(PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION / 1956)

Election Year Argument Settler

New York, Time, Inc, 1956. Circular diecut glossy card stock wheel with riveted center. Near fine. Faintest of mild edgewear. Printed in red and black on white glossy stock, recto is subtitled "The 48 States" and notes, "This wheel gives you 818 useful facts about U.S. Presidents and election campaigns, past and present. Dial this side to cover the 48 states: how they went in '52 and '54, and what's at stake in '56. Then turn the wheel over to review every President from G. Washington to D.D. Eisenhower: their terms.. "veeps".. opponents.. and their parties." Verso subtitled "The Presidents." Each side features several small diecut square or rectangular openings to reveal these tidbits of information as you spin the wheel. An exceptionally attractive example of this scarce election year gimmick, originally sold for 25 cents. .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 42475

Catalogue: Ephemera

Jamestown Worsted Mills: Manufacturers of, Specialists in Dress Goods

Jamestown, NY: Wm. Hall & Co. n.y. [ca. 1880]. Single, heavy stock card. 4 3/4"" X 5½". Charming late 19th century trade card. Very good. Minor mounting traces on verso. Recto (text quoted in full as title here) is a delightful pastoral scene depicting two young girls in the foreground on a path in a field gathering baskets of wild flowers, with even their tiny dog (boxer?) clutching a basket of flowers in is mouth; in the middle ground is a wee cottage with a farmer herding a flock of sheep past it; and in the background is a large lake. Full color lithography. Verso is all text describing this firm's products. .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 18586

Catalogue: Ephemera

Keywords: TRADE CARD

(BOLTON, Chester C., 1881-1939, and BOLTON, Frances P., 1885-1977)

Remembrance Booklet

Paperback. Ohio representative, serving from 1929 to 1937 and again in 1939; upon his death his wife completed his term and became the first woman elected to Congress from Ohio when she served an additional 14 terms. Booklet, "I Remembrance / Chester C. Bolton / September 5, 1881 -- October 29, 1939." Wide 48mo (5½" X 4"). Stiff wrappers, string-tied with black-and-white cord. 4pp. Centerfold page consists simply of a large Kahlil Gibran quotation, while the page preceding and following this consists of a facsimile (NOT authentic) handwritten note from his widow. Reads in part: "He wanted a message to go to you at Christmastime. These few lines so express his life that I am sending them to you with the hope that they may be a bond between us as we respond to their challenge and try to enrich our lives as he did his in selfless service to the Country he so deeply loved. With heartfelt good wishes now as always, Faithfully yours Frances P. Bolton." Fine. An unusual memento from this unusual husband and wife Congressional pair, in superb clean condition. Also present is a printed condolence acknowledgment, 3 3/4" X 5¼", n.p. n.y. [1938]. Fine. Ornate "Your tribute / to the memory of / Chester C. Bolton / has been deeply / appreciated by / Mrs. Bolton and his Sons" set within a black mourning border. .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 28372

Catalogue: Ephemera

Scientific American. -- Supplement

New York: Scientific American, 1870. Broadside. 1p. Folio (16½" X 23"). Very good. Some original mailing folds archivally strengthened on verso, but recto is clean and handsome, with very few edge tears. Titled "Scientific American. -- Supplement" in a large and splashy typeface, this large broadside advertising this mainstay publication features a large steel engraving of "Railroad Bridge Over the Susquehanna at Havre de Grace" occupying nearly the entire top half. The lower half, divided into three columns, includes a full 1870 calendar, lengthy subscription information for Scientific American, and some boilerplate advertisements. Picturesque and ideal for display. .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 18128

