March 3, 2026
1882 Railway Shares In 1882, these New York Central and Hudson River Railroad share certificates represented real power. One hundred shares could mean influence, leverage, a […]
March 3, 2026
Victorian Scrapbooks We tend to think of modern collage as something invented in the early twentieth century, pioneered by the Dadaists and by Picasso, pasting scraps […]
March 3, 2026
Victorian Bird Feather Bird I am at a loss as to how to refer to this bit of paper ephemera, so I am going to just […]
March 3, 2026
Japanese to English Notebook This mid-20th-century notebook belonged to a Japanese schoolboy learning to speak English. Its pages are filled with careful repetitions of the alphabet, […]
March 3, 2026
Lessons in Lettering The 1924 manual, Lessons in Lettering, is a specialized lettering course for architects. Much like the penmanship copybooks that I collect, these manuals […]
February 19, 2026
Shirtings Sample Book Beyond falling madly in love with it, I don’t know a whole lot about this sample book. I know that it’s a pre-WWII in-store […]
February 18, 2026
Victorian Autograph Book “You ask me for something original. I scarcely know where to begin. Why there’s nothing original in me, excepting original sin. Yours very […]
February 18, 2026
Penmanship Copybooks “Manners make the man.” and “Choose to do right.” and “Learn to be loyal.” These are some of the phrases that were written again […]
February 18, 2026
Player Piano Paper Ok, I’ll admit it. I have some canned patter that I pull out for art festivals. But when you meet hundreds of people […]