs on a woman of means: intently with serious nonchalance. When his jeans spoke they said, "Come with me to the Casbah," apparently influenced by Charles Boyer in Algiers. And when Dean's jeans spoke, people listened. Then ran. Talking blue jeans?

But when showered with black gold, as they were when Dean as Jeff Rink finally hit a gusher, they took on an little something extra, not unlike the jeans that Jed Clampett wore when he discovered Texas Tea in his swamp while hunting for dinner.

It's called swank. They smelled of money. Big money. Giant money. The dollar that ate Cleveland kind of money.

They also smelled of Elizabeth Taylor. But that's another story. And of Rock Hudson. But you really don't want to hear that one.

James Dean's Jeans

A solid 13.5 ounces per square yard of soft yet durable 3x1 work-grade right hand twill cotton denim.

Front scoop pockets with panache to spare, separate watch pocket on the right spells élan, and spade-shaped back pockets for those who dig pockets in spades. Pickaxe-shaped zipper placket for the picky. Six suspender buttons - two metal shank outside on the back and four regular inside on the front - and the classic V notch in the back, and crotch for easy access.

Seams are double stitched with a heavy weight cotton thread. Bartacks at stress points for added durability. Classic mood indigo, the hue of choice for dapper Duke Ellington.

When James Dean said in Rebel Without A Cause, "You're tearing me apart!" he was referring to his soul. His jeans were indestructible.

Men's even sizes: 32 through 46.

Alastair picked-up a pair of oven mitts from Gloves R' Us, which, trumping Amazon's Drone Delivery service, conveyed them via carrier pigeon that dropped them in his lap. Top that, Jeff Bezos! Alastair, who'd planned on giving them to his consort, The Duchess, instead ripped open the box and put the oven mitts on; baby, it's cold outside! Yes, it's cold in the South Pole but not so cold that a hot  portable stove can't turn your hands into sirloin steaks with grill marks.

As you can see, we all bought J. Peterman Arctic Dusters.

100% waxed cotton canvas, finished to repel water, snow,  and women you're trying to make a good impression on. Black lining throughout (mustard lining inside top and sleeve strictly Grey Poupon). Antique brass J. Peterman logo snaps at center front, outside plackets, inside pocket, chin strap, and inside leg strap; outside legs are on their own. Hidden zipper down center front for clandestine action. Snap flap welt pockets at waist with accessory whip to keep the welts fresh.

Men's sizes: S, M, L, XL, XXL and XXXL (size matters).

Booktryst will return after the holiday season, presuming our team is rescued from a future certain to include a frozen end.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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The Scarce Rare Book That Spawned "It's A Wonderful Life" Offered At $15,000

by Stephen J. Gertz

George said, “give me just one good reason why I should be alive.”

The little man made a queer chuckling sound. “Come, come, it can’t be that bad. You’ve got your job at the bank. And Mary and the kids. You’re healthy, young, and—”

“And sick of everything!” George cried. “I’m stuck here in this mudhole for life, doing the same dull work day after day. Other men are leading exciting lives, but I—well, I’m just a small-town bank clerk that even the army didn’t want. I never did anything really useful or interesting, and it looks as if I never will. I might just as well be dead. I might better be dead. Sometimes I wish I were. In fact, I wish I’d never been born!”

The little man stood looking at him in the growing darkness. “What was that you said?” he asked softly.

“I said I wish I’d never been born,” George repeated firmly. “And I mean it too.”

So begins The Greatest Gift: A Christmas Tale, a 4,100 word novella by American author, editor, and noted Civil War historian Philip Van Doren Stern (1900-1984), who began writing it in 1939 and finished in 1943. Publishers treated it as coal in their Christmas stockings; Stern could not find a home for the book. And so he privately printed it in a twenty-one page edition of 200 7.5 x 5.5 inch signed copies bound in orange wrappers and distributed them to friends for Christmas 1943.

It was ultimately published by David McKay in New York in 1944 with illustrations by Rafaello Busoni. Stern sold the magazine rights to Reader's Scope, which published the story in its December 1944 issue, and to Good Housekeeping, which published it under the title The Man Who Was Never Born in its January 1945 issue (on the streets in December 1944).