Catalogue: Ephemera

Keywords: BROADSIDE

Shorty's Place: The Old Kentucky Home Situated at Boqueron Just Across the Bay

Boqueron, Puerto Rico: Shorty's Place, n.y. [ca. 1930?]. Handbill. 5 3/4" X 7". Near fine. Single light horizontal fold (not weakened). Fascinating small handbill advertising what purports to be a posh resort -- but couched in such euphemistic, charged language it's been suggested that what's being advertised is actually something less wholesome, such as a house of prostitution. Headlined "Shorty's Place: The Old Kentucky Home Situated at Boqueron Just Across the Bay" and subtitled "A Newly Devised and Modeled Pleasure Resort, of Entirely New Management, Catering Exclusively to the Select." Four stanzas of verse of varying length follow. "Ideally situated by the side," it begins, "Of a dreamy Garden of Stately Palms. / Comfortably and Enchantingly Furnished and Decorated, / So Befitting for all Entrancing Occasions. / Affording an Atmosphere of Relaxation and Freedom / Its so different... / With its added Rarity of Quiet and Blissful Privacy. / Having Bath and other Immaculate Sanitary Conveniences; / Boasting too a Spacious, Cool and Polished Dance Hall, / Where One may whirl One's-self into Ecstatic Forgetfullness." Stanza two: "Then there are also / The Best and Choicest of Liqueus, 'Wintry' Beers, / And the ever Cheering Daiquiri, / All longing for the privilege of doing justice / To their Distinguished Patrons." Stanza three: "Likewise, the Daintiest Dishes can be had / On very short notice. / With Piquant Flavors for Weary Palates, / Without sacrifice to American habits of eating." Stanza four: "Its simply the finest spot there be / To gather, to sip, to dance, to dine, / Where from worry and nuisances you're free / To have a reeling, rollicking, happy time." And in closing: "Costs have been tuned to the economical spirit of the day" -- apparently a reference to the sluggish Depression economy. Straightforward resort ad -- or subtle sexual innuendo?.

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 17282

Catalogue: Ephemera

ARTHUR, Chester A. (1830-86)

Printed Handbill

Twenty-first president of the United States, succeeding James A. Garfield upon his premature death and completing his term. Unusual anti-Arthur handbill, 1p, 6" X 8½", n.p. n.d. [1884]. Near fine. Interesting attack on Arthur questioning his home state's apparent lack of enthusiasm for their native son. Reads in part: "If New York Republicans are so anxious for Arthur's nomination, why did they not send a delegation to the National Convention favoring his nomination? She sends 72 Delegates, only 28 of them are for Chester A. Arthur, and 42 are against him.." Given the thin, flimsy paper on which such handbills are printed, this example is in remarkable condition, clean and bright and without edge tears. Rare. .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 15004

Catalogue: Ephemera

(BLOSSOM, Dudley Stuart) (1879-1938)

In Memoriam: Dudley Stuart Blossom

Cleveland, N.p. 1938. 8vo. Stiff tan folder. (2pp). Tipped-in illustration. Very good. Program for a memorial concert honoring the renowned wholesale hardware magnate, the noted Cleveland philanthropist who funded many a Cleveland civic project. Left inner page features a tipped-in portrait of Blossom, who had died on October 7. Right side lists the speaker -- Cleveland mayor Harold H. Burton -- and musical selection that included Wagner and Brahms. Unusual, and in tight clean condition -- an interesting tidbit of Cleveland history. From the collection of noted Lincoln/Civil War scholar ARNOLD F. GATES (1914-93). .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 28004

Catalogue: Ephemera

Keywords: W. BINGHAM COMPANY

(CONSTRUCTION BOND)

Illinois Central Rail-Road Company Provisional Certificate for One Construction Bond of $1000. -- or at 4s. 2d. Sterling, Per Dollar, L208. 6.8. Sterling

After two decades of false starts and endless stalls, in February 1851 the Illinois legislature at last incorporated the long-anticipated Illinois Central Railroad Company. Staking and surveying began immediately, and the first section -- running between Chicago and Calumet -- opened for traffic on May 24, 1852. Despite the fact that this railroad was the first ever to receive a federal land grant, they had a difficult time finding investors to purchase these bonds. Printed Document, 1p, 12 3/4" X 13¼", New York, NY, 1852 August 16. Very good. Minor edgewear; bit of edgewear on some original folds (not weakened). Printed on pale blue stock, this handsome provisional certificate promises a six percent return. Typical boilerplate text, with a variety of ornamental typefaces, signed at the conclusion by the company president (Robert Schuyler, president and director from 1852 to 1854) at lower right and company secretary (S.A. Lofson) at lower left, both heavily cross-hatched to cancel. Attractive ornamental border, and below this the lower quarter consists of nine small coupons on which the interest payments are recorded, all but one signed and heavily cancelled. Several large "Cancelled" and "Interest Paid" inkstamps cross these coupons, the main boilerplate text and the signatures area. All in all a most attractive piece -- scarce, from the earliest days of this important undertaking. .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 22271

Catalogue: Ephemera

(CIGARETTE CARDS -- BRITISH)

