ephemera

Best Selling Ephemera Books

Over the past two years, I've featured hundreds of books on a myriad of ephemera-related topics. Most of the books were recommended by subject matter experts--mentioned during interviews or guest posts. Today, I'm feature the best selling books (in no particular order) from all of those hundreds of recommendations.

Here at the ephemera blog, I'm able to get a sneak peak into what my readers buy when they click on of my links to the Amazon online store. I don't get specific info on what individuals buy, but the collective information is interesting and gives me a good indication on what's hot in the world of ephemera.

• Book Arts: Beautiful Bindings for Handmade Books
• Collage Lost And Found: Creating Unique Projects With Vintage Ephemera
• Encyclopedia of Ephemera: A Guide to the Fragmentary Documents of Everyday Life for the Collector, Curator and Historian
• More Than Words: Illustrated Letters From The Smithsonian's Archive of American Art
• Old-Fashioned Luggage Labels (Stickers)
• Pockets, Pull-outs, and Hiding Places: Interactive Elements for Altered Books, Memory Art, and Collage
• Warman's Paper (Encyclopedia of Antiques and Collectibles)
• The Booklover's Repair Kit: First Aid for Home Libraries

By the way, when you make a purchase at Amazon after clicking on one of these links, I get a small commission that helps me to improve the blog. I appreciate your support in this way.

[Photo attribution: Bookstore image by c'est moi!]

Doing The Hustle at Nelson Elementary

Back in 1973, at about the same time as this issue of Sets In Order hit the newsstand, my elementary school found it necessary to take time from our studies to teach us the fine art of square dancing. Later, they taught us how to do The Hustle. I still can't get that Van McCoy song out of my head. Surely, these dancing lessons must have been planned strictly for the amusement of the teaching staff. While I still haven't found a practical application for being able to do the hustle, I do fondly recall promenading some of my prettier classmates around the gymnasium at Nelson Elementary School.

But back to today's very interesting ephemera example. The cover of Sets In Order, the official magazine of the American Square Dance Society, doesn't do justice to its wonderful content. The issue contains many interesting and thoughtful articles on the art and science of Square Dancing, and the ads for Callers and Square Dance equipment make this an exciting read from start to finish.

Swing your partners, boys.

Virtual Book Tour - Authors, Publishers, Literary Agents

The interviews I've conducted with authors have been some of the most well-received posts I've written.

Over the past several years, I've had the pleasure of interviewing such as esteemed authors as Susan Berman, Robert Bogdan, and Jessica Helfand. The diverse group of authors featured on the blog have penned books on a myriad of subjects related to ephemera, including art deco design, scrapbooking, and rodeo queen ephemera.

I'd like to interview more authors. So, if you're an author, publisher, literary agent, or book promoter with a book on a topic that you think would fit the theme of this blog, please send me an email.

Mathias Freese Sent Me His New Book Down to the Sunless Sea

The author of Down to a Sunless Sea, Mathias Freese, an award winning essayist and historical novalist, was thoughtful enough to send me a copy of his book. While the subject matter is outside the realm of ephemera, I couldn't help mention his work, especially when I read a review that compares his Sunless Sea stories to those of one of my all-time favorites, Charles Bukowski. As many loyal readers will recall, I recently interviewed Bill Roberts, collector of Buk's ephemera. Who knows...maybe someday collectors will shell out big dough for Freese's ephemera.

Encyclopedia of Ephemera - Maurice Rickards

The Encyclopedia of Ephemera is arguably the most important book written about ephemera this decade. Published in 2000, it is the first--and perhaps the last--work of it's kind. According to Amazon, the Encyclopedia of Ephemera: A Guide to the Fragmentary Documents of Everyday Life for the Collector, Curator and Historian is an:

unparalleled sourcebook with over 400 entries that cover all aspects of everyday documents and artifacts, from bookmarks to birth certificates to lighthouse dues papers. Continuing a tradition that started in the Victorian era, when disposable paper items such as trade cards, die-cuts and greeting cards were accumulated to paste into scrap books...

The Encyclopedia is the work of Maurice Rickards, one of the leading experts in the study of ephemera. He spent more than twenty years compiling the book. In writing the Encyclopedia of Ephemera, Rickards amassed an enormous range of paper collectibles from the obscure to the commonplace. His artifacts come from around the world and include such throw-away items as cigarette packs and crate labels as well as the ubiquitous faxes, parking tickets, and phone cards of daily life. As this major reference shows, simple slips of paper can speak volumes about status, taste, customs, and taboos, revealing the very roots of popular culture.

