We have a charming little number from popular Philadelphia publisher Henry Altemus for your #publishersbindingThursday enjoyment. 

Initially a bookbindery known for their beautiful photographic albums and bibles, Altemus began issuing series and reprints around 1889, all with elaborate and striking decorated cloth bindings such as this. 

 Gold dust: A collection of golden counsels for the sanctification of daily life. Translated from the French by E.L.E.B. ; edited by Charlotte M. Yonge. Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, [1897?]

#onthisday in 1862, Civil War General George B. McClellan was removed by President Abraham Lincoln from his post as commander of the Army of the Potomac. This political cartoon, published two years later, mocks McClellan’s military failures against the Confederate Army at Richmond and the Battle of Malvern Hill. After his removal, McClellan launched a presidential campaign to challenge Lincoln but ultimately lost to the sitting president. 

[Louis Maurer?], The Gunboat Candidate at the Battle of Malvern Hill (New York: Currier & Ives, [1864]). Lithograph. 

Image depicts George Brinton McClellan in a saddle mounted on the boom of the Union ironclad vessel Galena. A speech bubble above him reads, “Fight on my brave Soldiers and push the enemy to the wall, from this spanker boom your beloved General looks down upon you."   

We’re channeling Bonnie the dog’s eagerness at the start of this week! 

Marriott Canby Morris, Bonnie (dog) on front porch, [Sea Girt, NJ], 1886. Glass negative. 

Image depicts Bonnie, a small black dog, standing on a porch wearing a collar with a bell. A woman stands at the edge of the frame next to tall shuttered windows. Both the woman and the dog cast long shadows on the porch.     

Library Company member Robert Eskind brought our attention to a map of Santo Domingo that appeared at a time when the U.S. was considering the annexation of the island as an American territory.  Read more about the map’s origins, and its recent conservation treatment, on our blog.

Alas, tutto finisce!  All things must end, even this October’s #spinetingling #Wednesdaychallenge.  We hope you enjoyed some of the skeletons from our stacks and that they didn’t elicit too many #facepalms.  Thanks to @pemlibrary and @um_spec_coll for hosting! 

 (a final one from) Death’s Doings. Boston: Charles Ewer, No. 141, Washington Street; Dutton and Wentworth–printers, 1828. Illustrations by Richard Dagley.

There’s nothing like coming across beautiful surprises on the back of unsuspecting lithographs! 

John Collins, St. Mary’s Hall (Philadelphia: T. Sinclair, [ca. 1840]). Lithograph.

First image depicts an exterior view of St. Mary’s Hall from the Delaware River. Trees are on the lawn and the Hall at center is reflected in the river. A stone retaining wall runs along the river. Second image depicts an engraving titled The Language of Flowers which shows two women standing on a river’s edge and embracing while one collects flowers in the skirt of her dress. 

This photograph pretty much sums up our #MorrisMonday mood! 

Marriott Canby Morris, Knock em down group on Uncle Chas’ [Rhoads] porch, Haddonfield, [NJ], 1885. Glass negative. 

Image depicts three women, including Marriott C. Morris’s sister Elizabeth Canby Morris and Mrs. Woods, and a man all leaning to the left against a pillar while sitting on the porch step at Morris’s uncle Charles Rhoads’s house. The man looks outward while the women rest their heads on each other’s shoulders. The man wears a three-piece suit while the women wear dark high-necked dresses. There are vines growing up a lattice on the left. 

The Haddonfield area was originally developed by Elizabeth Haddon (1680-1762) who immigrated to the United States in 1701 to manage property her father had bought in the colonies.

This stereograph satirizes the “New Woman” of the early 20th century by depicting a domestic scene in which the era’s stereotypical gender roles are inverted. The “New Woman” represented the burgeoning population of educated and professional women who belonged to the white middle and upper middle class in the United States and Europe. 

William Herman Rau, Have dinner at one dear, [ca. 1897]. Albumen on stereograph mount. 

Image depicts a genre scene satirizing the evolving role of women in the home. Shows the lady of the house dressed in bloomers (bicycle garb) with her back to her children who play with toys on the floor. With her bicycle by her side, she tells her husband, who is washing clothes, to have dinner ready by one. 

Stereographs are photographs which are meant to be viewed through a device called a stereoviewer in order to produce a three-dimensional effect. The medium was very popular between the 1870s and 1920s and was widely accessible to audiences of a range of class backgrounds.    

On this #MorrisMonday, we’re getting Halloween costume inspiration from these stylish young subjects! 

Marriott Canby Morris, Elliston P. Morris Jr. and Marriott C. Morris Jr. playing railroad conductor, probably W. Walnut La[ne]. G[erman]t[ow]n,“ [ca. 1906-1907], cyanotype. 

Image depicts Marriott C. Morris’s sons Elliston Perot Morris Jr. and Marriott Canby Morris Jr., probably taken at their home at 131 West Walnut Lane. Both boys pose in sailor suits. They wear conductor caps and look at the camera with a serious expression. 

Cyanotypes are photographs made from a "blueprint” process that was pioneered in the 1840s but did not gain relative popularity until the 1890s. The simple process and low cost of producing cyanotype prints caused the method to become popular among amateur photographers. 

We admired this #finispiece for its elegance and simplicity, and then loved it even more after we noticed the final mis-matched ornament at the lower right. Cheers to you, little ornament, on this beautiful #FinisFriday! 

Samuel Clarke. Scientia metrica & rhythmica, seu Tractatuvs de prosodia Arabica… Oxonii: excudebat H[enry]. H[all]. Academiæ typographus, anno Domini 1661.