Books, Drugs, and Wallpaper

by Stephen J. Gertz

Struggling booksellers seeking new ways to broaden their client base and increase profits may wish to follow the model of F.W. Richter, who, in 1907, advertised in Tried and True: a Collection of Approved Recipes, a cookbook by the Trinity Church of Niles, Michigan issued by the Mennonite Publishing Co. of Elkhart, Indiana.

Like a wise investor, he held a diversified portfolio of inventory just shy of you name it. When book sales were down he could leverage the loss against sales of drugs, art, stationary, wallpaper, spices and extracts.

He even had promotional glass bottles made, a masterstroke as bookmarks are throwaways but bottles are forever and useful, particularly for storing pure extract of book while broadening brand awareness.

In 1907, nostrums containing heroin, morphine, and cocaine were readily available (though by then regulated) in drug stores. Considering that many of us believe that books produce a euphoric altered-state the retailing of drugs and books in concert, though cross-addiction a distinct possibility, makes perfect sense.

Not sure about the wallpaper, though.

Stacked paperback wallpaper from Anthropologie.

Unless it's book-oriented. Then, like Daniel, you can read the writing on the wall in the comfort of a den, "Mene, Mene, Tekel, u-Pharsin," y'know what I mean? Probably best, though, to keep the lions on a short leash, fed and sated.

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Mennonite Publishing Company, 1886.

The Mennonite Publishing Company existed from 1875-1925. "The Mennonite Publishing Company did an outstanding service in its book and periodical publications both in German and English, serving not only the Mennonites and Amish Mennonites but also a large block of the Russian Mennonite immigrants, particularly in Manitoba. For the latter group it published the Mennonitische Rundschau and hymnals, catechisms, and confessions of faith" (Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 634).

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Bottle image courtesy of Bibliophemera, with our thanks.

Image of Mennonite Publishing Company courtesy of Gameo, with our thanks.
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Bookseller in 1770 England Also Sells Everything (Including Female Elixir)

By Stephen J. Gertz

WILLIAM GRIGG, 

Bookseller and Book-binder,
In the Exchange, Opposite to Broad-Gate,
in Exon

Sells, at the lowest prices, Books of all Sorts. Also all Kinds of Stationary Wares, viz., Writing Paper of all Sorts Wholesale and Retale; where may be had all Sorts of: Stamp-Paper for Writing's; Parchment & Vellum for Drum-heads; Letter Cases, Paper Books, Account Books; Japan Ink, Indian-Ink, Ink, and Ink Powder; Cards; Quills, Pens, Sand, Pounce, Sealing-Wax, and Wafers, Ink-pots of all Sorts; Slates, Pencils, Quadrants, Gunter's scales, and Compasses; with Choice of Maps and Pictures; likewise great variety of Paper Hangings for Rooms of the newest Patterns; also Violins, Bows, Bridges; German and Common Flutes, and other Musical Instruments; with Books of Instruction for the use of them, and Fiddlestrings; likewise Daffey's, Squire's, Bostocks, Ratcliff's, and Stoughton's. Cordial elixirs; Bateman's Pectoral Drops; Golden and Plain Spirits of Scurvy Grass; Godfrey's Cordial; Anderson's Scots Pills; Dr. Hooper's Female Pills; Fraunces's Female strengthening Elixir; Jackson's Tincture; Dr. James's Fever Powders; Baron Schwanberg's Liquid Shell; Dr. Greenough's Tinctures for preserving the Teeth, and for the Tooth-ach; and Turlington's Balsam of Life, so much approved; all warranted genuine; and he can supply by Wholesale Country Shoppers, and others, with Betton's genuine British Oil, as Cheap as immediately from the Maker.

N.B. And gives full Value, for any Library of Parcel of Books; and exchanges New Books for Old, and lends out Books to read; Almanackes, Daily Journals, and Court Kalendars, sold about Wholesale and Retail.

A peek into the hurly-burly world of bookselling in an eighteenth century English provincial city (Exeter) where the local bookshop often purveyed a wide variety of goods to remain a profitable enterprise, including spirits of scurvy grass (golden and plain) to, apparently, combat vitamin C deficiency while reading fruitless literature.

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This 14 x 8 cm advertising sheet was found within a copy of William Vicars' devotional work, A Companion to the Altar (London, 1757). ESTC, recording a copy pasted into another book, dates it to c. 1772 noting that Grigg first appeared in Exeter in 1765.

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Image courtesy of William Reese Co., currently offering this copy of A Companion to the Altar & this advert, with our thanks.

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A Rare Book Dealer Collective

by Stephen J. Gertz

The illustration is from a poster by Albert Sterner (1863-1946)
advertising a lending library for modern literature in 1903 .