In a review, Midwest Book Review wrote:

Encyclopedia of Ephemera provides a guide to fragmentary documents of daily life, from postcards and theater programs to laundry lists, and blends a survey of artifacts and art with a history of ephemera collecting. The author's artifacts come from world sources and provide an excellent survey of ephemera's meaning and social history.

Digging Up The Dead - Druin Burch - Vintage Books

I love books. And the good folks at Vintage Books, part of the Random House Group, have been kind enough over the years to send me new titles that they think I'll enjoy and that reader of the ephemera blog might appreciate. Today, in my mailbox, I found a review copy of Druin Burch's new book, Digging Up the Dead: Uncovering the Life and Times of an Extraordinary Surgeon.

So far, the reviews on Amazon have been overwhelmingly positive. One reviewer called it, "...an exceptional biography full stop, as well as a great read."

According the Random House blurb, it's a story about unknown surgeon (Astley Cooper) and his world--from grave robbers to the Prince Regent. Burch, who is himself a young practing physician, brings an insiders viewpoint to the world of Cooper. I can't wait to read it. It's next on my reading list--right after I complete Ship Ablaze, the riviting story of the history of the General Slocum steamboat disaster.

I've yet to meet an ephemera collector who didn't also have a deep appreciation of books and fondness for reading.

Thanks againg to Random House for making these great titles available, especially from first time authors like Druin Burch.

Worst Book Review Revealed - Beautiful Losers

It can now be revealed. Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers is the mystery book from the Worst Book Ever post.

I've never read anything by Leonard Cohen, but I'm a fan of his music, especially the songs, "Waiting on a Miracle" and "Hallelujah".

Leonard Cohen was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I don't know if he's won any awards for literature, but many of his books are widely loved by fans and critics; however, when it came to one review of Beautiful Losers, in the words of American Idol loser, Danny Noriega, "Some people weren't liking it."

Which Book is the Worst Ever?

I enjoy reading negative book reviews. For some reason, I find them hilarious--so much maudlin anguish. This one sounds like it could have been written by one of my favorite Simpson's characters, the Comic Book Guy. I love the Comic Book Guy. However, this is an actual book review that I found online. In a future post, I'll reveal the name of the book that this reviewer hates so much. Please note: I haven't altered the following review, except to correct a few spelling errors.

This book could not have been worse. Not if a concerted effort had been made to make this some kind of intellectual exercise in gibberish. I have never wasted more time absorbing the absolute random thoughts of an author than on this book. There are pages of just random words, one with no more connection to the next. For these other fools raving about this book must either be misguided patriotism or vain attempts at pseudo-intellectualism. If you are reading this review - please save yourself the $10 bucks and read something else.

I read dozens of books every year and have been doing so for 20+ years and I can never remember reading a worse book. The sheer futility of reading this book was similar to the feelings you experience right after you realize you have been ripped off. Worst ever!

What's your 'worst ever' book?

Abe Lincoln and Jesse Fell at Illinois State

The founder of Illinois State University, Jesse W. Fell, had his old buddy Abraham Lincoln draw up the legal papers that helped establish ISU, the state's first public institution of higher learning.

This 1943 yearbook was published more than 40 years before I found myself matriculating at ISU (something I've mentioned before). In my last year in Normal, Illinois, I was sent to live in Fell Hall, a condemned building on the quadrangle named for Jesse, the great founder.

Fell Hall was slated for renovation, but the ISU residence hall people inexplicably allowed a handful of older students to reside there. It was the first time in four years of dorm life that I had my own room, such as it was. My room at Fell dated from the 19th century. Heck, for all I know, Jesse himself might have flopped there a night or two when he was  in dutch with the missus. The room had outlets for old gas-fueled lights, which had been plugged, but not replaced with modern fixtures. It also had an ancient sink, but it only ran a trickle of cold water. The room was further furnished with a dilapidated wooden desk, an antique chair (one leg broken), a lamp with a tattered shade, and an old bed. The mattress, long past its useful life, was slashed across the bottom and bits of bed stuffing would leak on the floor.

Normal meant nothing to me. The ghosts of Fell and Lincoln did not haunt my ways nor the tall shadow of Doug Collins cross my path. Yet, I loved my time inside those four walls at Fell, and cherish the memories of my college days in dreary Central Illinois.

Charles Darwin Birthday Salute

Charles Darwin was born on February, 12, 1809, the same day as The Great Emancipator.

There will be a lot of references today to the 16th President's birthday. Instead of following the crowd, however, I thought I'd take a clue from this vintage issue of Mad Magazine and salute Charles Darwin instead.

Happy Birthday, Chuck.