Antique Books

This is the place for talking about vintage books, posting random vintage photos, and anything else vintage paper memorabilia!
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Kitty
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Re: Antique Books

Post by Kitty »

The advertisements on the back make me want every book on there! :lol: I just love old books so much! The pages in this book are so thick! I didn't know it would be such a quick read.
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

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Kitty
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Re: Antique Books

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Today I found a really cool thing! It's a souvenir book from a play..... From 1886!
The play opened on nov 10 1885 according to ibdb.com, and it says it was the 200th showing. The pictures are printed on silk or something.
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You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

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Kitty
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Re: Antique Books

Post by Kitty »

Kitty wrote:
Tue May 15, 2018 7:12 pm
Today I found a really cool thing! It's a souvenir book from a play..... From 1886!
The play opened on nov 10 1885 according to ibdb.com, and it says it was the 200th showing. The pictures are printed on silk or something.
IMG_20180515_183332261~01.jpgIMG_20180515_190835219~01.jpgIMG_20180515_191628010~01.jpgIMG_20180515_191736329~01.jpgIMG_20180515_183413264~01.jpgIMG_20180515_183422982_BURST001~01.jpg
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Well, guess what? I did some digging, and found mention in the May 13, 1886 issue of Life magazine that One of our Girls would be having its last performance on May 22nd, 1886. Its 200th performance. So what we have here is the playbill for Helen Dauvray's last performance of one of, if not her biggest success.
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I found out that she was married to a baseball player John Montgomery Ward who was famed but average in his playing ability. They were a famous couple while married. Have you heard of something called the Dauvray Cup? It was the first version of the world series trophy, named after Helen, who presented the cup. You can read more about that here.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dauvray_Cup
By my math, the two were married for about 5 years. 3 years later she married Admiral Albert G. Winterhalter, and stayed married till his death in 1920. Helen died 3 years later at 64.
I had a whole lot of fun researching her!
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

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donnie
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Re: Antique Books

Post by donnie »

What a wonderful find!! That must have been quite an expensive and prominent production to have such an extravagant program. And I noticed that the orchestra played a composition by Miss Dauvray between acts.

No, I had not heard of the cup, nor of her husband. That’s an interesting bit of hostory.

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Kitty
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Re: Antique Books

Post by Kitty »

Edit: I found out that the pictures are printed on vellum paper.
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

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donnie
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Re: Antique Books

Post by donnie »

What is vellum, exactly? Kind of like a textured paper? The photography is especially beautiful.

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Kitty
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Re: Antique Books

Post by Kitty »

donnie wrote:
Wed May 16, 2018 5:45 pm
What is vellum, exactly? Kind of like a textured paper? The photography is especially beautiful.
From watching videos and seeing pictures of vellum, I'm unconvinced that this is not silk. I still am unsure as to what vellum is really, but it seems to be stiffer stuff compared to this. I will get back to you on this super important matter. 😆 :lol: here is the wiki page for vellum. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vellum
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

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donnie
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Re: Antique Books

Post by donnie »

It seems from the article that, strictly speaking, vellum is animal skin, rather than paper. But I remember being vaguely aware of something like a fine grade of stationery paper being sold by that name - in boxes maybe. I must be thinking of the paper definition of the word mentioned toward the end of the article. Maybe that's the sense it is used in for the photos in the program.

Hey, vellum is a serious matter! :)

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Kitty
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Re: Antique Books

Post by Kitty »

The other day I learned about a children's book that was published in 1845 in Germany. It is called Der Struwwelpeter or Slovingly Peter or Shock-headed Peter, and is subtitled "Merry Stories and Funny Pictures." The stories are anything but merry! It is full of rather harsh cautionary tales for children. It was originally written by a father for his child with no intention of publishing. By urging of friends, it was published, and has some of the strangest stories I have ever read. This is coming from a girl who has read virtually everything Brothers Grimm.
This book has been translated into a fair amount of languages, and fortunately one of them is English. I found a new copy of this book online and it arrived today. Here is one of my favorites so far.
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You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

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donnie
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Re: Antique Books

Post by donnie »

:shock: :o Dang. That’s brutal! It’s hard to imagine that was meant for children, isn’t it? And illustration—complete with the blood. :?

Well, that certainly looks like a fascinating book. The way the figures is drawn is strange and unique, as well.

How do you think children of that day reacted to something like that in general? I know that’s a ridiculous question, as there’s no way to know, but I’m just interested in your opinion since you a lot of familiarity with these kinds of stories. Would you imagine they were scared out of their wits and kept firmly in place? Or maybe took them less seriously because they were used to hearing tales like this? Or what?

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