It was optioned by RKO studios for film adaptation in 1944. Ultimately produced by director Frank Capra's Liberty Films and released in 1946 under the title It's A Wonderful Life, the movie is now an American Christmas classic. But this, the true first edition of the book that started it all, has become quite scarce. Just in time for Christmas, however, a copy has come into the marketplace. Offered by Royal Books in Baltimore, the asking price is $15,000.

OCLC records seven copies of this edition in institutional holdings worldwide, with 193 copies theoretically left. But they appear to have left with Elvis, and, like the King (but more reliably reported), copies are only occasionally sighted this side of the heavenly veil. According to ABPC there has not been a copy seen at auction within at least the last thirty-seven years. A copy was offered in 2011 by Mullen Books in Pennsylvania. Who knows when another will surface?

Those for whom the screenplay to It's a Wonderful Life is a sacred text will be disappointed to learn that its protagonist, George Bailey, is George Platt in The Greatest Gift. There is no Bedford Falls. There is no Mr. Potter. And there is no Clarence Odbody, Angel-2d Class, just a mysterious, unnamed little man:

"He was stout, well past middle age, and his round cheeks were pink in the winter as though they had just been shaved…He was a most unremarkable little person, the sort you would pass in a crowd and never notice. Unless you saw his bright blue eyes, that is. You couldn’t forget them, for they were the kindest, sharpest eyes you ever saw. Nothing else about him was noteworthy. He wore a moth-eaten old fur cap and a shabby overcoat that was stretched tightly across his paunchy belly. He was carrying a small black satchel. It wasn’t a doctor’s bag - it was too large for that and not the right shape. It was a salesman’s sample kit, George decided distastefully. The fellow was probably some sort of peddler, the kind who would go around poking his sharp little nose into other people’s affairs."

In what will likely be a major bah humbug to Wonderful Life fans and horrifying to those who may not believe in Santa but definitely believe there's a war on Christmas, the unnamed little man does not earn his wings when a Christmas tree bell rings, nor is there any mention of heaven or angels. The Greatest Gift is a secular story with a Rod Serling twist at its end. You're traveling through another dimension: there's a signpost up ahead: your next stop: a Twilight Zone Christmas.
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You can read the full text of The Greatest Gift here.
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VAN DOREN STERN, Philip. The Greatest Gift. A Christmas Tale. New York: Privately Printed for Distribution to His Friends, Christmas, 1943. First edition, limited to 200 copies, each signed by the author. Octavo. 21 pp. Orange wrappers with printed title label. Near fine.

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With the exception of Clarence's note card, images courtesy of Royal Books, with our thanks.
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Literary Matchboxes Light Up Christmas Stockings (Close Cover Before Striking)

by Stephen J. Gertz

Those seeking the perfect match when Christmas (or any other kind of) shopping for friends with a literary bent (and all book lovers are proudly a little bent) should look no further than The Matchbox Museum of Fine Arts, the brainchild of Los Angeles-based designer Hillary Kaye. Not simply its curator she's its creator, taking Diamond matchboxes and reproducing celebrated book dust jacket designs upon them.

Point-of-sale display case.

I was turned onto them by a friend who recently presented four sets of the Museum's Petit Fours to me, packages containing a quartet of similarly themed matchboxes.

Delighted and intrigued, I contacted Hillary Kaye to find out what's what and where to get these 1 1/3 x 2 inch tiny gems.

Petit Fours, above and below.

“Tiny gems” is a perfect description of the matchboxes," she responded, "exactly how I see them, each one a miniature world. They’re based on the Diamond penny matchbox which I’ve always found visually pleasing. Only recently when I started working with them did I discover they are the exact dimension of the 'golden rectangle,' a shape used in classical antiquity and the Renaissance because of its aesthetic proportions.

(Upper edges accidentally cropped).

"I created The Matchbox Museum of Fine Arts to help make people aware of the heritage of visual imagery from the golden age of illustration. It can be a memento of favorite books for readers and collectors and an introduction to classics they might have missed.

"I’m guessing your friend must have bought the Petit Fours at Vicente Foods market as they are the only place local [to me, in West Los Angeles] that has them. I sell to indie bookstores not the big chains. They're available in twenty-three States across the country including Tattered Cover, Books and Books, Square Books, etc. In L.A.  they’re also available at Skylight Books, Book Soup and a number of other stores.

Actual size: 1 1/3 x 2 inches each.

"Other than a minimal exposure at www.iceboxicons.com/matchboxmuseum.htm which is basically for paypal ordering; so far I don’t have a website for the matchboxes. Since 9/11 matchboxes can not be sent through the ordinary mail, just UPS. The shipping price for small orders would be high.

