Description:
Discussion of books, book collecting, book art, antique books, binding, book art, book labels, bookplates and emphemera (Or, a place for me to talk to myself about books)
Contents:
Alice In Wonderland and Film Cartoons Saturday
Late this Saturday afternoon I took a quick peep at a local thrift store to check out their book section. I found one book that I could probably swap at Paperback Swap. I walked over to the electronics section and forgot to go peek at the children's books. I ended up finding a couple of old ones - interesting artwork to say the least - the book Best In Children's Books and also a collectible gem How To Animate Film Cartoons. The oversized how-to book is filled with illustrations on how to make your own animated cartoons in color and black and white. This was a rare find and nice to boot.
Here are some illustrations by John Tenniel (best known for illustrating cartoons and caricatures in Punch, a satirical and comedic magazine that began publishing in the late 19th century) from the short story version of Alice in Wonderland in Best In Children's Books:
 
The precious prize - or things found in old books
On a short book hunting jaunt this afternoon, I came upon a red book with a very worn spine sitting on the shelf. The spine was so worn it was unreadable and little dried pieces of cloth chipped off its edge. The title, Johnson's Lives of the Poets Volume II ©1900 edited by Mrs. Alexander Napier with an introduction by J.W. Hales, M.A. Published by George Bell and Sons, London. When I arrived home I flipped through it and found this nice little piece of ephemera: Johnson Vanity of Human Wishes ©1896, edited with notes by E.J. Payne, M.A.. Original price of this booklet was 4 pence. The piece was tucked inside the book and appears to have been there long enough to protect it from the elements. I love finding things like this. One never knows what will be discovered in an old book. Vanity of Human Wishes Front and back covers 
and below is the book where the little booklet was housed.
Ephemera - Soneeta Nylon Hairnet Envelope
Here's a nice piece of advertising ephemera I found today at an antique store for a mere pittance. There was just no matching the beauty of yesteryear's ladies. Glamourous, stylish and demure with sensibility - that's what I admire about those women. Just candidly beautiful. No photoshopping, no botox, silicone, pierced body parts, heavy makeup or pouty porn looks were the trends of those days, rather the women of the past emanated class and vogue long lost with the cookie cutter gals of the present. Call me prejudiced if you will and I won't mind a bit. Soneeta Nylon Net Hairnet
The back reads: Guaranteed Perfect Upon Examination, when purchased, should this net be found unsatisfactory it will be gladly replaced. The L. Mayer Co., Chicago 5, IL
original price was 10 cents
I'm not sure the date of manufacture. The hairnet is still inside.
Straight out of Compton
 Found these 2 nice yearbooks, The Compton Yearbook - An illustrated, factual record of outstanding events in 1963 complete with dust covers still intact. Although the insides of these two yearbooks aren't that spectacular, the dust covers are fantastically sci-fi.
1964 Edition
Special Feature Articles of Topical Interest:
The Olympic Games
Trends in Modern American Literature
Training of an Astronaut
The New Math
A Summary and Interpretation of the Year's Events to Supplement
COMPTON'S PICTURED ENCYCLOPEDIA © 1963 F.E. Compton, Co. Division of Encyclopedia Brittanica, Inc.
1963 Edition below  
Special feature articles of topical interest:
The Social Impact of Communications Satellites
The Too, Too Common Cold
Today's Teenagers
The Revolution in Recreation
Paperback scores by accident
There was a time when I did not know what I was doing when it came to book searching and buying. I still don't -- much. I find myself buying books just for the wonderful covers particularly if they had anything to do with astronomy or astronauts. These books just had to come home with me.
About two years ago I found this book entitled Starhaven. For a long period of time this book sat on a bookshelf and I forgot all about it. Somehow it ended up on the floor months ago. I finally picked it up a couple of days ago and looked it up online to see what info was available for it. It was only then that I saw it was an Ace Double Novel paperback. All this time I didn't notice the spine or that there was another book cover on the back known as Sunsmasher. And all this time I didn't even know that Ace Double Novel paperbacks existed. According to Wikipedia, some rare titles in mint condition can fetch up to $1,000. From Wikipedia: "Ace Books' first series of paperbacks, the D/G/S series, began in 1952 and ran until 1965, by which time other series from Ace had begun. The D/G/S series used a serial number from 1-599, and a letter code to indicate price. D-series books cost 35 cents; S-series titles were 25 cents; and later there were several G-series books, priced at 50 cents." You can also find a complete list of Ace Doubles here.
My slightly battered and nicely foxed copy could probably fetch about $3 but that's fine with me - it's a keeper.
Starhaven/ The Sunsmasher sold at the original price of 35 cents.
Reference is D-351 SF Edmond Hamilton The Sun Smasher / Robert Silverberg (as Ivar Jorgenson) Starhaven (1959)
Here is the spine
Good book finds Tuesday
Okay, so I didn't find any high priced books but I still had fun. I always have fun book hunting. It's a veritable treasure hunt full of surprises.
I took a drive over to an area in another county where people are a bit more religious than in my town. Driving down the main highway you will often see signs recommending "Pray for our schools." There are churches on every corner and batty people with half their teeth missing, driving cars with those scary gigantic Biblical passage magnets that damn us all to hell.
I ended up at a little thrift store I occasionally visit, located on the main drag.
The door of this store had was open today to let in the fresh air. When I drove up there was an elderly man with a cigarette in his hand standing in the parking lot talking to someone seated in a car, the engine running. I stepped inside the store and began looking through the books. But the cigarette smoke was coming through the front door, competing with the fresh autumn breeze. For a couple of minutes, I tried to ignore the smoke and concentrate on books. Then I decided to
pull my shirt over my nose and kept scanning titles. About the time I did this, the elderly man came inside and I didn't want him to see me with my shirt pulled up over my nose so I jerked it back down. Thank goodness he finished that cigarette.
And thank goodness I got this book for a buck:
Betty Cornell's Teenage Popularity Guide
copyright 1966
Library of Congress
Catalogue Card No. 53-10967
*My copy is the twelfth printing
Artwork by Abbi Damerow
 The cover is a wonderful pink and oh so feminine hue, with cutesy innocent teenage girls peeking out at you.
So much to read and so much to giggle at!
Betty, you're so funny! You say some of the darndest things!
You warn me not to squeeze hickies, tell me to shave my legs up to half my thighs and bleach the rest, cover my head in church, have a wisp of veiling at an evening wedding and keep myself tidy and clean, all the way down to my underwear (you recommend only nylon).
Betty is also concerned about not letting teen girls walk the streets looking like hookers.
"How you look on the street is a question that seldom troubles many of us, yet it is a mighty important one. City officials have been driven to despair by the sight of young ladies traipsing up and down their town in short shorts and bedraggled dungarees. Whether you realize it or not, some so-called 'informal' dress is enough to make adult blood pressure rise to the boiling point. For Heaven's sake, have a little pity on others and a lot of pride in yourself: put on a skirt when you're shopping." Chapter 9 "What To Wear Where" page 55. If only Betty could have predicted what we have to live with today: People of Walmart. She would have a coronary!
Here is a scan of the inside cover. Unfortunately mine came without the dust jacket so I had to snag the above picture from the 'net.
If you enjoy teenage guidebooks from the 1960's and earlier, keep an eye out for this little gem. Abebooks has I believe 3 copies for sale with the average price of around $12.00. Amazon also has 3 copies with the same average price.
My hat's off to Betty Cornell. Thanks for the most interesting advice I've ever read about hickies. You're the best, Betty. |
