Symphonique Calligraphic

Valentine (?), calligraphy, to Mrs. N from Frank H Fretz
Hatboro (Pennsylvania or Indiana?), February 16, (18)60

“In vain to live from age to age / While modern bards endeavor / I write my name upon this page / And gain my point for ever.”

The delicacy of both the sentiment and rendering are endearing, and Mrs. N was lucky to have such an admirer (on Valentine’s Day, or perhaps her birthday?). Enlarge the image in your browser to see the intricacy of the embellishments. Fretz appears in various online search engines in a modest way. 6-3/4” wide x 8-7/8” high

Steamship Packet Drayage.

Steamship Packet Freight Receipts for Ohio River Drayage.

“Steamer Mink No. 2” May 21, 1883, Zanesville and McConnelsville,
“Str. Lizzie Cassel” May 2, 1885, Zanesville, Marietta and Parkersburg
both to R. D. Johnson, who was presumably in the burial business.
Search-engine enquiries on both boat names turn up a raft (ahem) of information.

Probate Inventory

William McCorkle Probate Inventory.
No place, but prob. New England; February 26, 1844.

Personal chattel and property as noted; buyer names and prices realized.
Four leaves, written on both sides.

Tools of the Trade.

Bookbinder Tools — Bone Folders.
Printer Tools — Pica Gauge.
In use everyday around here, these cow-bone tools enforce a razor-sharp edge on folded paper, dustjacket protectors, and myriad other tasks. Conversely, they can help keep a stubborn folded sheet stay open when applied to the fold; pressure permits a minor breaking of paper fibers and, therefore, re-alignment.

For scale, a type gauge shows inches (and picas). It has a right-angle hook on the domed end that grabs the end of a type stick into which handset type is placed.

Bowen Family Diary Trove in 4 Discrete Sets

Father-Daughter-Son-Relative Generational Diaries. Salem, New Jersey
(1) BOWEN, Frank S., 39 volumes comprising diaries, receipt books, inventory lists, pocket journals 1878, 1882, 1886, 1903-04, 1907-28;
(2) with BOWEN, Edna (daughter), one volume for 1917;
(3) with BOWEN, Elizabeth, one volume for 1930;
(4) with BOWEN William (son), one volume for 1899.

Generational diaries are so uncommon as to be almost nonexistent. To have them span the number of years which these do is exceptional. Frank Bowen was first errand boy, then head clerk, in his father’s dry goods store, where everything from window shades to blank books were sold in a general line of inventory. He assumed leadership of the business after his father.

Detailed activities and events predominate in this trades diary. As one example, strongly appealing material throughout, such as this retail mention of diaries, written in a diary:

“Fri., Jan. 1, 1886 / …this is the time for blank books. / Sat.,Jan. 2, 1886 / Diaries like 111 and 211 seem to be desired. This year we have had neither. We have #18 and are sorry for it. Desireable ones are also 131, 231.

“Tues., Jan. 5, 1886 / We have sold at least three diaries to-day, and might have sold another if we had had a long one with a day to a page. Mr. Thos. Wood wanted it, and perhaps papa will try to get some in Phila. to-morrow. Robinson & Hackett have not any. Mr. Job Dixon bought one to-day after inquriing elsewhere.”

Collection comprises 42 volumes and occupies 21 inches of linear shelf space. Heights range from 7” to 4” high; from 2” wide to 5” wide; from 1/4” to 1” thick. Condition ranges from just fair to very good, as is expected with such quotidian materials as these, which were in use and at hand constantly. Many commercial and retail records as well as the life stories of Elizabeth and daughter Edna and son William, growing up. Price, and additional information, via email from peter.pehrson@yahoo.com; this would have a good home with the institutional, or advanced private, collector.

Ledger with customer correction.

(Dryden?) General Store Ledger page with laid-in customer correction.
Springboro, Ohio, 1893 - 1894.
Unusual bookkeeping documentation of error and correction survive in this full day book, docketed Book 7, of this general store. 7-1/4” wide x 11-3/4” high x 3/4” thick. 202 pp., paper over boards, garnet crash spine. Rough with loose leaves and cocked binding. Handwriting in pencil and legible throughout, good detail, local names.