From the classic crime series. Scores available in other genres.

"Sets of the matchboxes in a display box have been available at some of the bookstores and I have considered making them available online for collectors. I do special orders on request."

This year set Christmas afire with literary classics from The Matchbook Museum of Fine Arts. If your local indie bookstore or rare book shop doesn't have any,  insist, pester, and persist until they stock them. I have little doubt that they will be great, point-of-purchase impulse items and steady sellers as all-year round gifts.

Dealer inquiries can be directed here.

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Of Related Interest:

Time For Vintage Book Clocks This Christmas.

The Ultimate Gift For Book Lovers.

Rare Book Trading Cards On Santa's Top Shelf.
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Booktryst In Bear's Den For the Holidays

by Stephen J. Gertz

December 15, 1855.

Booktryst is in hibernation for the holidays but will awaken on Monday, January 2, 2012.

The publisher at rest.

I wish  Booktryst readers the happiest of holiday seasons. Your support has made Booktryst one of the most popular rare book sites on the Net and, as if a bear dreaming about honey, I'm purring like a pussy cat.

Thank you all.

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Image of bear courtesy of Bear.org, with our thanks.

Christmas Notice courtesy of Bloomsbury Auctions, with our thanks.
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Beyond A Christmas Carol: Dickens' Other Holiday Treats

By Nancy Mattoon

Scrooge's third visitor, from
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
Illustrations by John Leech.
London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. First edition.

(All Images Courtesy Of Wikipedia Commons.)

Does the thought of another Christmas with Bob Cratchit make you want to fill the kid's stockings with charcoal briquettes? Do you find yourself speed reading past the Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come, in a mad dash to reach that final, "God Bless Us, every one!"? In other words, does the very idea of seeing the name Ebenezer Scrooge in print make you want to shout, "Bah! Humbug!"? Then instead of secretly feeding the family's paperback copy of A Christmas Carol through the paper shredder, why not pick up one of the four holiday novellas by Charles Dickens that you can't read with your eyes closed?

First Edition Frontispiece and Title Page
of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. (1843)

According to a new exhibit at the University of Leicester Library, Charles Dickens and his fellow Victorians literally invented Christmas as we celebrate it today. Dickens wrote five novellas with holiday themes, and published one each December between 1843 and 1848. He followed these with "more than a dozen short stories and collaborations about Christmas between 1850 and his death in 1870. The festive season features in several of his other novels too, from The Pickwick Papers right through to The Mystery of Edwin Drood." Dickens wrote about Christmas almost obsessively, famously finding it "a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of in the long calendar of the year when men and women seem, by one consent, to open their shut-up hearts freely."

Title Page Of The First Edition of
Charles Dickens' The Chimes. (1844)
Engraving By F.P. Becker.

A Christmas Carol was Dickens' first holiday novella, debuting in 1843. His 1844 follow-up was a much darker tale in tone, The Chimes. It was written during Dickens year-long stay in Genoa, Italy. Though reinvigorated by his time on the continent, Dickens missed the spark of London street life, and found the incessant ringing of the Italian church bells an annoyance and distraction. But once more proving a writer through and through, he transformed an irritation into an inspiration, penning the tale of an impoverished messenger, Trotty Veck, who spends his days in the shadow of a London bell tower seeking employment.

In a moment of utter despair, Trotty is overwhelmed by the clanging of the tower's chimes, and finds himself in the presence of the goblins who secretly inhabit them. These spirits inform him that he has plunged to his death from the tower, and in a Victorian version of It's A Wonderful Life (1946), proceed to show him how his family fares in the aftermath of his death. A woeful litany of alcoholism, prostitution, suicide, and even murder is the order of the day. But never fear, like George Bailey in the 20th century, Victorian Trotty Veck learns that hope and faith can magically restore him to life.

Frontispiece And Title Page Of The Second Edition Of
The Cricket On The Hearth. (1846)
Illustration By Daniel Maclise.

The Chimes was a popular success, but received more than a little criticism for being too bleak, too harshly satirical, and too full of radical social comment to make for pleasant holiday reading. This may be why Dickens followed it with the lightest of his five Christmas novellas, The Cricket On The Hearth. Here again it is up to a spirit, this time the cheerful sprite who resides within the household's lucky cricket, to put the hero's wrongheadedness to rest. John Peerybingle incorrectly fears his much younger wife, Dot, may be having an affair with a mysterious lodger.