Gems of British Scenery

U.K. John Player & Sons, n.y. Complete set of 25 numbered cigarette cards, undated but published in 1917. Heavy stock 2 5/8" X 1 3/8". Very good. Faint occasional edgewear, but overall bright and attractive. A beautiful full set of these color pictorial cards celebrating England's scenic delights, with 21 cards printed landscape and 4 printed upright. Scenes consist of, in numerical order: 1. Lynmouth Pier Meeting of the Waters, Killarney, 2. Castle Rock, Lynton, 3. Watersmeet, Lynton, 4. Lydford Gorge, 5. Malmsmead, N. Devon, 6. The Doone Valley, 7. Fingle Bridge, 8. Oddicombe Bay, Torquay, 9. Clovelly, 10. Falcon Crag, Derwentwater, 11. Kynance Cove, 12. Avon Gorge, Clifton, 13. High Force, Teesdale, 14. Cliveden Woods, Thames, 15. Tintern Abbey, 16. High Tor, Matlock, 17. Mawddach Falls, 18. Fairy Glen, Bettws-y-Coed, 19. Aberglaslyn Pass, N. Wales, 20. Balmoral, Scotland, 21. The Trossachs, Scotland, 22. Ellen's Isle, Loch Katrine, 23. Loch Awe, Argyll, 24. Upper Lake, Killarney and 25. Meeting of the Waters, Killarney. Rectos each printed in brown feature series title, individual number and title and a brief paragraph describing each landscape. A charming set of these miniature beauties, each a lovely landscape. .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 40769

Catalogue: Ephemera

(DOMINICAN REPUBLIC -- PUERTO PLATA -- BROADSIDE)

An Appeal to Humanity

Broadside. 4to (9½" X 12"). Near fine. Faintly age toned and with just the slightest bit of edgewear. Puerto Plata (also spelled Porto Plata) is the capital city of a province bearing the same name on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, and on the night of August 21, 1871, a fire engulfed that city's commercial district, crippling this remote district. On this occasion the province's governor, RAMON D. PACHECO, and the president of its Ayuntamiento (municipality council), FEDERICO M. LEYBA, signed (in type) this broadside, which consists of two side-by-side columns in English. In highly flowery language and twisted grammar, Pacheco and Leyba describe the fire and what it did to their city and its residents. In part: "Forty six buildings which encircled the only and most valuable, that held the greatest credit, that represented the complement of the towns welfare, the support of the majority of the population and, in short, were the prop of the Government, the guarantee of wealth, the fountain of labor, the stability of the present and rich signification of the future, have, in three hours, been converted into smoking ruins; horrible tomb of so many lives that moments before were agitating with overflow of stamina.." They plead for help from the international community: "Porto Plata knows that its appeal will be heeded and therefore does not falter but addresses readily all nations, brothers in sufferings; all peoples, sympathizers with distress; all the powerful, compassionate to misfortune, in search of the help it requires, to even prove after, that if it knows to beg, it also will know to fulfil and guard, in each bosom of its children, altars of lasting gratitude. For this end it directs its wailings to the representatives of the Republic.." Dated "Porto-Plata, August 23d 1871." At the bottom, between Pacheco and Leyba's bold typeface names, appears the large (2" diameter) official circular blind-embossed imprint of the Ayuntamiento of Puerto Plata. On the verso of this intriguing broadside appear four dockets -- seals and notarizing signatures from four consulates testifying to the truth of the devastation described in the broadside. "This is to certify," pens the first docket, "that the foregoing is a correct statement, and that Ramon D. Pacheco is Governor of this district and Federico M Leyba President of the Town Council. Porta Plata, August 25h, 1871. Theodore Farrington B.V. Consul." Alongside this is the circular blind-embossed seal of the British Vice Consul of Porto Plata. Below this appears the circular blind-embossed seal of the U.S. Commercial Agency of Puerto Plata, with the illegible signature of that official (plus title "U.S. V.C. Agt"); below that the circular blue inkstamped seal of the North German Consulate in Porto Plata and the illegible signature and title of that official; below that the circular blind-embossed seal of the Danish Consul at Puerto de Plata and the signature of G.L.H. Zeller with title; and below that the signature of "Charles Albert Neumann / Consul for Austria=Hungaria," who also pens "consular Seal" in lieu of a missing official Austro-Hungarian consular seal; and in a second column at right the illegible signature and rank of the French vice consul, who also pens "Consular Seal" in lieu of a missing official French consular seal. A provocative and rare broadside, uniquely docketed by six diplomatic officials on the verso. Ironically, that other great fire of 1871 would take place about one and a half months after this: the great Chicago fire of 1871, which caused far greater destruction and got far greater press attention. Accompanying this broadside is a 1930s vintage printed manila folder from pioneering Midwest autograph dealer Forest H. Sweet ("American Historical Material / Battle Creek, Michigan"), with his early catalogue description of this item affixed at center. .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 32167

