Month: November 2012

Charity

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Charity cover
Rear (left) and front covers of the pamphlet “Charity”

Today, on Thanksgiving, as the days grow short and the year draws towards a close, we gather as families and communities and give thanks for what we have. I urge you to take time to help those less fortunate.

One of my long-time favorite charities is the Season of Sharing Fund, now in its 26th year, provides one-time, temporary assistance to those experiencing an unexpected crisis. The Fund finds that preventing the spiral into homelessness has an outsized impact that is not only kind, but effective for our neighbors and our communities. All of the Fund’s administrative expenses are covered by the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund and the San Francisco Chronicle. As a result, 100% of the money raised by the Season of Sharing Fund goes directly to help the families and communities it serves.

Charity p08
Pages 8-9 of “Charity”

Charity (1911) is one of many pamphlets of inspirational quotes published by Paul Elder & Co. The verses were chosen by Beulah Warner, of whom nothing else is known. The distinctive typeface is, rather ironically, called Washington Text, which your editor thinks is best used is as a display type, and wishes Elder had never used as a text type. The green decorations are by Charles Frank Ingerson (also used in A Book of Hospitalities in 1910).

I wish you a warm, happy and healthy Thanksgiving.

Updated 2025-12-23

Charity envelope
Matching envelope for “Charity”

The Standard Upheld

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Cover of The Standard Upheld

During their five-year collaboration between 1898 and 1903, Morgan Shepard was the artist, decorator and poet, while Paul Elder was the businessman and bookseller. Elder & Shepard published six of Shepard’s works during that time, mostly children’s stories. The prettiest of them is his slim volume of poetry The Standard Upheld, published in 1902 in a limited edition of 550 copies. Shepard’s title page design, perhaps depicting eucalyptus leaves, can be compared to similar botanic artwork on Volumes 1 and 2 of Impressions magazine. Shepard perhaps also designed the illuminated capital S on page 1.

The opening poem, “Shall I Cast Down the Standard Of My Life?” is clearly autobiographical. In a short memoir he wrote in his eighties, Shepard described the early death of his mother, followed by teenage years full of bad breaks, disappointments, and fisticuffs. For Morgan Shepard, the metaphor of “me against the world, holding my standard high” is an apt image indeed.

Standard Upheld title
Title page of The Standard Upheld

Copy #1 of The Standard Upheld was presented by Shepard to Thomas Coke Watkins, to whom he dedicated the book. Shepard had it specially bound by Henry W. Thumler and James A. Rutherford, whose shop at 538 California was about three blocks from Elder & Shepard’s bookstore. Thumler & Rutherford were frequent advertisers in Impressions magazine.

Updated 2026-01-08

Standard Upheld cover
Copy #1 of The Standard Upheld, bound by Thumler & Rutherford
Standard Upheld p01
Page 1 of The Standard Upheld, and the poem from which the book’s title is taken
Standard Upheld p10
Pages 10-11 of The Standard Upheld