In this sweet and sentimental fairytale, the magical cricket assures John that all is well in his marriage, and the exposure of the true identity of the lodger ends all misunderstandings and restores serenity to a newly extended Perrybingle family. The Cricket On The Hearth was Dickens' second most popular Christmas book, behind A Christmas Carol. Seventeen stage productions based on the tale opened in December 1845 alone, including one authorized by Dickens, which raised the curtain the same day as the book's release. No less a personage than Vladimir Ilyich Lenin publicly walked out of a Russian production of the play, finding its old fashioned homilies too saccharine to stomach.

A Full Page Illustration By John Leech.
From Dickens' The Battle of Life.

December 1846 saw the publication of the only one of Dickens' Christmas novellas without a spiritual entity guiding the earthly characters. The Battle of Life, perhaps because it lacked that magical spark, was the least successful of the quintet, and is regarded today as little more than an oddity. Like The Cricket On The Hearth, it is the tale of a troubled family, without much in the way of social comment. Here a romantic misunderstanding is also at the heart of the matter, and only a change of heart by a cynical father allows for his daughters to find their Victorian happy endings in proper marriages.

But the ending seems rushed and abrupt, perhaps because it relies only on a rather inexplicable, total transformation of the main character, without the previous books' supernatural prodding. The book received some of the worst reviews of Dickens' entire career, with The Times of London tarring it as "intrinsically puerile and stupid," a "twaddling manifestation of silliness," and "simply ridiculous." Dickens' longtime friend , writer Wilkie Collins, called The Battle of Life the book "which everybody abused and which, nevertheless, everybody read."

Frontispiece And Title Page By John Tenniel,
From The First Edition Of
The Haunted Man and The Ghosts' Bargain. (1848)

The last of Dickens' Christmas quintet was The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain. Dickens seems to be coming full circle with this one, as it shares many similarities with A Christmas Carol in themes, characters, structure, and tone. Like Ebenezer Scrooge, chemistry professor Redlaw, his lack of a Christian name perhaps reflecting his ivory tower isolation, is a cynical recluse haunted by the untimely death of his beloved sister. In his lonely sorrow he is visited on Christmas eve by a shadow self, a dark doppelganger, who offers to erase all memory of his past sorrows. Not only that, this spiritual slate cleaning is the gift that keeps on giving: anyone Redlaw touches will find his harsh remembrances eradicated.

But the calm of a mind devoid of past tragedies and sadness is the tranquility of shallowness. Redlaw and his circle become angry, bitter, and petty. Philip Swidger, an elderly University caretaker whose happiness is based on remembrances of things past, becomes a senile basket case at Redlaw's hands. And a once cheery, Cratchit-like family, the Tetterby's, are turned quarrelsome, cold, and uncaring. It is left to an incorruptible serving woman, Milly, to state the moral of the story, placing the memories of Redlaw and the others into their proper psychological context. "It is important to remember past sorrows and wrongs," she says. "So that you can then forgive those responsible and, in doing so, unburden your soul and mature as a human being." This revelation leaves Redlaw and the others deeper and more compassionate human beings. It is echoed by the prayer of the no-long-senile Swidger, "Lord, keep my memory green."

A Printer's Block From The 1950's Bearing An
Engraving Of Dickens' Country Home At Gad's Hill.

It is far more than just Scrooge and Tiny Tim that link Charles Dickens forever with the true meaning of Christmas. What he called his "Carol philosophy," to use the true spirit of Christmas as a spark for compassion and charity throughout the year, was stated and restated in novels and stories again and again, from the beginning to the end of his writing career. In fact according to a splendid website, David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page, "Dickens' name had become so synonymous with Christmas that on hearing of his death in 1870 a little costermonger's girl in London asked, 'Mr. Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?'" The answer, of course, is they will both live on in our hearts as long as we take the time to enjoy our favorite books of the season, and to discover some new ones. Happy Holiday Reading from Booktryst.


If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:

Morgan Library's Christmas Gift.
Victorian Advertisements in Charles Dickens' Serial Novels.
A Read Letter Day For Dickens.
Slumming With Charles Dickens.

