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I’m thankful for… Abraham Lincoln…
November 26, 2014 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
As Thanksgiving rapidly approaches, one is compelled by the overwhelming blessings so many of us experience on a daily basis to consider things for which we are thankful, but often overlook. One such gratitude-producing individual for me is Abraham Lincoln. Was he a perfect man? No. Have many of his flaws been white-washed from history? Yes (I’m counting on the same treatment). However, this does not negate the truth that in my eyes, he was a man for “such a time” as his was. I’ve always appreciated his writing (whether it be from his own pen or another’s makes no difference to me). One of my favorites is:
“I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, then what is said against me won’t matter. If the end brings me out wrong, then ten Angles swearing I was right would make no difference at all.” Abraham Lincoln
We should all have such strength of conviction in regards to our actions under fire.
A short time ago I came across a letter from him which was printed in a National Intelligencer dated January 27, 1865 that may rival the above. It is his response to a letter received from him from Eliza Gurney, the wife of a recently departed friend. The full text is viewable via the image shown below, with the transcribed text to follow.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 4, 1864.
Eliza P. Gurney.
My esteemed friend.
I have not forgotten–probably never shall forget–the very impressive occasion when yourself and friends visited me on a Sabbath forenoon two years ago. Nor has your kind letter, written nearly a year later, ever been forgotten. In all, it has been your purpose to strengthen my reliance on God. I am much indebted to the good Christian people of the country for their constant prayers and consolations; and to no one of them, more than to yourself. The purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise. We shall yet acknowledge His wisdom and our own error therein. Meanwhile we must work earnestly in the best light He gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay.
Your people–the Friends–have had, and are having, a very great trial. On principle, and faith, opposed to both war and oppression, they can only practically oppose oppression by war. In this hard dilemma, some have chosen one horn, and some the other. For those appealing to me on conscientious grounds, I have done, and shall do, the best I could and can, in my own conscience, under my oath to the law. That you believe this I doubt not; and believing it, I shall still receive, for our country and myself, your earnest prayers to our Father in heaven.
Your sincere friend,
A. Lincoln.
So, what are you thankful for?
Exploring newspapers, 1900-1949… Any Discoveries?
November 14, 2014 by GuyHeilenman · 3 Comments
A unique pleasure one often experiences from the collecting of Rare & Early Newspapers is the hidden nuggets found within nearly every issue. Whereas collectible newspapers are often purchased due to their historic headlines or perhaps their rarity, the undisclosed content – whether articles or ads – often provides intrigue and a historical perspective that go far beyond the original reason for seeking the issue.
With this in mind, let’s have some fun!
This post will serve as a home for collectors to brag about the non-headliner discoveries they’ve found within newspapers dated from 1900-1949. Share your finds. All we ask is for everyone to refrain from using this post as a means for offering collectible newspapers for sale. It’s intended to purely be a “no-agenda” platform for sharing one of the simple joys of collecting.
If you are new to the hobby (or already are a collector) and would like to join in the hunt, to help you get started we are offering a highly discounted set of 5 issues, one per decade, covering the 1st half of the 20th century. This offering may be viewed at: Five-Issue Set (1900-1949)
Trick-or-Treat hits the national scene in America…
October 28, 2014 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
While many aspects of this infamous beloved/disparaged annual event have roots reaching back into the Middle Ages, it wasn’t until November 1, 1934 that the term trick-or-treat made national news… and even later (the 40’s) until the “holiday” became popular on a wide scale. The report below, printed in the NY Times for November 1, 1934, marks this “not so humble” beginning. Weather you embrace this day in fun, or avoid it like the plague, feel free to comment/respond with other related “trick-or-treating” events which occurred prior to this date.
A common thread…
September 22, 2014 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Question: What do Henry Ward Beecher (abolitionist), Leonard Bernstein (composer/conductor), Henry Bergh (founder of the A.S.P.C.A), Charles Ebbets (owner, Brooklyn Dodgers), “Boss” Tweed (NY political boss), Henry Steinway (founder of Steinway & Sons, piano manufacturers), and Samuel F.B. Morse (inventor of the Morse code) have in common?
Answer: They, along with many other equally famous, infamous, and relatively unknown individuals are currently resting in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York – it being among the most noteworthy cemeteries in the United States. A scan over the list of those buried at this single location is quite sobering – causing one to pause and consider the hope for something beyond the grave.
