Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The Weatherford Printing Company, May, 1912. First edition. 8vo, original printed wrappers, 24, [1] pages. Seven inserted plates. "It was Dr. Baird, I believe, who said that a public museum should be 'a collection of labels with specimens to illustrate them.'" Issued as Educational Paper 1 by the..... More

New York: Van Norden & American, Printers, 1847. First edition. Original printed brown wrappers, 7.5 x 4.5 inches, 24 pages. Woodcut illustration of Barnum’s American Museum on the outer rear wrapper. A promotional pamphlet full of the expected puffery and ballyhoo, published the year Stratton returned from his European tour..... More

[Philadelphia: Philadelphia Game Mfg. Co., 1915]. First edition. Single leaf of letterhead with a printed mimeo letter, approx. 11 x 8.5 inches, with an approx. 7x 6 order form ("1915 Line-Ups Now Ready") and an attached leaflet printed recto and verso (with halftone illus. of the game) measuring approx. 6.25..... More

[Addison or Elmira, N. Y.?]: n. p., [ca. 1906?]. First edition. Broadside, approx. 5.5 x 11 inches. “Great apprehension is felt by many of our best citizens for the future of our nation. Discordant and disintegrating elements are multiplying.” What poses this threat to the “foundation rock” of America? The..... More

[N. p. n. p., ca. 1910?]. Approx. 3.5 x 5.5 inches, postally unused, divided back, no stamp box. An evocative image of the trio atop their various cycles--a man in evening dress on a unicycle, an ingenue upon a bicycle that would do credit to any contemporary fixie-hipster, and a...... More

[N. p. but Halifax? n. p., ca. 1875-1885]. Broadside, approx. 13-1/2 x 5 inches. Sir Charles Frederick Fraser (1850-1925) was a Perkins Institute-trained Nova Scotia native who led the Halifax Asylum for the blind from 1873 until 1923; his institution taught among other trades musical performance. This promotional broadside slip..... More

[N. p., ca. 1980?]. Oval color photograph, approx. 9.25 x 7.5 inches under glass in a frame of a roughly oval polished sawn section of timber. Stamped in the image with Schatzberg’s device. Who’s a good boy? The impulse toward kitsch in downstate Illinois antique shops can at times can..... More

(Philadelphia: A. Newman, Photographer), [ca. 1873-1875]. Image approx. 3.88 x 2.25 inhes on a slightly larger mount, photographer's printed title and imprint on the verso. A fine studio image of famed performer Eli Bowen (1844-1924) with his wife Mattie and his oldest son Frank, the family looking every inch (so..... More

[N. p. n. p., ca. 1879]. Handbill broadside, 10 x 4.5 inches. A handbill promoting one of Leon Washburn’s many traveling troupes, this with Washburn himself performing his “Spade and Ladder Dance,” as well as vocal performances, clog dancing by the Daly Brothers, whistler A. S. B. Lathrop (“This act..... More

(New York: Charles D. Fredericks & Co., [ca. 1860]. Image measures approx. 3.68 x 2.13 inches on a slightly larger printed mount. An attractive sideshow studio portrait from Fredericks, the popular (and somewhat flash) photo studio on Broadway. From the printed caption, “Height, 5 feet 8 inches; 7 feet around..... More

New York: A. E. Chasmar & Co., Printers, 1894. First edition. Original printed blue-green wrappers, 5.5 x 4 inches, 34, [2] pages. An early example of governance of college athletics, from the oldest governing body of college track and field in America, established in 1876, the 1894 amended version of..... More

(Altoona, Pa. Mrs. Porter L. Barrington), [ca. 1930-1940]. First edition. Original printed pink wrappers, 7.25 x 5.25 inches, 48 pages. Frontis portrait. Ethel Beck Barrington (1907-1962), Altoona native and a former dancer for Shubert musicals, on the evils of the stage, backstage life, cards, etc., her conversion account here adapted..... More

Boston: n. p., 1879. First edition. Single leaf, printed recto only, approx. 6.75 x 4.5 inches. An entertaining promotional circular for the popular Montreal revivalist John Currie, casting the question of Christian salvation as a competitive pedestrian event. (The "Go as you Please" men of course take the broad track..... More