Picasa Album/ Brooklyn Trip/The Inspector General Of Insane

More often than not I update the blog once a week . Since I have been posting information in bits and pieces throughout the week consider this the early Sunday edition. I just got back from a flea market in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia. Fairmount is one of those neighborhoods in which people like me wonder why they did not buy a house there when it was a slum. Now it is very cozy and a nice place to raise a family.Ruth and Ricci Andeer had the good fortune( and good sense) to settle there , raise a family and start a bookstore at 2202 Fairmount Ave. The flea market wasn't very productive so I stopped at their bookshop and found a copy of
Songs Of Kabir by Rabindranath Tagore. The bookplate in it was mildly interesting ( I am going through bookplate withdrawal and needed a fix) plus the inscription called out for translation. Can someone out there assist me? Here is what I have found out about James Kip Finch (1883-1967).He was an important civil engineer , author, and the dean of the school of engineering at Columbia University.

Malcolm Enright, fellow bookplate enthusiast ,blogger. and "jeweller to the lost" recently sent me this breathtaking photograph of Antarctica .

http://vandasymon.blogspot.com/2008/07/plate-for-every-occasion.html

Here is a bookplate to put a smile on your face. I found it on Vanda Symon's blog.

Some people have the single minded ability to muster all their mental resources and focus that energy on a single project for a sustained period of time.That is not the way my mind usually works . I am a mental sprinter . Either I learn something quickly or I go on to another project.

The folks at Google have figured out that there are many people whose heads are wired that way and they design their products accordingly. That is why I am so pleased with the Picasa photo album which I am using in conjunction with an article about Hugh and Margaret Eaton for

The Exlibris Chronicle. The article will be about Eaton designed bookplates but the Picasa Album will encompass all kinds of ephemera which they produced at The Valhall Studio in Brooklyn , New York

This album is a work in progress and much more is to be added in the next few days.

http://picasaweb.google.com/bookplatemaven/BookplatesHughAndMargaretEaton

Speaking of Brooklyn, I will be there on July 23rd and 24th on a bookplate expedition. If you are in the area and have bookplates to sell or trade please contact me. Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

More Brooklyn Bookplates/Hugh & Margaret Eaton

Click On Images To Enlarge

I collected art pottery for several years . After a while I was able to recognize the output of many potteries ten feet away from a flea market table.
The familiarity that comes from touching , seeing and handling applies to the bookplates as well.

In the early 1900's Hugh and Margaret Eaton operated The Valhall Studio at 339 Halsey Street in Brooklyn.They produced Christmas cards, bookplates ,illuminated cards , etc.
Very little has been written about them so more research needs to be done.Hugh Eaton died in the 1920's but I am under the the impression the studio continued to operate for many years.




eBay Seller: bookplatemaven: Prints, Postcards Paper items on eBay.com

I listed 25 bookplates for sale on Ebay this weekend.If you are curious simply click on the link above.

At the end of the month I will be in the Albany, New York area visiting family and going on to a " book village " in Delaware County (Hobart , New York). I still have some free hotel nights left but have opted to try something new( for me) , a bed and breakfast.
By June 30th I will be in Cooperstown ,New York for an antiquarian book fair.
If you are in upstate New York and have bookplates to sell or trade I would love to hear from you. My email is bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

See you next week.

Brooklyn, World War Two and Bookplates

The Erasmus Hall bookplate shown above was engraved by Peter Maverick around 1790.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE
Erasmus Hall has been around since the late 1700's and during that time I am sure many captains of industry, poets . politicians and artists have studied or taught there. Unfortunately, the only famous graduate I know of is Barbara Streisand. Last night , I took a stupid pill and went to see Oceans Thirteen in which Barbara Streisand's ex husband Elliot Gould appeared.It was a terrible waste of time. Save your money and see something else or wait for it to come on HBO.
I will make an effort to list other notable Erasmus Hall graduates and your input is also encouraged. My email is bookplatemaven@hotmail.com
A list of famous graduates was easy to find. Follow this link:
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus_Hall_High_School

The Frederick Willis Davis plate was engraved by William Fowler Hopson
I have no idea what a stationary engineer is or does.Later in the day I will look it up out of curiosity.Click on any image to enlarge.
Okay, in laymans terms stationary engineers are responsible for keeping boiler systems running properly.My source is Http://www.iuoe.org/Stationary/StationaryField.htm


When we went on a class visit to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens around 1948 or 49 we were shown a century plant in bloom.The next time it blooms my four year old grandson Harrison will be about forty five years old.




I grew up in Brooklyn , New York during W.W.ll when the "Axis Of Evil" were the Germans, Italians Japanese. We used to collect nylon stockings and tin cans , which were brought to to the fire station where somehow they were used to defeat the enemy. Bubble gum was not available because it had a secret ingredient which also was needed for the war effort.
The Brooklyn Dodgers were alive and well and the Dewey Movie Theatre on Coney Island Avenue was so small that they gave away free comic books to the first twenty five kids who left .
I buy bookplates and ephemera with a Brooklyn connection so here is a representative group.

See you next week.