TGI #FinisFriday! These chunky cherubs from 1746 are all the weekend inspiration we need. 

William Hobby. Self-examination in it’s necessity and advantages urged and applied in sundry sermons delivered at Reading. Boston: Printed and sold by S. Kneeland and T. Green, in Queenstreet, opposite to the prison, 1746.         

We love the delicate gilt-stamped leaves on our copy of Edward Parrish’s The Phantom Bouquet (Philadelphia, 1862). Looking for some fall crafting inspiration? This book gives step-by-step instructions for creating and decorating with skeletonized leaves, so you could have your own phantom bouquet by Halloween!

Edward Parrish.The phantom bouquet : a popular treatise on the art of skeletonizing leaves and seed-vessels. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co.1862.  

“Per post, sir, received your last invoice and letter, 

No consignment of your’s ever suited me better: 

The burnt bones (for flour) far exceeded my wishes, 

And the coculus indicus beer was delicious." 

 A snippet of "Death (A dealer) to his London Correspondent” from Death’s Doings. Boston: Charles Ewer, No. 141, Washington Street.; Dutton and Wentworth–printers, 1828. Illustrations by Richard Dagley. 

For #typeTuesday this week we’re featuring this children’s primer printed in Germantown, PA in 1789. We love the alphabets printed in gothic type, and absolutely adore the tiny animals printed on the facing page.  

Hoch-deutsches reformirtes A B C und Namen Büchlein, für Kinder, welche anfangen zu lernen. Germanton [Pa.] : Gedruckt und zu haben von Michael Billmeyer,1789.

Charging into Monday like… 

Elliston P. Morris Jr. and hobby horse, 6706 [Cresheim Rd., Pelham]. Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer. June 1902. 1 photograph: gelatin silver print; 3 x 4 in. 

We just love the beautiful contemporary printed endpapers on this 1797 book of German hymns.  Designs like this were printed by hand using carved wooden blocks, and each layer of color applied one at a time. What’s more, this volume has its own slipcase covered in a different yet complimentary decorated paper.  Swoon!

Das Neue und verbesserte Gesang-Buch. Philadephia: gedruckt by Steiner und Kämmerer, und H. Kämmerer, Jun., 1797.

To add that little something extra, the binder of this pocket-sized gift book attached colored paper onlays to the upper cover, placed just right so as to make the flowers pop. If you look closely, you can see the outlines of the cut paper pieces underneath the gilt decoration.  

Emma C. Embury. Love’s token flowers.  New York: J.C. Riker, 1848.

It’s October, which means it’s time for a spooky and #spinetingling #LibrariesofInstagram challenge as we count down the days to #Halloween! What better way to start than with a skeleton hanging out with a couple of snakes on a barrel of whiskey? 

Two snakes and a skeleton on a whiskey barrel envelope. King & Baird, ca. 1861-1865. 1 envelope; 8 x 14 cm. (3 x 3.5 in.)

There’s still time to see our current exhibition, From Negro Pasts to Afro-Futures: Black Creative Re-Imaginings, free and open to the public in our main gallery through Friday, October 18.

Included in the exhibition is this photograph from our Stevens-Cogdell / Sanders Venning Collection showing members of the Treble Clef Mandolin and Guitar Club, circa 1905.

Charles M. Sullivan, Treble Clef Mandolin and Guitar Club (Philadelphia, ca. 1905). Gelatin silver print. Stevens-Cogdell / Sanders Venning Collection.

Ridesharing before it was a thing. #MorrisMonday

[Group in a wagon] Canoeing, Egg Harbor River, NJ Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer. October 12-14, 1907 1 photograph: film negative; 3 x 4 in.