Books, Magazines, Libraries, Bookstores

Posted as a "reading" photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park group, this real photo postcard shows two Iowa sisters, Lilly and Mazie Hitzemann, who are reading--or maybe just looking at--a magazine. The girls are dressed nicely for the photo session, and Lilly, left, is wearing a necklace while Mazie, right, sports a bow in her hair. Both girls are staring intently at the magazine they're holding. From what I could make out after enlarging the image, the front cover of the magazine displays a young child's head, and a full-page advertisement for "1847 Rogers Bros." silverware appears on the back cover (1847 is part of the brand name and doesn't indicate when the magazine or ad was published). Visible under enlargement on the front cover of the magazine is a date that includes the year "1912," and the title of the magazine looks like it ends in "-n-ator" (I couldn't determine the letter between n and a). One possibility is that this was an issue of The Delineator , a popular women's magazine published by the Butterick Publishing Company of sewing patterns fame. The covers of Delineator issues from this time, however, typically featured illustrations of fashionably dressed women rather than children's heads. Additional information from the back of the postcard: Handwritten message: "From Mazie to Grandma." Postmarked: "Columbia, [Iowa?], Jan. 13, 1913." Addressed to: "Mrs. Henry Hitzemann, Box 202, Akron, Iowa." Later handwritten annotation on back: "Right - Mazie Hitzemann. Left - sister Lilly. Daughters of Chas. and Mabel Hitzemann."

Lives of great men all remind us, Life is really not worthwhile, Unless we all can leave behind us, Some excuses for a smile. These women don't look too amused, but someone with a sense of humor must have added the poem to this real photo postcard. These four lines of rhyme appeared in 1905 in The Silly Syclopedia , a book by "Noah Lott" (an entertaining pseudonym for the writer George V. Hobart). The poem turns out to be a parody of the following stanza from " A Psalm of Life ," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time.

Slide, location unknown, probably late 1950s. Birds at Home , a children's book by Marguerite Henry that was first published in 1942, is one of the few identifiable titles on the shelves in the background (the yellow letters of the title are visible at center top).

A wallpaper photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A real photo postcard postmarked Chicago, Dec. 24, 1908, and addressed to Miss Anna Wallace, New Florence, Pennsylvania. Message written on the back: "A merry Xmas. How do you like your job by this time? Received your postal. Best regards to all, Sam." Judging by the pennant hanging on the wall (which probably spells out "Law") and what appear to be law book bindings in the bookcase and on the small table, Sam may have been a law school student.

Posted to the Vintage Photos Theme Park for the theme of Fourth of July (flags, fireworks, patriotic, freedom, red-white-blue, barbeques, etc.) . Judging by the American flag and other decorations that the boy has on his bike in this somewhat battered photo, I suspect that he rode it in a Fourth of July bike parade. If that's the case, he probably received the book he's holding in his hand as a prize for participating in the parade. (By the way, after searching for images on Google, I was surprised to see how popular Fourth of July bike parades seem to be.) Although the book cover is difficult to make out (mouse over the image above for an enlarged but still blurry view), it looks like the title begins with the words "Tom Swift," and the shadowy images seem to correspond to the submarine and octopus that appear on the covers of early editions of Tom Swift and His Jetmarine . Since this Tom Swift title was first published in 1954, it's likely that this boy rode his bike in a Fourth of July parade that year or sometime later in the 1950s.

See the full version of this photo for more information:

Handwritten message on the front of this real photo postcard (see writing at right, above): "High Water Mark. 12/2/06. This was all done today. What do you think of that grin? The fellow tried to take the picture without exposing the plate and we were trying to keep from laughing." The giant book behind the two men is part of the High Water Mark of the Rebellion Monument , which is, as Wikipedia explains, "a Gettysburg Battlefield memorial which identifies the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia units of the infantry attack on the Battle of Gettysburg, third day, with a large bronze tablet, as well as the Union Army of the Potomac's 'respective troops who met or assisted to repulse Longstreet's Assault.' The memorial is named for the line of dead and wounded of Pickett's Charge which marked the deepest penetration into the Union line at The Angle when '4,500 men threw down their arms and came in as prisoners.'" For later views of the monument, see Bicyclists at the High Water Mark Monument, Gettysburg, Pa., 1912 and High Water Mark Monument, Gettysburg, Pa., August 8, 2013 (below).