From each according to their inventory, to each according to their needs, The Collective, a group of seven ABAA members, has just issued its first catalog. While it is not unusual for two dealers to team-up, it is extraordinary for a group to do so.

The Gang of Seven - The Book Shop LLC, Lux Mentis, Tavistock Books, Book Hunter's Holiday, Anthology Books, Ken Sanders Rare Books, and B&B Rare Books - is a  cabal recently organized, I believe, during secret meetings at the home of Brad and Jen Johnson, proprietors of The Book Shop LLC. The Johnsons run a flophouse for rare booksellers of their acquaintance visiting Southern California, and I imagine that the plan for The Collective was hatched during a meeting of lively mood and ardent spirits. As Ian Kahn of Lux Mentis is an evangelical gourmand, there is no doubt that delicacies were served and savored.

Created especially for the San Francisco Book Fair and the 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair in Pasadena, CA, there are a few delicacies from all concerned served up in this catalog for you to consider.

Lest there be any doubt, The Collective is a commune of hard-core capitalists. This is the rare book business.

I'm featuring this catalog today simply because it provides an excellent solution to the ever-spiraling cost of print catalogs, and is a sterling example of how our trade, despite being highly competitive, is absolutely dependent upon the cooperation and trust of its members.

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A print or PDF copy of The Collective's catalog may be had by contacting Brad Johnson at The Book Shop LLC.

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Tricks Of The Trade Revealed In Harvard Exhibit

By Nancy Mattoon

A Die-Cut Trade Card For
Colburn's Philadelphia Mustard, ca. 1875.
(All Images Courtesy of Baker Business Library.)

Harvard University Business School's Baker Library has digitized part of an immense collection of advertising ephemera, making images of 1,000 Victorian trade cards available online. The cards represent a "full range of products and businesses advertised through this medium from the 1870s through the 1890s." An online exhibit has also been created to spotlight this New and Wonderful Invention, one of the earliest forms of printed advertising used for nationwide commercial campaigns.

Trade Card For
Centemeri Kid Gloves, 1888.

Lavishly illustrated and lushly colored, with eye-catching images on the front and promotional text on the back, trade cards were produced by the hundreds of thousands and inserted into packages at the factory, handed out by retailers with every sale, or mailed to prospective customers. The images used often had little to do with the actual products, but the point was to attract the eye, and bring the manufacturer's name to the forefront. The industrialization and urbanization of post-Civil War America caused the rapid rise of new consumer markets. Manufacturers began to compete for customers through aggressive advertising, and the first attempts to create "brands" had begun.

Trade Card For Henry Martin's Furs, Ca. 1875.

Technological advances in printing, and the development of chromolithography in the mid-nineteenth century, led to the extensive use of color in commercial advertising. This allowed for greater use of illustrations, and the popularity of color advertising cards spread rapidly. By the early 1880s the chromolithographed trade card was being distributed widely by businesses ranging from small shops to large manufacturers. The 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia provided the first large-scale opportunity for commercial lithographers to display their products, as well as for a wide variety of businesses to hand out advertising cards flogging their goods and services.

Trade Card For Preston's
Infallible Yeast Powder, ca. 1880.

According to the Baker Library exhibit, "The great majority of trade cards printed in the late nineteenth century advertised household items, promoting everything from patent medicines, cosmetic products, and packaged foods to wringers, sewing machines and lawn mowers." Trade cards often provided an introduction to the idea of using manufactured products as replacements for items that were previously homemade. New marketing techniques, such as testimonials and premium offers were employed to promote the growing number of commercial products. Special novelty cards and cards issued in series were produced to encourage card collecting, which of course created brand loyalty and more product consumption. Soon, trademarks appeared on cards to maximize brand-name recognition and foster continued use of a particular product.

Trade Card For Brook's Spool Cotton, ca. 1880.

Trade cards featured all of the persuasive tools of the advertising game: alluring women, adorable children, cuddly animals, patriotic symbols, ethnic stereotypes, lush gardens, magical creatures, and exotic foreign destinations were all well represented. Industrialization was celebrated in scenes of urban growth, and the latest innovations in manufacturing and technology were shown as ushering in a new era of comfort and convenience. Home life never looked so good.

Trade Card For
Willamantic Thread, ca. 1885.

The public responded enthusiastically to this early use of colorful, eye-catching images, and collecting trade cards became a craze in the 1880s. Cards were swapped with friends, and collected and pasted into albums. As one of the most popular forms of advertising in the 19th century, trade cards reveal not just consumer habits, but also moral values and artistic trends. This makes them of interest to scholars of business, graphic design and printing, and social and cultural history. The popularity of the trade card peaked around 1890 and then faded by the end of the century, as mass-market magazine advertising became the preferred means of creating nationwide marketing campaigns.

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