Poetry

A Book of Hospitalities and a Record of Guests

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Book of Hospitalities cover
Cover of “A Book of Hospitalities”

Guest books aren’t seen much today except at weddings and funerals. It seems they were more popular in the early 1900s, as Paul Elder published four guest books between 1904 and 1910.

Arthur Guiterman’s Book of Hospitalities And a Record of Guests (1910) was intended to be placed in the parlor, living room, or perhaps the guest bedroom. The first section (“A Book of Hospitalities”) contains a selection of sayings and epigrams for the house, and the second half (“A Record of Guests”) contains blank areas for the guests to write in. Guiterman was also involved in two other Elder publications: the 1908 guest book entitled (appropriately enough) Guest Book, and the 1907 humor book Betel Nuts, Or What They Say In Hindustan.

Book of Hospitalities title
Title page of “A Book of Hospitalities”

Arthur Guiterman (1871-1943) was born in Vienna to American parents and graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1891. He was the author of a dozen books, primarily poetry. He was also editor of Women’s Home Companion and Literary Digest. In 1910, he co-founded the Poetry Society of America (which still exists and celebrated its centennial in 2010), and served as president in 1925.

I am particularly fond of Guiterman’s poem entitled “On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness”

The tusks which clashed in mighty brawls
Of mastodons, are billiard balls.
The sword of Charlemagne the Just
Is ferric oxide, known as rust.
The grizzly bear, whose potent hug,
Was feared by all, is now a rug.
Great Caesar’s bust is on the shelf,
And I don’t feel so well myself.

If you happen to own a copy of my 2004 Checklist of the Publications of Paul Elder, 2nd edition, you will see that the page borders are taken from Book of Hospitalities.

Book of Hospitalities frontispiece
Frontispiece of “A Book of Hospitalities”
Book of Hospitalities foreword
Foreword of “A Book of Hospitalities”

 

Book of Hospitalities main text
Text of “A Book of Hospitalities”

 

Arthur Guiterman
Arthur Guiterman (1871-1943)

 

 

Animal Analogues

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Animal Analogues cover
Cover of “Animal Analogues”

If you liked How To Tell the Birds From the Flowers, then you’ll love Animal Analogues. That’s what Paul Elder thought too, and so in 1908 he published Robert Williams Wood’s sequel to similar acclaim. As any author can tell you, sequels are notoriously difficult to write, but Wood pulled it off, with poetry and drawings to delight old and young alike.

The cover says “Denatured Series No. 24”, but the series began with How To Tell the Birds From the Flowers as #23, and Wood wrote no further books in this series.

Animal Analogues title
Title page of “Animal Analogues”
Animal Analogues p10
Pages 10-11 of “Animal Analogues”
Animal Analogues p14
Pages 14-15 of “Animal Analogues”
Animal Analogues p20
Pages 20-21 of “Animal Analogues”
Animal Analogues p28
Page 28 of “Animal Analogues”

How To Tell the Birds From the Flowers

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How to Tell Birds cover
Cover of “How To Tell the Birds From the Flowers”

As with animated cartoons, the best children’s books are ones that satisfy both the children and the adults. Paul Elder published a number of innovative children’s books, but perhaps the most delightful is How To Tell the Birds From the Flowers by Robert Williams Wood, which appeared in 1907.

There is no traditional typesetting in the book; everything was drawn and lettered by Wood. Each page contains drawings of a bird (for example, the catbird) and a flower (the catnip), plus an amusing poem on how to distinguish them. It’s a perfect bedtime storybook.

The California quail is said
To have a tail upon his head,
While contrary-wise we style the Kale,
A cabbage head upon a tail.
It is not hard to tell the two,
The Quail commences with a queue.

How to Tell Birds alt cover
Alternate binding of “How To Tell the Birds From the Flowers”

Robert Williams Wood (1868-1955) was a professor of physics at Johns Hopkins University from 1901 until his death. He specialized in optics and has been described as the “father of both infrared and ultraviolet photography”. In 1903, Wood invented an optical filter glass which allows ultraviolet and infrared light and pass through, but blocks most visible light. He used this special glass to make a device called a “Wood’s lamp,” for use in dermatology to diagnose certain skin conditions which fluoresce under ultraviolet light. Today we call these lamps “black lights,” though because of technology improvements black lights now use different filter materials in the glass.

How to Tell Birds title
Title page of “How To Tell the Birds From the Flowers”

Although the cover says “Denatured Series No. 23”, that name was concocted for this book and there are no earlier “denatured” titles. Wood continued the series in 1908 with Animal Analogues as Denatured Series No. 24, but he wrote no further books like it.

Instead, Wood co-wrote two prescient science fiction books with Arthur Cheney Train. The first, The Man Who Rocked the Earth (1915), is known for describing the effects of an atomic explosion thirty years before the first atomic bomb was created. Its sequel, The Moon Maker (1916), describes interplanetary space travel, including a plan to send a spaceship to destroy an asteroid that’s on a collision course with Earth.

Update, April 2017: In 1917, Dodd, Mead and Company copyrighted a new edition entitled “How To Tell The Birds From The Flowers, and Other Wood-cuts.” Your editor has seen a 19th edition of this title from 1939, so it was clearly a very popular title for Dodd Mead. Paul Elder was still publishing his own books in 1917, and it’s unclear how he lost the publishing rights.

How to Tell Birds p16
Page 16-17 of “How To Tell the Birds From the Flowers”
How to Tell Birds p20
Page 20-21 of “How To Tell the Birds From the Flowers”
How to Tell Birds p28
Page 28 of “How To Tell the Birds From the Flowers”

Songs of Content

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Songs of Content 1st ed cover
Cover of the 1903 first edition of "Songs of Content"

In April 1903, Ralph Erwin Gibbs was at his desk in his study when he heard a loud crack: a tree was falling over in his yard. Knowing his pet dog was out in the yard, he rushed outside to save it, but was himself killed by the falling tree. He was just 27 years old.

Gibbs earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in science at the University of California, Berkeley but became more interested in literature and poetry, and soon turned to writing full-time. In 1900 he became an assistant at the University Library and in the English department, where he became a protege of Charles Mills Gayley (1858-1932), professor of Classics and English. After Gibbs’s death, Gayley received the family’s permission to gather up  the manuscripts and publish them. He also wrote a moving introduction to both Gibbs and his poetry.

Ralph Erwin Gibbs
Ralph Erwin Gibbs (1876-1903)

The book was republished in 1911 with the identical text but higher quality binding and imported laid paper.

Songs of Content 1st ed title
Title page of 1st edition "Songs of Content"
Songs of Content 2nd ed cover
Cover of the 1911 second edition of "Songs of Content"
Songs of Content 2nd ed title
Title page of 2nd edition "Songs of Content"

Stray Leaves

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In addition to books published under the Paul Elder imprint, the Tomoye Press also printed a number of vanity publications. Stray Leaves is a particularly handsome example. Author Mary Murphy has gathered poetry from various sources into this elegantly bound volume. I do not know the identity of the artist or bookbinder.

Stray Leaves cover
Cover of “Stray Leaves”
Stray Leaves title
Title page of “Stray Leaves”
Stray Leaves p96
“Stray Leaves”, pp 96-7