Catalogue: Ephemera

(GAS LIGHTING -- BROADSIDE)

Method of Placing a Portable Gas Machine in a Building with Perfect Safety

N.p. N.p. n.y. Broadside. 4to (9½" X 12"). Illustration. Very good. Faint original folds (none weakened); tiny inoffensive stain at lower left (not touching text). Interesting if bibliographically cryptic handbill with title in four lines in a variety of large typefaces. At center is a graphic depicting a cutaway view of a small brick structure (labeled "Tank House") with pipe leading underground into the basement of a two-story commercial structure, where it connects to a gizmo labeled "Carburetter" [sic]; one pipe labeled "Air Pipe" leaves this device and ends outside above ground, while another pipe heads directly up the center of the structure, connecting to two wall sconces and two chandeliers. Although not dated, the paper, typefaces and graphic all suggest late 19th century vintage. Quite attractive and displayable. .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 47849

Catalogue: Ephemera

(DRURY LANE THEATRE / BROADSIDE)

Splendid Tableau Vivant (As Afterwards Seen in Act 3. ) Village Hut, and Distant View of the Enchanted Castle, with the Entrance of the Fairy Nabote in Her Car, Drawn by Real Horses!

London, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, n.y. Printed broadside. Folio (13½" X 8¼"). Very good. Mild wear, mainly about the edges, which show discreet, expert expert archival mends on verso; tiny "DUPL NYPL" inkstamp on verso. Printed on ultra-thin pale green tissue paper by S.G. Fairbrother, undated but likely 1833, this scarce broadside advertises a number of upcoming productions in a bewildering text jumble of various type sizes. The central production is a revision of Mozart's "Don Juan" featuring John Braham, Madame De Meric and Mrs. Wood, along with "A New Ballet Opera.. to be called The Maid of Cashmere" by Daniel Auber and "The Sleeping Beauty" featuring Mademoiselle Duvernay. A superb example of this rare survivor. .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 44030

Catalogue: Ephemera

(TRADE CARD)

Compliments of J.C. Furry, Virden, Ills

Toledo, OH: E.B. Terry & Co. n.y. [ca. 1880]. Single, coated heavy stock card. 6¼" X 4". Good plus. Bit of edgewear. Full color lithography. Pair of huge open scissors bisects this space into four triangular scenes, each depicting children using scissors: a girl snips flowers off a tree into her friend's hat, a girl gives a little boy a haircut, a naughty girl cuts the tassels off the bottom of a Victorian parlor chair for her kitty to play with, two little girls play at cutting and sewing. Verso is blank. .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 26844

Catalogue: Ephemera

Keywords: TRADE CARD" "SCISSORS

(TRADE CARD)

Davis Vertical Feed Sewing Machine

Cleveland: Johns & Co Lith, n.y. [ca. 1880]. Single, heavy stock card. 4½" X 3". Charming late 19th century trade card. Near fine. Black and white recto depicts two nearly identical side-by-side scenes: at left a woman seated in a Victorian parlor sews by candlelight, straining to see the work in her lap while a cloud above her head indicates she dreams of sitting comfortably in front of a proper tabletop newfangled sewing machine; at right a women sits in front of just such a machine -- domestic bliss! Verso is blank. .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 26843

Catalogue: Ephemera

Keywords: TRADE CARD

(TRADE CARD)

The Diamond Dyes. Only 10 Cents

Buffalo: Gies & Co. n.y. [ca. 1880]. Single heavy stock card. 4 3/4" X 3½". Very good. Full color lithography recto shows young children leaving school, saying to other children, "Say, boys, see the Inks we have made. Prof. Smith said the DIAMOND DYES made the best Inks, and told us to make our own, and so we have. You can get any color, and one ten cent package makes a pint of the nicest ink." Fine-print text on verso touts the quality, method, list of colors, etc. .

Main Street Fine Books & ManuscriptsProfessional seller

Book number: 26846

Catalogue: Ephemera

Keywords: TRADE CARD" "STOVES