Exuberance.

Brown’s Three Tuns Hotel & Commercial Inn.
New Elvet, Durham, Sept. 9 - 10, 1909.
Being an obsessed manuscript Americana purveyor has led occasionally into the world of printed paper ephemera, and sometimes it’s not even American except by association, but with such an example as this (above), who could discount the enthusiasm? Look at that engraving, typography, and text…”Gigs & Saddle Horses on the shortest notice / Omnibusses to Each Train.” And you can tell this was a quality establishment offering, as they did, “Aerated Water” and “Bath and Fire.”

This is part of a suite of retained English tour memorabilia and personal finance congeries of American Rev. H. S. Huntington of Highland Street in Milton, Mass.

Daybook

Leonard Osgood, stamped 1829 (with entries earlier from 1825 and concluding 1864), no place, but prob. New England. 6-1/2”w x 8”h, paper over boards w/leather spine, ca. 180 pp. Such prominent New England family names as Chever (Cheever), Carleton, Atherton, Dodge, Dyer, Fisk, Hudson, Herrick, Means, Wintworth, et al. Detailed accounts showing labor, barter, early trades, altogether fascinating and recorded in a clear hand, with the odd slips laid in, one for “work done on the parish house.” Shown here is Osgood’s table of contents (partial)

Collector Pointers

“What’s a ‘Fair Copy’ ?” Before the advent of carbon paper and photocopies, social and business correspondences were copied by hand or copy press (more about copy presses in the next Collector’s Pointers).

Shown here is a “fair” or file copy of a response from Assistant Quarter-Master General Henry Whiting’s Office conveying an Invoice (presumably with payment) and Bill of Lading for “Two Boxes of ordnance” to E. Colt in Hartford, Conn. as noted. The obverse of this foolscap response (folded in thirds to fit a conventional 19th-century letter file drawer) bears docketing “Gen Henry Whiting / Q Master N York / 31 July 1849”.

The clerical Spencerian hand of this copy was characteristic of better secretaries, almost all of whom were male in the business world, and certainly entirely so in the military, in this case Henry H. Hall (sp.?) until after the First World War.

Collectors with accurate information can make the best educated choices about pursuing their manuscript Americana interests. We stand ready to assist.

Receipt for molasses sugar and conveyance of rig.

A “railroad evaporator.” May 25, 1875, Putnam and Laclede Linn Counties, Missouri. Stephen Mahurin sold to Peter Greggers. Crisp and clear muniment in Mahurin’s hand detailing recipe for making molasses from sugar corn and lye with his railroad evaporator, and giving dimensions for each element of the device, to which Mahurin assigned Greggers manufacturing and use rights in consideration of three dollars. 2 leaves, 3 sides on lined paper 7-3/4” wide x 9-7/8” high flat, and with several folds, some foxing not detracting.

This furnished with (1) account in .pdf form from Sacramento, Calif. “Record-Daily Union” (Sept. 5, 1886) newspaper of how such a set-up worked on a local farm, and (2) .pdf of Greggers 1912 Missouri death certificate listing cause, as well as other such genealogical details as place of birth, parents’ names, etc. .

Bill of Sale for the Sloop "Catherine Chard".

Built 1837 in New York, bought by Lewis Wiggins and Boston & Ganby. June 1, 1852. Conveyed from the port of Savannah, Georgia. Presented as shown, minor chipping at bottom, not detracting, and water stained, appropriately, but without loss of handwriting.

15-1/4” wide x 12-1/4” high open and flat. Four sides when folded. Part-printed on sides 1 -3, holograph docketed on side 4.

Inventory stores.

Part of our culinary holdings, in the kitchen rather naturally, and containing letter files full of clippings as well as books on food history, chemistry, culture, techniques and volumes of handwritten, manuscript cookbooks spanning 3 centuries. Under the stairs, on a wall shelf, is a horse skull found buried on a Nova Scotia beach.

