Poetry – Page 3 – Paul Elder & Company

Blottentots

22 December 20253 January 2014 by david

The craft of making art from inkblots is called klecksography (from klecks, the German word for “stain” or “blotch”). To a modern reader, inkblots will immediately call to mind the Rorschach Test, but as we shall see, the art of blots and blobs has a much longer history. Leonardo da Vinci wrote about how easy it was for any given splotch on a wall to turn into something else:

I will not refrain from setting among these precepts a new device for consideration which, although it may appear trivial and almost ludicrous, is nevertheless of great utility in arousing the mind to various inventions. And this is, that if you look at any walls spotted with various stains, or with a mixture of different kinds of stones, if you are about to invent some scene you will be able to see in it a resemblance to various different landscapes adorned with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, plains, wide valleys, and various groups of hills. You will also be able to see divers combats and figures in quick movement, and strange expression of faces, and outlandish costumes, and an infinite number of things which you can then reduce into separate and well-conceived forms. With such walls and blends of different stones it comes about as it does with the sound of bells, in whose clanging you may discover every name and word you can imagine.¹

Page 7 of Justinius Kerner’s “Klecksographien” (public domain)

The first person to publish a book using inkblots was Justinus Kerner (1786-1862), a German poet and medical writer, who was the first person to write a detailed description of botulism. Due to failing eyesight, Kerner would often accidentally drip ink onto his paper. Rather than throw away the resulting inkblots he decided to keep them as artwork, and wrote poems to accompany them. He finished the book Klecksographien in 1857 but it wasn’t published until 1890, twenty-eight years after his death.

In 1896, Albert Bigelow Paine (1861-1937) and Ruth McEnery Stuart (1849-1917) published “Gobolinks,” (a play on the words “goblin” and “ink”). Paine and Stuart envisioned Gobolinks as a game, where the players have five minutes to create an inkblot and then a poem to accompany it. Judges are chosen amongst the group, and they choose the best submissions; players whose works are chosen then become judges for the next round, and the previous judges become players. After the proscribed number of rounds, the final judging is conducted.

Enter Paul Elder & Company in 1907, with Blottentots, and How To Make Them. The book is certainly derivative, but the inkblots are creative and the verses delightful for youngsters’ ears. The author is John Prosper Carmel with calligraphy by Raymond Carter, but the former is believed to be a pseudonym of the latter. I have been unable to find any information about Mr. Carter.

In 1921, fifteen years after the publication of Blottentots, Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922) wrote his book Psychodiagnostik, which was to form the basis of the test which bears his name. Some have suggested that Rorschach (who was nicknamed “Klecks” in his youth because of his fondness for inkblots) based his work on Kerner’s, but there appears to be no conclusive evidence of this.

Updated 2025-12-22

Frontispiece and title page of "Blottentots" — Frontispiece and title page of “Blottentots”

Pages 2-3 of "Blottentots" — Pages 2-3 of “Blottentots”

Pages 22-23 of "Blottentots" — Pages 22-23 of “Blottentots”

The first of the ten cards in the Rorschach test

1
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, II, 250-51.

An Alphabet of History

21 December 202522 November 2013 by david

In 1905, Paul Elder published Wilbur Nesbit’s An Alphabet of History, a large-format volume of verse for adults. In contrast to some other humorous verse issued by Elder, Nesbit’s poetry has survived the last century in fine shape to be appreciated by the modern reader.

Wilbur D. Nesbit was born in Xenia, Ohio in 1871. He started as a printer before becoming a reporter for his hometown newspaper, the Cedarville Herald. Nesbit spent the rest of his career in journalism, writing for newspapers in Muncie, Indianapolis, and Baltimore before moving to Chicago. He wrote a column for the Chicago Tribune called “A Line o’ Type or Two,” and was later on the staff of the Chicago Evening Post. Along the way he began composing poetry. Nesbit was also in demand as a toastmaster, and was a long-time member of the “Forty Club,” a Chicago version of San Francisco’s Bohemian Club. Nesbit wrote a history of the Forty Club in 1912.

Title page of "An Alphabet of History" — Title page of “An Alphabet of History”

Nesbit’s best known work was a short patriotic poem “Your Flag and My Flag,” first published in the Baltimore American in 1902. It was described as having “a ring of national sentiment that rivals the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ itself.”¹. The poem was frequently recited in schoolrooms, and also at political conventions and Congressional sessions.

The delightful drawings are by the artist Ellsworth Young (1866-1952), who in addition to book and magazine illustrations, was a noted landscape painter and poster artist. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and later worked for the Works Progress Adminitration (WPA) during the Depression.