Rare and Vintage Joke Books to Make the Season Jolly

Light up your Christmas party with  vintage knee-slappers, rib-ticklers, and side-splitters. Or, pass the corn during Christmas dinner.

by Stephen J. Gertz

Roaring Jokes. No. 42. Laugh and be happy. Sixty laughs a minute.
The latest and greatest original jokes. Compiled by A Star Performer. 
 Baltimore: I & M Ottenheimer, n.d. (c. 1915)
16mo., pict. wrappers, 58pp., 6pp ads.

Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the United States a small handful of publishers dominated a rapidly growing genre of publication, the joke book. Meant for the masses, they possessed no pretensions to sophistication; the jokes were simple, sophomoric, and blunt. They were easy to "get." Going straight for the gut the jokes never went over anyone's head. To the contrary, they conked you right on the noggin. Crude, and by contemporary standards, vulgar, this was the humor of the man in the street and working class.

Choice Dialect and Vaudeville Stage Jokes.
Containing Side Splitting Stories, Jokes, Gags, Readings
and Recitations in German, Irish, Scotch, French,
Chinese, Negro and other Dialects.
Chicago: Frederick J. Drake & Co., (c. 1902).
Small 8vo., pict. wrappers, 181pp.

Ethnic jokes were all the rage. Stereotypes were milked for all they were worth.

Wehman Bros' Barber-Shop Jokes.  
New York: Wehman Bros., n.d. (c. 1908).
16mo., pict. wrappers, 58pp., 6pp ads.

The corner barber shop, a neighborhood hub where men would routinely congregate, was the source for news, gossip, and the latest jokes. Barbers often bore the brunt of the humor.

A man walks into a barber shop and sits in the chair. The barber asks "how do you want your haircut?" the man says "I want it short on one side, uneven on the other side, crooked in the front and a hacked up in the back." The barber said "I don't know if I can do that." The man replied "I don't know why not, that's exactly what you did last time.

The Great Lingard. Joker. Full of A. 1. Side-Splitters - Funny Stories -
Natty Anecdotes - Tip-Top Jests - And Heaps of "Bully" Conundrums.
New York: Frederic A. Brady, (c. 1870). Later edition (ca. 191-?).
12mo., pict. wrappers, 64pp.

OTT, Irv. New Italian Joke Book.
A Select Collection of the Latest and Best Italian Jokes,
Monologues, Stories, etc, Used by the Most Renowned
Celebrities of the American Stage. 
 Baltimore: I & M Ottenheimer, n.d. (c. 1909)
16mo., pict. wrappers, 63pp.

What's the difference between an Italian grandmother and an elephant?

       50 pounds and a black dress.
 

Who knew that Baltimore was once a major center for the publication of jokes? I. and M. Ottenheimer, founded in 1890, published childrens books, cookbooks, pop-ups, and joke books. Brother Irving was the jokemeister under the pseudonym, Irv Ott. It remained in business until 2002 when the laughs that never quit finally succumbed to senescence and/or political correctness.

The hobo-tramp was a ripe object for humor. Hold the rim-shot:

What's the name for a short-legged tramp?

       A low-down bum.

OTT, Irv. (edited by). New Tramp Joke Book.
Containing a Select Collection of Monologues Jokes,
Funny Stories, etc., as Told by Leading Footlight Artists. 
 Baltimore: I & M Ottenheimer, n.d. (ca. 191-?)
16mo., pict. wrappers, 62pp., 2pp ads.

Jewish jokes, were, in their infancy in the U.S., called Hebrew jokes. Perhaps the word "Hebrew" was more amusing than "Jewish;" it can be played with on the tongue, HE-brew, HEE-brew, who, what? which may have made for funnier oral delivery. Funnier to whom is another question.

A Hebrew took his boy Ikey to the theater and went up in the gallery. The play was so exciting Ikey leaned over the railing and fell downstairs. His father got excited and hollered:

"Ikey, for God's sake, come back. It costs a dollar down dere."

That joke, 103 years old, appeared in The New Hebrew Joke Book, issued by Irving and Moses Ottenheimer in 1907. According to their grandson, Allan T. Hirsh, their motivation was simply to satisfy the huge demand for ethnic humor, no matter what ethnic group.

Wehman Bros. Hebrew Jokes No. 1.
New York: Wehman Brothers, 1906.

"Woolworth's sold those books for 10 cents," he said. "They sold them by the carload."

Irv and Moe harvested humor wherever they could find it, and they usually found it in the theater, although the theaters they found it in could never be accused of purveying Culture.

