Sunday, December 04, 2005
Very, Very Tiny Luggage Labels
Sarah's Books in Bangor, Maine, sends word that they have just started up a book blog, and they already have a fascinating item up about bookseller labels in old books -- as Sarah calls them, "the luggage labels of the book trade":
Note, by the way, that one of these is for Madge Jenison's old Manhattan bookshop Sunwise Turn -- the store immortalized in her 1923 bookselling memoir of the same name, and which also makes a couple cameo appearances in Sixpence House.
I've seen these labels on the inside covers of old books starting around the mid-1800s, and finally disappearing around the 1940s or 50s. Here's a question: why did they come about, and why did they go away? If anyone knows, I'm very curious to find out.
Note, by the way, that one of these is for Madge Jenison's old Manhattan bookshop Sunwise Turn -- the store immortalized in her 1923 bookselling memoir of the same name, and which also makes a couple cameo appearances in Sixpence House.
I've seen these labels on the inside covers of old books starting around the mid-1800s, and finally disappearing around the 1940s or 50s. Here's a question: why did they come about, and why did they go away? If anyone knows, I'm very curious to find out.
