Have you gone pumpkin picking yet? 

John H. Webster, [Bertha T. and Clement B. Wester near the smokehouse, Mount Equity, Pa.], ca. 1890, glass negative. 

Image depicts the photographer’s brother, Clement B. Webster, with his wife, Bertha T. Webster, near the smokehouse on the property of Mount Equity in Pennsdale, Pa. Bertha is attired in a striped dress, standing against the shed with a tennis racket in hand. Clement sits at her feet, resting his elbow on a pumpkin. The photographer’s aunt, Hannah Mary S. Taylor, rented Mount Equity from her son-in-law’s family during the summer months of 1889 and 1890. The property is now home to a Buddhist Monastery, Mt. Equity Zendo Jihoji. 

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a celebration of Native American history and culture. To commemorate the day, we are sharing this view by Philadelphia landscape photographer James Rich. Rich was commissioned in 1908 to accompany a Rodman Wanamaker expedition to Yellowstone to photograph the region’s landscape and Native American life. 

James Bartlett Rich, Dividing the beef, Lodge Grass, Montana, 1908. Lantern slide. 

Picture shows Native Americans and African American cowboys dividing a carcass of beef in front of tepees and a tent. This lantern slide was created for optical viewing devices known as “magic lanterns,” a technology that predates the advent of photography. Slides like this one were often meticulously hand-colored to entice viewing audiences.

“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.

If you are in need of an electrotyped type ornament, Bruce’s New York Type Foundry probably has what you’re looking for.  Beehive? Got it.  Tiny chair? Absolutely. Oyster? No problem.  Avocado? Sure, why not, just use the oyster.

An Abridged Specimen of Printing Types, made at Bruce’s New-York Type-Foundry. New-York: George Bruce’s Son & Co., 1869. 

Our feed has been looking a little gray-scale this week, so we decided to introduce a little color. But then we couldn’t decide which color, so we just did all of them.  

G. W. Septimus Piesse. Chymical natural and physical magic intended for the instruction and amusement of juveniles during the holiday vacation. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1859.

We’ve still got Shakespeare on the mind, so decided to highlight the Wayward Sisters again, this time #PublishersBindingThursday style. 

This is volume 6 of a 15 volume set of  the works of Shakespeare, each volume with a different gold-stamped decoration to match the contents. If you look very closely, you can see the name of the die-cutter, [John] Feely, engraved into this stamp, in the folds of fabric just under the Witches’ fingers.

The plays and poems of Shakespeare. Edited by A.J. Valpy. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1842.
  

Our #TinyTuesday offering this week is too small for its own woodcuts, but no matter. We think they look just fine sideways, don’t you? 

Charles Perrault. Cinderilla; or The little glass slipper. Litchfield [Conn.]: T. Collier, ca. 1800.

#GiltyPleasures posters have arrived!! It isn’t long now until our opening on February 2nd. For more info visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/giltypleasures-tickets-4172636…#lcpgiltypleasures #iglibraries #lcpexhibits #lcpinsider#librariesofinstagram

Tomorrow we welcome Michael Zinman, renowned collector of Americana and inventor of the critical mess theory of collecting, to speak at our Annual Meeting reception and celebrate the opening of our exhibit, The Living Book: New Perspectives on Form and Function. Mr. Zinman has given the Library Company some amazing additions to our collection including texts for the blind and many with unique bindings, such as this dos-a-dos, Psalms and Hymns (1810), on display in the gallery. 

Psalms and Hymns (New York, 1810).  The Michael Zinman Binding Collection.

Life and Loves: adventures with books and booksellers (highly enjoyable and often successful); with women (entertaining but a non-starter in this environment); and with my epiphanies du jour (invariably disastrous); in all, a merry dessert for a merry evening. To attend, register HERE.