Pick up a book that was sold at Paul Elder’s bookshop, and open to the inside back cover. Quite often, in the lower-left corner, you will find—for want of a better term—a “postage stamp.” The size of an actual postage stamp and moistened in the same manner, they were affixed to all books sold in the shop, not just Elder’s own publications. The practice seems to have been far from universal, though, because it’s common to find Elders without stamps in the back. The stamps were probably affixed by the salesman while wrapping up the book.
The earliest known stamp (A) dates from 1899, before Elder and Shepard began to use the tomoye. At this time, Elder was still calling himself “D. P. Elder.” The significance of the seahorse-and-arrow design is unknown, but an interesting variant appears on the title page of Charles Ferguson’s Religion of Democracy, checklist #258. A seahorse appears over a vertical arrow, but with a village scene in the background and the motto “Maturandum” (“carefully” or “cautiously”) printed above.
Elder and Shepard began using the tomoye design as a logo in February 1900, principally on the title pages of their books and Impressions magazine. The earliest known example of the first tomoye stamp (B) is from 1901.
Stamp C dates from 1902, when Elder began calling himself “Paul Elder.” This stamp was discovered in 2023 and is known from just this one example.
The San Francisco (D) and Santa Barbara (E) stores each had its own stamp, also known from just one or two examples. The New York store may also have had a stamp, but this has not been seen.
Stamp F, featuring a tomoye surrounded by delicate tracery, had the longest lifespan; it has been seen as early as 1911 and as late as 1946.
By the 1950s, much had changed. Paul Sr. died in 1948, and Paul Jr. moved the bookstore to the corner of Sutter & Stockton. The company now used self-adhesive stickers (G) with a decidedly modern look to match the decidedly modern store.
Updated 2026-02-06