Books – Page 14 – Paul Elder & Company

Bird Notes Afield

4 April 20239 January 2013 by david

Today Charles Keeler is known as a poet and author of The Simple Home, but in the 1890s he was best known as a naturalist. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, he took at job at the California Academy of Sciences (then located south of Market Street in San Francisco). In 1893 he wrote a long monograph for the Academy called “Evolution of the Colors of North American Land Birds,” a work admired at the time but whose science is today almost completely discredited.

By the end of the decade Keeler had decided that academia was not his cup of tea, and channeled his scientific work into writing for the armchair naturalist: Bird Notes Afield was published in 1899 by Elder & Shepard. Keeler describes the joys of birdwatching in his usual florid style:

We who know California think it the most glorious of lands. The winds of freedom blow across its lofty mountains and expansive plains. There is something untamed and elemental about its wildernesses, and a tender charm about its pastoral valleys. The everlasting seas thunder upon its bold, granite headlands, the pines lift their heads almost into the snow of its mountain tops, the sequoias rear their peerless shafts along the north coast and in isolated Sierra groves, while in the great interior valleys grow the dark, venerable live-0aks; the sycamores sprawl their hoary trunks aloft, and willows and alders wave their delicate foliage beside the streams. … In this land I invite you to wander with me, seeking out the birds. If we but look for them we shall find them everywhere. If we but listen to them, the desert as well as the garden shall resound with their songs.

Bird Notes Afield 1ed title — Title page of the 1899 edition of “Bird Notes Afield”

Keeler then proceeds to describe the native birds of California from loon to lark, from gull to grosbeak:

If the junco is merry, the kinglets are the incarnation of feathered light-heartedness. No larger than your thumb, these little midgets are full of restless animation and nervious enthusiasm.

and

In the late afternoon the russet-backed thrushes begin their ethereal caroling, and presently the western night-hawk hies him from the privacy of his woodland retreat where his mottled brown plumage blends with the tree trunks.

First Glance at Birds cover — Cover of “A First Glance at the Birds”

Keeler organized Bird Notes Afield as a sort of calendar, with chapters such as “January in Berkeley,” “A Trip to the Farallones,” “April in Berkeley,” “Summer Birds of the Redwoods,” and “Nesting Time.” He paid particular attention to his home town of Berkeley, as a naturalist writes about what he sees and what he knows.

Bird Notes Afield was a popular title for Elder and Shepard. Originally published in October 1899, there was a second printing in May 1900. In 1899, they also published A First Glance at the Birds, which is simply the first chapter of Bird Notes Afield issued in paper wraps; this item is quite scarce.

A second edition of the entire work appeared in April 1907, with a new preface and index, issued with a dust jacket. Two cover variants have been seen, one with buckram over boards, the other with smooth brownish-green cloth over boards.

Bird Notes Afield 1ed p03 — Page 3 of the 1899 first edition of “Bird Notes Afield”

Frontispiece and title page of the 1907 2nd edition of "Bird Notes Afield" — Frontispiece and title page of the 1907 2nd edition of “Bird Notes Afield”

Cover of the 1907 second edition of "Bird Notes Afield" — Cover of the 1907 second edition of “Bird Notes Afield”, with buckram over boards.

Variant cover of the second edition, with green cloth over boards.

Dust jacket of 2nd edition of “Bird Notes Afield”

Page 1 of the 1907 2nd edition of "Bird Notes Afield" — Page 1 of the 1907 2nd edition of “Bird Notes Afield”

Christmasse Tyde

21 July 202025 December 2012 by david

Paul Elder had a genuine predilection for collections of quotations. Perhaps they sold well, and no doubt Elder wanted to distinguish the Tomoye Press with original works. (To be sure, Paul Elder & Company sold traditional literature as well—all the great works from Shakespeare on down, including contemporary authors—but those were from other publishing houses. Elder, in general, did not publish works that had been previously published elsewhere.)

Jennie Day Haines authored six collections of quotations for Elder. She was born Jennie Elizabeth Day in New York on 26 May 1853 and was an honor student at the Normal College of New York in 1871. She married William Pitt Haines in 1873, and later lived in New Rochelle, New York and to Derby, Connecticut.

Christmasse Tyde title frontis — Frontispiece and title page of “Christmasse Tyde”. Artwork by Gordon Ross.

The printer at the Tomoye Press was John Henry Nash. He was a master at the mitred rule: the straight line with the end cut at a 45° angle, so that perpendicular rules would fit together precisely. Look at the complicated gridwork of mitred rules on the title page: fitting the corners is the hardest part, and Nash made it look easy.

Special gift box for "Christmasse Tyde" — Special gift box for “Christmasse Tyde”

The weakest part of Christmasse Tyde is the typography. The text type is called Washington Text—ironic, because the typeface is only suitable as a display type. Paul Elder must have loved it, however, because it often appears in his publications during the first decade of the 1900s. I don’t know the name of the uncial typeface used in the title page and headers, but its readability is even worse than Washington Text. Still, Nash’s exacting rule grid make the page pleasant to look at.

