Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Book corner protectors from DeWolfe and Fiske

Book corner protectors have been previously discussed in a blog post on October 29, 2009. They are distinctly uncommon and at that time I showed two that I had found. Here is another one.

The book it protects is an 1895 reprint of Captain January by Laura E. Richards. Estes and Lauriat is the publisher . In a book writing career that included numerous popular children's books, this is perhaps Richards' most famous title. For a good biography see: http://readseries.com/auth-oz/richardsbio.html.

The corner protectors here were issued by DeWolfe and Fiske Company. In addition to being a publishing company of note, it also ran the Archway Bookstore.

It was there that this book was sold. This book however was not sold in 1895 despite the title page date.

In 1907 the Archway bookstore moved from 365 Washington Street to the Franklin Street address. Thus the corner protectors at their earliest are from 1907.

I believe that corner protectors from this era are much more difficult to find than dust jackets from the same years.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Butterick Publishing Company Postcard

Although this is a magazine not a book publisher, I thought this postcard was appealing enough to post it here.

The card which is postmarked in 1902 advertises on its front several of the Butterick publications. A well dressed fashion appropriate woman is pictured on the card.

The reverse refers to the receipt of funds for a subscription.

The Butterick Publishing Company was founded by Ebeneezer Butterick. Butterick was a tailor known for clothing patterns. In 1867 he introduced his first magazine- Ladies Quarterly of Broadway Fashions. Over the next number of years Butterick began a number of fashion journals including The Delineator, Metropolitan Fashions, and Modern Revue. In 2001 the McCall Pattern Company acquired Butterick. For a more detailed account see http://butterick.mccall.com/butterick-history-pages-1007.php