What inspired the above query?
While searching a National Intelligencer (June 9, 1849) for California Gold Rush content (which we did find), we came across an interesting article written by a journalist who had visited Greenwood Cemetery soon after it opened, and then again just a few years later. His description makes for compelling reading. While a portion is shown below, the entire article may be viewed at: Greenwood Cemetery
Trivia: No one with an arrest record was permitted to be interred at Greenwood Cemetery. This policy held true until the death of “Boss” Tweed, whose corrupt influence and power were apparently not buried with his remains.
So… what does this title mean?
August 25, 2014 by GuyHeilenman · 2 Comments
We recently purchased a quite rare newspaper: “The Georgetown X“, as Gregory’s Union List of American Newspapers notes only one issue of this title was recorded in any institution–this very issue now in our possession. But the title seems very odd. What does it mean? The issue gives no hint as to what the “X” means; is it the Roman numeral “ten”? Feel free to offer your thoughts. We’d love to know.
A gem from the American Antiquarian Society…
August 11, 2014 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
In celebration of its 20oth anniversary the American Antiquarian Society published a beautiful exhibition catalog titled “In Pursuit Of A Vision – Two Centuries of Collecting at the American Antiquarian Society”. Featured are a fascinating array of books, documents, maps & other paper ephemera, as well as several very rare & unusual newspapers we felt worthy of sharing with our collectors (with permission from the A.A.S.).
172. “The Chess Monthly“, New York, February, 1859
It has been common practice when binding periodicals — whether by publishers in order to sell cumulative volumes, or by libraries and private owners for purposes of convenience and preservation — to remove the outer wrappers and advertisement leaves from individual issues, leaving only the main body of text. However, periodical wrappers and advertisement leaves often contain important material which scholars (and bibliographers) are increasingly finding vital to their research. In recent years AAS has made it a priority to collect early American periodical issues with wrappers intact, even going so far as to acquire second, wrappered copies to complement a set bound without wrappers. In many instances, wrappered copies prove to be exceptionally rare survivals.
This issue of The Chess Monthly is a good example. The journal’s editor was Daniel W. Fiske (1831-1904), then chess champion of the New York Chess Club and later Cornell University’s first librarian. For a time, American chess prodigy and unofficial world champion Paul Morphy (1837-1884) held the title of co-editor, lending the magazine his marquee name. Only on the wrappers, however, are their editorial roles mentioned. The wrappers also contain publication information not available elsewhere, an advertisement for a set of Morphy- endorsed chessmen made of cast iron and — perhaps most important of all — the answers to chess problems published in the previous issue.
A gem in the American Antiquarian Society…
July 28, 2014 by TimHughes · 1 Comment
In celebration of its 20oth anniversary the American Antiquarian Society published a beautiful exhibition catalog titled “In Pursuit Of A Vision – Two Centuries of Collecting at the American Antiquarian Society”. Featured are a fascinating array of books, documents, maps & other paper ephemera, as well as several very rare & unusual newspapers we felt worthy of sharing with our collectors (with permission from the A.A.S.).
63. “The New-England Courant“, Boston, February 5, 1722
As a member of the family which controlled the Boston Globe,and as the newspaper’s treasurer from 1893 to 1937, Charles Henry Taylor avidly collected publication on the history of American printing and journalism. He generously donated to AAS anything it lacked. Among his gifts were runs of many important American newspapers, including this issue — the second earliest at AAS — of The New-England Courant.
Only the third newspaper to be printed in Boston, The New-England Courant was published by James Franklin from 1721 to 1726. During the Courant’s first two years, its popularity was bolstered by the publication of fourteen letters from one “Silence Dogood,” the nom de plume of James’s younger brother and apprentice, Benjamin Franklin. But the Courant had a contentious history, as James was often at odds with the provincial government, the powerful Mather family, and other influential Bostonians. In 1723 James was imprisoned by the Massachusetts General Court and ordered to suspend the Courant, a ban which James circumvented by issuing the paper under his brother’s name. Even after Benjamin ran away to Philadelphia in October of that year, the Courant continued to appear under this imprint until it ceased publication.
The front page of this issue contains an extensive article on the smallpox inoculation controversy then raging in Boston. While Cotton Mather and other clergy supported inoculation, many Bostonians disagreed. James Franklin opposed the practice in this and many subsequent articles.