Special gift box with "doors" opened to reveal the book within — Special gift box with “doors” opened to reveal the book within

“Merrie Christmasse Tyde” and “Happie New Yeare” to all from paulelder.org.

page 84-85 of "Christmasse Tyde". Note the copious use of mitred rules enclosing the header and text — page 84-85 of “Christmasse Tyde”. Note the copious use of mitred rules enclosing the header and text

What Is a Kindergarten?

21 July 20206 December 2012 by david

Wraparound cover art for “What is a Kindergarten?”

The kindergarten (literally “children’s garden”) movement began in 1837 when Friedrich Fröbel founded a play and activity institute in the Bavarian town of Bad Blankenburg. His idea was to create a social transition for children between home and school, and that they should be nourished like plants in a garden. Fröbel’s ideas soon began to spread around Europe and then to America, where the first kindergarten opened in Boston in 1860 and the first public kindergarten in St Louis in 1873.

title — Title page of “What is a Kindergarten?”

In his 1901 book What Is a Kindergarten?, published by Elder & Shepard, landscape architect George Hansen takes the German word literally: he advocates physically putting the children in a garden. For Hansen there is room enough to do this: “The broad acres of our United States yet comparatively undivided … and [few] are too costly to furnish the ground upon which our kindergartens shall be founded.” Instead of “the basements of our school buildings,” Hansen wants the children out in the open:

We compare a man to an oak, a woman to a birch, a girl to a lily, a boy to a weed. This surely has foundation in reason. … Remember, every child in your charge is an Edison, every tot a Columbus, and the idealizing disposition of all of them sees a Garden of Eden in a vacant lot. I insist upon mere association of plants and children.

To bring home his point, Hansen included nine plates (see example below) of how to include garden areas on school grounds of different sizes and shapes. “If a glance at the series of plates gives the impression that every one of them might as well be the appointment of an area surrounding a private home as that of a kindergarten, their objects are served.” If Hansen were alive today, he would be joining Chez Panisse’s Alice Waters in evangelizing the Edible Schoolyard Project.

What is a Kindergarten p12 — Page 12-13 of “What is a Kindergarten”

George Hansen (1863-1908) was born in Hildesheim, Germany. His grandfather, Rev. J. G. K. Oberdieck was a famous pomologist (the study of fruit) and was rewarded by the Prussian government with a guaranteed spot at the university for whichever of his grandchildren took a delight in horticulture. George was selected and attended the Royal College of Pomology in Potsdam. In 1885 he moved to England and worked for F. Sander & Company in their orchid house, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society.

What is a Kindergarten p72 — Page 72 and Plate I of “What is a Kindergarten?”

Hansen came to America in 1887 and became foreman of the University of California Foothill Experiment Station in Jackson (Amador County). He became a distributor of exsiccatae, or specimens, of the Sierra Nevada flora, and wrote a book about it called Where the Big Trees Grow (1894). It was also in this year that Hansen completed his magnum opus, for which he is still best known, The Orchid Hybrids.

In 1896 Hansen suffered a spinal injury which made walking extremely painful. He moved to the Scenic Tract in Berkeley, on the north side of the University of California campus, and for the next twelve years scarcely left the confines of his house and garden. But during those twelve years he published What Is a Kindergarten? and continued to sell his botanical books and specimens. In 1902 Elder & Shepard also published five keepsakes called the Baby Roland Booklets, a photographic essay of his young son Roland.

George Hansen died at his home in Berkeley on 1 March 1908, from complications of his spinal injury. He was only 45 years old.

Charity

21 July 202022 November 2012 by david

Today we gather as families and communities and give thanks for what we have. I urge you to take time to help those less fortunate. The Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund, now in its 26th year, provides one-time, temporary assistance to those experiencing an unexpected crisis. 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 Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund goes directly to help the families and communities it serves.

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 called Washington Text, and the green decorations are by Charles Frank Ingerson (re-used from A Book of Hospitalities in 1910).

I wish you a warm, happy and healthy Thanksgiving.

Charity envelope — Matching envelope for “Charity”

The Standard Upheld

14 August 202318 November 2012 by david

Standard Upheld title — Title page 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. The title page decorations, as well as the initial capitals throughout the book, are almost certainly Shepard’s.

The opening poem, “Shall I Cast Down the Standard Of My Life?” is no doubt autobiographical. Shepard was a fighter (sometimes literally) all his life, and the metaphor of “me against the world, holding my standard high” is an apt image.

In contrast to Shepard, Paul Elder never published any original works. Though his byline appeared on seventeen of his publications, “compiler” would be a better word than “author”: they were all collections of quotations. Presumably Elder also wrote most of the copy for his in-house magazine Impressions as well.

Standard Upheld cover — Special binding for “The Standard Upheld”. Elder & Shepard’s normal bindings never looked like this.

This copy of The Standard Upheld was specially bound by bookbinders James A. Rutherford and Henry W. Thumler, whose shop was at 538 California, about three blocks from Elder & Shepard’s bookstore (and later at 117 Grant, just down the street).

Standard Upheld p01 — Page 1 of “The Standard Upheld”, and poem from which the book’s title is taken

Standard Upheld p10 — Pages 10-11 of “The Standard Upheld”