Updated 2025-12-20

Frontispiece of "An Alphabet of History" — Frontispiece of “An Alphabet of History”

"An Alphabet of History," letter K — “An Alphabet of History,” letter K

"An Alphabet of History," letter S — “An Alphabet of History,” letter S

"An Alphabet of History," letter Z — “An Alphabet of History,” letter Z

1
The National Magazine, Boston, May 1917, p304-5.

Poem Delivered at the Dedication of the Pan-American Exposition

20 December 202518 August 2013 by david

Cover of "Poem Delivered..." — Cover of “Poem Delivered…”

The Pan-American Exposition was originally scheduled for 1897 on Cayuga Island, New York, a few miles upstream from Niagara Falls. But the Spanish-American War intervened, and fair was eventually held in May-November 1901 in Buffalo, then the eighth-largest city in the United States.

Today, the Exposition is chiefly remembered as the site of President William McKinley’s assassination on 6 September 1901. But before that momentous event, one of the biggest novelties was electricity: the fair was lit by Nicola Tesla’s new three-phase alternating current, powered by Niagara Falls, twenty-five miles away.

Robert Cameron Rogers (1852-1912) — Robert Cameron Rogers (1862-1912)

Robert Cameron Rogers (7 Jan 1862-20 Apr 1912) was born in Buffalo, and graduated from Yale in 1883. His father, Sherman Skinner Rogers, was one of the most prominent lawyers in Buffalo, and Robert spent a year in his father’s firm before deciding that law was not for him. Instead, he turned to writing, and published books, poems and magazine articles. His 1898 poem “The Rosary” was set to music several times, most notably by Ethelbert Nevin, and sold very well as sheet music.

Rogers moved to Santa Barbara in 1898. In 1901 he purchased The Morning Press newspaper, which he molded into one of the most influential and best-edited papers in California.

Aerial view of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo NY

At first glance, it is perhaps surprising the small San Francisco firm of Elder & Shepard should publish this volume, especially since New York City, the undisputed center of American publishing, was so close to the Exposition. This was probably due to Morgan Shepard’s Santa Barbara connections, perhaps his sister-in-law Katherine Putnam, author of Wayfarers in Italy.

The cover and title page feature a tomoye design, though the tomoye has no connection with the poem or the Exposition. The tomoye had only recently been chosen as a logo by Elder & Shepard, and they were clearly trying to establish their brand.

Rogers died in Santa Barbara in 1912 from complications of an appendicitis operation.

Title page of "Poem Delivered..." — Title page of “Poem Delivered…”

Page 1 of "Poem Delivered..." — Page 1 of “Poem Delivered…”

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”

Fairy Tales Up-to-Now

23 December 202528 October 2012 by david

Extra, extra, read all about it! Wallace Irwin rewrites old fairy tales!

In contrast to Irwin’s Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum, whose humor is obscure to modern readers, his 1904 Fairy Tales Up-to-Now is fairly accessible. The book contains five poetical satires of five classic children’s stories titled with tabloid newspaper headlines. Cinderella, a stenographer working for 50¢ a day, goes to the ball in a rented gown, but when the Prince discovers that her diamond slippers are just paste, he rejects her because he’s broke and needs a bride who’s wealthy. Cinderella, though, becomes a millionaire by selling faux-diamond slippers. Jack, of Beanstalk fame, rides off to slay the Standard Oil Giant, but is given a job instead, rises to the rank of treasurer and becomes a Giant himself, but then returns home to endow a library, gas-works and church.

A charming feature of the book are the front and back covers, which are flongs, temporary paper molds used for printing newspapers. Stereotype metal was poured over the flong, then the stereotype was wrapped around the press’s cylinder for printing. After a few thousand copies, the stereotype metal would begin to wear out: at this point it would be melted down, then poured again over the same flong to make a new sharp copy for printing. Once the day’s press run was finished, the flongs were normally discarded, but here they were sent to Elder to be chopped up into covers. Each individual copy of Fairy Tales Up-to-Now is therefore unique.

The *San Francisco Call*, 29 October 1903, page 2. This is the page printed from the above flong (tops of columns 3-4).

With a newspaper index service, it is possible to find the exact page a given flong was used to print. The example on this page is from the San Francisco Call of 29 October 1903, page 2. The flong would originally been the size of the entire newspaper page, but just the tops of columns 3 and 4 are used as the book cover. Presumably, other copies of Fairy Tales Up-to-Now exist somewhere bound with other sections of this page 2 flong. All copies examined so far have been from the Call, but Elder may have used flongs from other local newspapers as well.

The rear cover of Fairy Tales Up-to-Now is also a flong, but there was no attempt to match up flongs from the same page or date. Our example copy’s back cover is from 4 October 1903, molded three weeks before the flong used on the front cover.

Fairy Tales Up-to-Now was also issued in paper wraps instead of flongs, no doubt cheaper but far less whimsical.

Thanks to Molly Schwartzburg and Andre Chaves for information about flongs.

Updated 2025-12-23

The back cover of the same copy of *Fairy Tales Up-to-Now*, used to print the *Call* of 4 October 1903, page 35, columns 3 and 4.

Fairy Tales Up To Now title — Title page of “Fairy Tales Up-To-Now”

Fairy Tales Up To Now p10 — pages 10-11 of “Fairy Tales Up-To-Now”

Fairy Tales Up To Now p06 — pages 6-7 of “Fairy Tales Up-To-Now”