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of "what’s that on his shoe?" or other unexpected details . In this snapshot, a woman sits for a souvenir photo in front of the giant book that's part of the High Water Mark of the Rebellion Monument on the Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania. When I purchased this photo, I noticed that there's a man on the right who's oddly standing behind the woman and near the back of the monument. I didn't think anything of it until I got home and scanned the photo. When I took a look at an enlarged version (mouse over the image above to see it), I made the unexpected discovery that the fellow was irreverently thumbing his nose as the photographer snapped the picture. Photobombing , of course, is nothing new! See below for monument photos from 1906 and 1912 as well as a recent view .

For more information, see the original photo :

For more information about the monument and an earlier postcard view of it, see High Water Mark Monument, Gettysburg, Pa., December 2, 1906 (below).

"Multiplication Table from 1 to 12 of Simple Numbers. H. C. Barnhart, bookseller & stationer, 27 West Market St., York, Pa. Multiplication Table from 1 to 12. Designed and copy-righted 1891 by Richard Raby." Handwritten note on the back: "Got from teacher H. D. Rebert. Jennie May Case." A Victorian-era vovelle or wheel chart that rotates to provide students and others with a line-by-line version of a multiplication table for numbers from 1 to 12 (with calculations from 1 x 1 = 1 up to 12 x 12 = 144). Henry C. Barnhart advertised his bookstore in York, Pa., by stamping his name and address on this wheel chart.

"Holiday goods. Compliments of the West End Book Store, 304 West Market Street, York, Pa."

"In closing the books of the old year we take great pleasure in voicing our appreciation for past favors. On your page we would inscribe these joyful words: health, happiness, and prosperity. Herr and Company, Lancaster, Pa. H & Co. Greetings. Credits for you: 52 weeks of health, happiness, and prosperity."

"Fun with Dry Batteries. Price 10¢. For the Amateur Electrician. " Title page: Fun with Dry Batteries: A Handbook of Things to Make and Things to Do with Dry Batteries . Published by the manufacturers of Eveready Long Life Batteries. From an ad for the book in Popular Mechanics , Dec. 1933, advertising section, p. 6A: "Electricity. Get this 96-page book. Boys--and grown-ups, too--will find 'Fun with Dry Batteries' a most instructive and entertaining little book. Make electro-magnets, bells, buzzers, signals, lights, secret locks, electro-plating outfits, telegraph instruments, and numerous amusing electric toys. Has simple, illustrated description of principles of electricity--and of dry batteries in particular."

Booklet published by the National Live Stock and Meat Board, Chicago, Ill., 1936-37, and distributed by the National Wool Growers Association.

"Campfire. The original food. Marshmallow and creme recipes. Campfire makes so many things just perfect! Campfire Marshmallow Creme. The Campfire Company. Campfire Marshmallows. The original food. Family package. Guaranteed fresh." The front and back covers of a small recipe booklet. To see the entire booklet, including the inside pages, take a look at Campfire marshmallow and creme recipes, ca. 1910s , which is part of the Szathmary Recipe Pamphlets collection at the Iowa Digital Library .

Cover of Francis D. Nichol, Wet or Dry? A Brief, Candid Examination of a Moot Question in American Life (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1932), which was published prior to the repeal of Prohibiton in the United States in 1933.

"Skating Skills, featuring Secrets of Roller Skating, presented by Chicago Roller Skates. 10¢." The cover of a 1957 advertising comic book for roller skates.