This week's Sepia Saturday theme is books!
As my regular readers know, last month my Mom gave me two barrels full of family letters, clippings, books, pamphlets and misc. items that date back to the mid-1850's. They are called "The Letsom Letters", and here is the link to the post about that project. Please just "CLICK HERE".
As I have been recuperating from getting a bone removed from the side of my gum, I spent several days sorting through half of one barrel last weekend. One of the things that I found was the childrens' booklet below.
A local store in Yoncalla, Oregon (where the Letsom's lived) was called H.D. Yett General Merchandise. As a promotion to encourage shoppers to return each week, the store offered a series of these books, twelve in all. All you had to do was spend a dollar, and you could buy the booklet for five cents. I bet that little trick worked just fine and that the kids didn't miss a week!
Of course, I began to research the book that I found, which is titled "The First Trousers". The stories inside were written by E. Veale, "The Fairy Tale Authoress". The stories were illustrated by Palmer Cox, author of "The Brownies". The copyright on the front of the book is 1897, by Hubbard Publishing Co. Similar books to this sell for between $100 and $275.
It turns out that the author, illustrator and publishing company are all quite famous. All three worked together on many project. I'll add more info on them and H.D. Yett when I find good links for them. For now, here is a bit about Palmer Cox.
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| Source: Wikipedia |
Palmer Cox
So there you are! You can skim the book or read it all, but I thought it would be a nice addition to Sepia Saturday this week. I have made another post also, which is not on theme but it is another of Uncle John's letters and is really worth checking out, if I do say so myself! Just "CLICK HERE" to take a look.
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| Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews |
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| Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews |
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| Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews |
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| Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews |
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| Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews |
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| Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews |
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| Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews |
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| Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews |
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| Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews |
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| Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews |
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| Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews |
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| Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews |
For my other Sepia Saturday Posts, go to the sidebar on the left and scroll down until you get to this photo of my Dad and me for the list. Make sure to visit my friends and read their cool stories over at Sepia Saturday.
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At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot! All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.  |
14 comments:
Kathy, how wonderful to receive BARRELS of photos and memorabilia! You are so fortunate they were saved all those years. I laughed at the ad: "to all GOOD Boys and Girls." :)
And also: "to remind the older ones of the fact that they should buy EVERYTHING at our Big Store..."
First, that pic of you and your very handsome daddy is priceless. I wonder what you were looking at? The story you posted reminds me of one of my favorite books from when I was a kid, "Little Brown Bear Goes to School." It was an anthology of stories about Little Brown Bear and his friends, and I read it until the red hardback cover fell off and had to be taped up. I still have it somewhere in the attic. I LOVED that book!
What a talented illustrator. Those pictures are really detailed. I bet we all had a bear of some sort in our childhood stories.
That's a cute little book and I read it all.
Superb illustrations! I can see a child being fascinated by these.
Yay, more Palmer Cox! A treasure of a book you have here.
What a bargain -- 5 cents! Beautiful illustrations. I'm glad to get a peek at those barrels of goodies through Sepia Saturday!
A real treasure! Such a charming example of children's marketing too.
The note to the children in the book as Becky mentions are so funny, its a marvellous marketing tool. Of course I'm still reeling from your throwaway line of having "a bone removed" from your gum, the barrels have arrived at just the right time. Take care
Definitely creative marketing. I could not have passed that one up. I love books of any kind.
QMM
Oh, how much fun it would be to sit by your side as you go through those barrels and find treasures like this one. That book is delightful.
There's treasure in that barrel, that's for sure. The illustration in this booklet are priceless.
I loved this. This reminds me also of "The Little Brown Bear" series by Elizabeth Upham. I also have her "Little Brown Monkey" hardback book. This was a very sweet post.
My favorite illustration is of the frog rowing on a leaf. The whole series would have kept me going back to the store as a kid. I wonder, would it hold the same attraction today for young children?
A very clever idea - franchising storybooks just like franchising Fast Food restaurants. And there is something quite delightful about both the story and the illustrations. Quite a find.
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