Receipts & Apothetic Formulae.

Stephen Thayer, Boston, no date but prob. early 18th cent. Significant vermin depradation along right side gives this slender volume tremendous character and presence combined with holograph and laid-in recipes for hair wash, oil spike, corn plaster, itch ointment, black ink, and many others. Of ca. 65 leaves ca. 20 are inscribed. Illustrated is how to concoct “Dr Smiths Bitters.”

Letter of Merit.

Putnam Female Seminary, Putnam, Ohio. August 7, 1860.

View drawn by Catherine Hepley. Engraved by C.A. Jewett & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Misses Mary Mack and Henrietta R. Mack are characterized by A. A. Guthrie, Secretary of the Institution, as “…both of them highly esteemed for their scholarship and excellent deportment.”

Ghost ruled on a 7-3/4” wide x 9-7/8” high laid sheet without watermark. Condition issues as displayed.

“Receipt for Deafness.”

No place (but found in Maine), no date (but prob. early 19th cent.).

Equal portions of “Hungarian watter (sic), Ether, Oil of Almonds.” Do not try this at home. This is offered for cultural, not medical, purposes.

This delicate 4-7/8” wide x 3-7/8” high scrap fluttered out today during inventory from another dimension perhaps, and there’s the faintest embossed anchor in the upper left corner. Laid paper without a watermark. Perfectly charming.

Bartender Oaths not to serve underaged “white or colored.”

Dooly County, Georgia. (signed) S. A. Land, January 5, 1874. (signed) J. R. Burnett, December 1, 1874.

One leaf, holographs on each side. 7-1/2” wide x 5-5/8” high, without folds.

12-volume diary set. Doris (neé Green) Campbell. Mumford, and Monroe County, New York. 1951, 1976-78, 1981-82, 1984-86, 1988-89.

Daily activities of Doris Campbell and husband Junior (George Campbell, Jr.) in upstate New York near Rochester and covering more than 38 years.

Doris Campbell (1916 - 2001) was born to Howard and Blanche (neé Taggart) Green in LeRoy, New York. This is rich territory for researching and understanding aspects of a dynamic domestic emotional landscape. In recording her husband’s behavior, we learn:

“Wed - 5/17 [1989] 49^o - 79^o / Sunny - Warmer - Jr got the papers — I spoke about getting the sink drain fixed and he started raving — I’ve got so much to do — the drain and the grass is growing so fast — Next will be the septic tank—Cut a few weeds when I walked by the driveway. I watched TV—Jr slept awhile—Went to bed at 8—I went at 10—”

“Thurs 5/18 [1989] 51^o - 85^o..Cut some dandelions in A.M. Jr got nasty after dinner — I told him the water in the sink went down OK. He started to yell because I hadn’t put stuff in it lately to clean it out—Its outdoors that is plugged not inside—got very bad in p.m. …” “Sun 5/21 [1989] 56^o - 82^o …Jr wanted to call Howard. I checked phone bill and said we called him last but he didnt agree—I figured calling about 9 but he called [—]. Down at the cottage. Beth sounded grand. Jr ugly afterwards. Sun came out. Wanted to cut some dandelions in P.M. but Mark was mowing—Our grass is above our knees and I didn’t want to call attention to it…” Sun 6/4 [1989] 58^o - 72^o…I took a walk at 10—too wet—grass is so high and mosquitoes so numerous—I bauled [sic]—I wish he would do something about the grass—Hasn’t been mowed in a year…”

Twelve volumes total, comprising nine volumes in annual date books from “T. M. Skivington Independent Insurance Agency” in Caledonia, NY, measuring 5-1/4” wide x 8-1/4” high x 1/2” thick, all in plasticized leather wraps with comb bindings, all very good to excellent; one volume in college notebook of equal dimensions, and two volumes in conventional page-a-day arrangement. This is a significant modern collection with much to yield for the institutional, or advanced private, collector. The favor of your enquiry to peter.pehrson@yahoo.com for price and other details will garner the promptest attention.