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They Put It In Print… How to hate – 1941…
September 22, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
As we were searching through our issues from 1941 looking for new WWII content, to our great dismay we discovered a article on page 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle dated November 15th headed: “Goebbels Tells Germans How To Hate Jews”, which was followed by his ten “reasons” to hate them. There are some who wish to ignore and/or deny the existence of the hatred which ran rampant during this time in world history, but thanks to the S.F. Chronicle, they put it in print:
I’m New Here: Week Thirty-One
September 20, 2019 by Stephanie Williams · 1 Comment
Newspapers were bound into volumes throughout the years for a variety of reasons. My favorite is that the owner of a large house would send off the papers that had been delivered, ironed, and read throughout the course of a year. A book binder would glue and sew them together, and they would be returned to the home’s library, to be 
arranged with all the other years, and thus mark the history within which great homes and great families were housed.
Breaking a volume of bound issues goes against the grain for someone like me. Perhaps the remembered library hush of early childhood imprinted an aura of solemnity to the world of books; perhaps the shadowed mystery of pre-reading years conjures the aroma that is akin to sacred things. The most likely reason, however, is reflected in the lifetime acquisitions boxed in spare spaces, despite overflowing shelves in every room. I like books. And my forays into the back are exercises in willpower if I am headed toward All the Year Round, Household Words, Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s Weekly or Scribner’s Monthly – which are liberally laden with serialized stories from beloved authors.
This week, in a search for details surrounding a Harlem rabble-rouser, I found an article headed “BRITAIN AMERICANIZED, CHESTERTON CONTENDS”, followed by, “He says Existence of Nation Is Being Altered by American Economic Pressure”. The opening words confirmed my hope that these were indeed opinions offered by the great writer of The Man Who Would Be Thursday, the Father Brown Mysteries, and seventy other titles. Many American readers, such as myself, have relished the literary works of this sharp-witted, kind-hearted lay cleric of the early 1900’s.
The affection, it seems, was not mutual.
“Speaking last night at the Delphian Coterie dinner, G.K. Chesterton declared that English habit and life, the look of the English town and the whole tone of English existence are being altered by the economic and commercial pressure of America. He said that if the Kaiser had occupied London with the Prussian Army he could not more completely have denationalized the English nation and city. ’While I object most violently to the Americanization of England,’ he said, “I have no objection to the Americanization of America. Most Americans I have known I have liked, but I have like them most when I have known them in America. Let us approach all international criticism with a good deal of what our fathers called Christian humility. What Americans call it I do not know because I do not think they ever met it.’”
And, with that, I have nothing more to say.
Labor Day – back to school, end of summer, and hurricanes – Oh My!
September 2, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Labor Day weekend is often received with quite divergent emotions. Most children view its encroachment with sadness as marks the end of their summer and a return to school, whereas at least a portion of parents view it in a positive light as a return to a bit of normalcy, and to sports enthusiasts, the onset of football season. However, regardless of which point of view one embraces, for coastal residents in the east and south, their emotions are typically coupled with a bit of trepidation as it also signals the onset of prime hurricane season. In this regard, the Albany Evening News for September 4, 1935 tells of what has become known as The Great Labor Day Hurricane. The image below tells of at least the initial detail of this historic weather-generated disaster. So, as we ask the Lord’s blessing before enjoying our outdoor BBQ’s today, let’s be thankful these tragic events are few and far between.
Announcing: Catalog #284 (for July, 2019) is now available…
July 2, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
- Catalog 284 (in its entirety)
- Noteworthy Catalog 284 ($250+)
- Combined Catalogs (current, w/ remnants of previous)
Don’t forget about this month’s DISCOUNTED ISSUES.
(The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days, upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.)
Two hours before disaster… Food for thought!
July 1, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
What were you doing when President John F. Kennedy was shot, when the space shuttle Columbia exploded, or when the World Trade Center’s twin towers were struck by planes? Remembering what one was doing at the exact moment such disasters strike is common. But what about two hours earlier? Disasters rarely come with warnings, and in most cases, those within their physical or emotional path are simply going about yet another day – washing dishes, changing diapers, walking dogs, daydreaming at school, arguing with a friend – going through the motions of life. AND THEN…
Such was the case on May 6, 1937 as depicted in an issue of the New York World Telegram. We’ll let the image shown below do the talking. Every moment of every day is precious. What were you doing two hours before you lost a child… a friend… a spouse… a parent? “Two Hours Earlier!” Just something to think about.
Announcing: Catalog #283 (for June, 2019) is now available…
June 4, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
- Catalog 283 (in its entirety)
- Noteworthy Catalog 283 ($250+)
- Combined Catalogs (current, w/ remnants of previous)
Don’t forget about this month’s DISCOUNTED ISSUES.
(The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days, upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.)
They Put It In Print (1938)… Martin Niemöller…
May 28, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · 1 Comment
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” (Martin Niemöller)
The Christian Science Monitor for March 4, 1938 reports Reverend Martin Niemöller has been sent off to a Nazi concentration camp.
I’m New Here: Weeks Fourteen & Fifteen…
May 24, 2019 by Stephanie Williams · Leave a Comment
Last week I didn’t post because I was involved in a local amateur production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Consequently, I returned to work with many dramatic musical numbers dictating the soundtrack of my mind. Perhaps that influenced my interest in an assigned hunt for a title that reported on the death of the “Leather Man” in 1839.
I found it, and duly replied back to the collector. But I also took a little bit of a break to search out the meager story of this individual who was a vagabond for 32 years of his life. The inscription on his tombstone describes a man, “who regularly walked a 365-mile route through 
Westchester and Connecticut from the Connecticut River to the Hudson living in caves in the years 1858–1889.” Like clockwork, apparently, he completed his circuit every year and was greeted and given hospitality by many along the way who would normally reject any other vagrant. The internet provides an intriguing image of this leather patchworked fellow in his exile from the rhythms of normal life.
And, with the tortured song of the male lead sounding in my head, I wondered at the days preceding his arrival; what made him the man who came to be known this way?
Was he tormented and driven to trudge through the days, or was this a happy occupation for a human being – leaving behind the established cares of civilized life, content to cover so much ground in so many hours for the prescribed revolutions of the sun? Either way, or something in-between, he made it to the second page of The New York Times. For all the documentation housed here, how many millions of unread or even untold stories must there be?
Anyway, I am back at work, tracking down first, second and third day accounts of the original murder that inspired Capote’s “In Cold Blood” and pulling the obituary for a man who had no known name or history of origin. Next week I am determined to look at these territory papers that are so desirable, and maybe delve into the popular Gentleman’s Magazines with their coveted battle maps.
All of which remind me of one theory concerning the Leather Man: that he was an ex-French soldier. Perhaps that’s true, and all the years of marching over fields and sleeping rough became a way of life he ultimately could not break. Whatever compelled him, day after day, I’m fairly certain a tragic musical score is appropriate.
“Life’s Poetry”… Food for thought…
May 16, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
As I was searching through our inventory of mid-1850’s Correctors (Sag Harbor) for an historic ad for “Douglass & Van Scoy – PHOTOGRAPHS and DAGUERREOTYPES” – pioneer American photographers, I came across the poem shown below which caused me to pause and smell the roses. Enjoy.
Announcing: Catalog #282 (for May, 2019) is now available…
April 30, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
- Catalog 282 (in its entirety)
- Noteworthy Catalog 282 ($250+)
- Combined Catalogs (current, w/ remnants of previous)
Don’t forget about this month’s DISCOUNTED ISSUES.
(The catalog links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days, upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.)