A gem from the American Antiquarian Society…
July 14, 2014 by TimHughes · 1 Comment
In celebration of its 20oth anniversary the American Antiquarian Society published a beautiful exhibition catalog titled “In Pursuit Of A Vision – Two Centuries of Collecting at the American Antiquarian Society”. Featured are a fascinating array of books, documents, maps & other paper ephemera, as well as several very rare & unusual newspapers we felt worthy of sharing with our collectors (with permission from the A.A.S.).
117. “Frontier Scout“, Fort Rice, Dakota Territory, June 15, 1865
Thanks to Donald McKay Frost, AAS owns a complete run of the second newspaper printed in the Dakota Territory, preceded only by a paper of the same title issued at Fort Union the previous summer. Located in south central North Dakota, Fort Rice was a 500-foot square wooden stockade erected in the summer of 1864 to protect vital transportation routes from increasingly frequent Lakota attacks. Initially it was manned by “galvanized Yankees” — former Confederate prisoners of war who had enlisted in the Union Army rather than wait indefinitely in prison camps for parole or exchange.
In order to ward off the stress of isolated frontier living, the soldiers engaged in various diversions, including theatrical performances and the publication of their own newspaper printed on a portable press. Captain E. G. Adams and Lieutenant C. H. Champney of the First United States Volunteer Infantry Regiment served as editor and publisher respectively. In this inaugural issue, Adams encouraged the troops to contribute poems, stories, and adventures. “When this is done our paper is formed, a living, speaking, embodiment of the society in which we dwell.” The last of the fifteen weekly issues appeared on October 12, 1865, shortly before Adams and Champney left the fort. Most issues were printed on sheets of ruled blue ledger paper.
What got the juices flowing for Thomas Paine…
June 30, 2014 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
“The Pennsylvania Magazine” was one of only two American magazines which published during the years of the Revolutionary War, including a June, 1775 issue containing a great coverage of Battle of Bunker Hill and Washington’s appointment as Commander-In-Chief, and ending with the July, 1776 issue which included the Declaration of Independence.
The Pennsylvania Magazine
For most of its 19 month life, which began in January, 1775, it was edited by the famed Thomas Paine, employed by the publisher Robert Aitken. Aitken was often frustrated by Paine’s procrastination in providing material, as mentioned in Isaiah Thomas’ “History of Printing in America”:
“…Aitken contracted with Paine to furnish, monthly, for this work, a certain quantity of original matter; but he often found it difficult to prevail on Paine to comply with his engagement…Aitken went to his lodgings & complained of his neglecting to fulfill his contract…insisted on Paine’s accompanying him & proceeding immediately to business & as the workmen were waiting for copy. He accordingly went home with Aitken & was soon seated at the table with the necessary apparatus, which always included a glass, and a decanter of brandy. Aitken observed, ‘he would never write without that.’ The first glass of brandy set him thinking; Aitken feared the second would disqualify him, or render him intractable; but it only illuminated his intellectual system; and when he had swallowed the third glass, he wrote with great rapidity, intelligence and precision; and his ideas appeared to flow faster than he could commit them to paper. What he penned from the inspiration of the brandy was perfectly fit for the press without any alternation or correction.”
Remember these names from the “golden era”?
June 23, 2014 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
One of our more recent purchases was a sizable collection of newspapers from the West Coast which included many 20th century issues covering the deaths of famous movie stars or 
entertainers. Not surprisingly, Los Angeles newspaper gave much coverage to the passing of some of the more iconic names of stardom from the “golden era”. Those of a certain age well remember many of famous names of the 1930’s-1950’s (totally unknown to the millennial generation) and I count myself among them, so it was with a certain amount of nostalgia that I read the reports as I was writing up the newspapers for future catalogs.
If I had any common reaction to the reports I read it was to the age of many when they died. When I think of such stars I always presumed they were in their late 60’s or late 70’s when they were still acting & much older when they died. But that was when I was in my teens and 20’s, and anyone who had been “around for awhile” seemed like they were much older than they actually were. I was struck by the ages of many when they died, and perhaps you might be as well. Here is a sampling:
Tyrone Power 45
Humphrey Bogart 57
Rudolph Valentino 31
George Gershwin 38
Nat “King” Cole 45
Clark Gable 59
Jean Harlow 26
Cary Cooper 60
Mario Lanza 38
Jayne Mansfield 34
Steve McQueen 50
Judy Garland 47