"My grandfather's secretary told me he used to take her to the burlesque show to get jokes," Mr. Hirsh said. "She took her pad to write and she wrote so much she never looked up."

With its roots in early eighteenth century European theatrical and musical parody, Burlesque (not to be confused with Burl Ives) in the United States, with its addition of the strip-tease to the mix of jokes and songs (thus sinking it to the lowest, though nonetheless popular, form of theatrical entertainment), became the crucible in which modern American comedy was made.

OTT, Lester B. (compiled by). You Tell 'Em Funny Sayings...
The Latest in Novelty Jokes.
Baltimore: I & M Ottemnheimer, n.d. (ca. 191-?)
16mo., pict. wrappers, 64pp.
Each entry begins "You tell 'em...",
i.e. "You tell 'em, June. And don't July."

That ethnic humor was once so popular should come as no surprise. It followed the huge waves of immigration of the nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries, and greeted immigrants to America as soon as they disembarked. Humor provided a non-violent release for the deep anxieties that the huge influx of immigrants inspired in the native-born.  Per usual, humor was the best, if often bitter-tasting medicine, and Burlesque provided the spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.

Ethnic humor was as necessary to the immigrants as it was to the native-born. It provided them with ammunition for self-defense, one immigrant group could laugh at another; the fecal matter rolled downhill, from one group to another, until it landed on the latest.

Smiles. Side Splitting Jokes. No. 36.
Containing a Wonderful Selection of Jokes,
Witty-Sayings Etc. New and Original.
Baltimore: I & M Ottemnheimer, n.d. (c. 1915)
16mo., pict. wrappers, 58pp., 6pp ads.

The market for ethnic humor was not confined to immigrant groups. Defying gravity, often the ubu rolled uphill. The white elite was celebrated and sent up as  the Smart Set, a moniker widely established in popular American culture by the introduction, in 1900,  of Colonel William d'Alton Mann's new magazine of the same name, the self-proclaimed "Aristocrat Among Magazines,"  a slogan and  group begging for ridicule, aristos traditionally fair game to the masses.

The era was a free-for-all  of competitive, inter-ethnic humor, no group safe, no holds barred. It was war by punchline, and the war toughened you up, yet at the same time softened shoulders and elbows in the mix. In its heyday, ethnic humor made it a little easier for everyone to live together without going at each others' throat.

Up-To-Date Smart Set Jokes. No. 48.
A selection of original classical jokes,
laughable stories, witty sayings, etc.
Baltimore: I & M Ottenheimer, n.d. (c. 1915)
16mo., pict. wrappers, 58pp., 6pp ads.

In Répétition Générale, an article appearing in the July 21, 1921 issue of Smart Set, H.L. Mencken  and George Jean Nathan wrote, "I have always been of the opinion that the so-called comic weeklies exercise a far more profound influence on the life of a community than the so-called serious weeklies. It is the trick of life to conduct itself not after the serious criticisms of itself but after the humorous. The personal conduct of the average American community is affected more greatly by Lifes, Pucks, and Judges, than by the Nations, Freemans, and New Republics."

These joke books were the genesis of the comic weekly magazines that emerged 1910 - 1925, i.e. Captain Billy's Whiz Bang and those that Mencken and Nathan cite above.

IRISH, Marie. The Christmas Entertainer.
Recitations, Monologues, Drills with Songs,
Exercises and Dialogues for All Ages.
Chicago: T. S. Denison & Co., (c. 1919).
Sm. 8vo., pict. wrappers, 134pp. With illustrations.

Finally, for the budding Santa stand-up comic and all-'round entertainer, a couple of  vintage stocking-stuffers.

KELLOGG, Alice M. Christmas Entertainments.
Containing Fancy Drills, Acrostics, Motion Songs,
Tableaux, Short Plays, Recitation in Costume.
For Children of Five to Fifteen Years.
 Phil.: Penn Publ. Co., 1920. (c. 1907).
Sm. 8vo., pict. wrappers, 120pp.

D'ja hear the joke about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer's Christmas dinner? 

       It was a real turkey.

And so are most of the jokes found within these books. They embarrass us. They're awful. We feel guilty.  Particularly when we can't help it and laugh, if only to ourselves. There is no getting around the fact that a great deal of humor is usually at someone else's expense.

While we've presented these books within the context of making Christmas a little bit merrier, the real  gift is that they provide one of the best historical sources of pre-Modern American humor that can be found. If you are a fan and student of comedy, there is no better way to become acquainted with its past. If you are a sociologist and historian there may be no better way to gauge the tenor of an era than by its humor; few things are as revealing as that which makes us laugh. 

And if you are considering getting into book collecting and seek a fun and fascinating entry point  and are on a budget, rare, vintage joke books are an ideal area to collect in. All the books displayed here are available for less than $100, often much less.

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With the exception of Wehman Bros. Hebrew Jokes, all images are courtesy of David Mason Books, which is currently offering the books for sale.
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Very Unusual Holiday Gifts for Book Lovers

Booktryst's Linda Hedrick hits the stacks and discovers delightfully different Holiday gifts.

by Linda Hedrick

It’s that time of the year again, when we suffer from not knowing what to get our book-loving friends as a holiday gift.  Another gift card?  No, it should be something that expresses our dear appreciation of them, and something that will be dearly appreciated by them.

This year we’ve been fortunate and have found some truly interesting things for everyone on our list, and, we suspect, yours, too.

Smell any good books lately?

Book deodorizer – who hasn’t suffered from smelly books?  Your friends will appreciate your thoughtfulness as they open up a bag of book deodorizing granules.  Just put a layer of granules in an airtight plastic container with your book(s) and seal.  Two weeks later – voila!  Fresh-smelling books! And, even better, the granules are biodegradable so they can go straight into your compost pile once they’ve been exhausted.  All natural, non-toxic, made in the U.S.A.  Perfect for the environmental readers on your list,  you can buy them here:  1 pound for $16; 6 pounds for $75.  Such a deal!

May be used as a bib

For the children on your list, or for the inept reader that can’t seem to take proper care of their books, we have one word: Plastics.  Thanks to a collaboration between UFSCAR (Universidade Federal de São Carlos) and Vitopel Brasil, a new product is available – Vitopaper – similar to the film used for labels and snack packages.  This new plastic paper can be used for handwritten texts using a pencil or pen, or with graphic processes.  It absorbs less ink, saving up to 20% of one’s ink allotment, a savvy consideration with current economic factors.  Made from recycled plastic it is costly but lasts indefinitely, making it the perfect choice to have someone’s favorite book printed on. 

Collecting late fees may be an issue.

Do you know book lovers who are constantly loaning out their books and never get them back?  Or perhaps you have friends with secret librarian fetishes.  In either case, the DIY Library Kit is the perfect gift.  The kit includes 20 self-adhesive pockets, 20 checkout cards, date stamp, inkpad, and pencil.  You can also buy a refill kit of 15 self-adhesive pockets and 15 checkout cards.  Help them help themselves.

Light up your life with books.

One can never have too bookish an atmosphere, and lights made of books will complement any décor. The book lamps by Myungseo Kang have the right bookish vibe and create the proper ambient lighting for bibliophiles.

Perhaps not bright enough to read by but warm and cozy like a good book, these lamps can be placed anywhere.  A truly illuminating gift idea.

When Sally Met Sally.

Let us not forget our bookish same sex couple friends.  The “I Love You Library”  will hold their most precious books while honoring their shared lives and interests.  Imagine them filled with books, icons of bookish souls, fused together for eternity.

When Harry Met Harry.

Made of welded and brushed aluminum and MDF, they can also serve as a conversation piece. Available in two styles:  Two women holding hands in bright pink, or two men holding hands in dark charcoal. 

For those friends who love to multitask, perhaps the ideal present would be this multifunctional  piece. of furniture.  The Fishbol Bookseat combines a bookcase and a lounge chair made of birch plywood. Perfect for today’s urban living, and ideal for today’s bookworm.

Manufacturer does not warranty against damp-stained books.
Book soap-on-a-rope not included.

For that super-special person in your life nothing will do but the Library Bath by Swedish designer Malin Lundmark. Combining a bathtub, an armchair, AND a bookshelf, the Library Bath is the ultimate gift for a beloved savant.  It will give new meaning to the idea of relaxing with a good book - the piece de resistance for reading that magnum opus.  (Note:  can be used with the book deodorizing granules so both reader and book can end their tryst smelling fresh!).

We hope these suggestions have provided food for gift-thought.  We book people enjoy receiving discerning, book-related gifts, particularly if they're a bit off-the-shelf and beaten path. 

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