Edition A of Nature, in green paper with matching envelope
Nature is a booklet of quotations in the Mosaic Essays series, compiled by Paul Elder. It was published in 1903 along with Happiness and Success in response to the success of 1902’s Friendship. In 1905, Elder published the last booklet in the series, Love. In 1906, he gathered the five booklets togther in a single volume called Mosaic Essays.
As with the other booklets in the series, Nature was published in multiple bindings:
Edition A: bound in flexible Kozak sultan. Enclosed in uniform envelope. Price, 50 cents [“sultan” is a deep red color, and “Kozak” (i.e. Khazak) is likely just a word Elder added for a flair of the exotic.]
Edition B: bound in flexible suede. Enclosed in box. Price, $1.25
Edition C: bound in full white calf by Miss Crane. Price, $5.00
The frontispiece is “In the Heart of the Woods,” from the painting by William Keith.
Frontispiece and title page of Nature, Edition A
I have examples of both Nature and Happiness in green instead of red “sultan.” Perhaps this green color is what Elder meant by “Kozak sultan”?
Pages 8-9 of Nature, Edition AEdition B of Nature, with suede coverEdition C of Nature, “bound in full white calf by Miss Crane,” partially obscured by a picture frame, displayed in a bookcase in the Central Art Room in Elder’s shop at 238 Post, 1904 (Collection of Jean Rodgers)Leather binding of Nature, seen online in the mid-2000s. This may not be an Elder binding.
In a corner of San Francisco’s Portsmouth Square stands a granite pedestal topped by a bronze sailing ship. It is the Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial, designed by Bruce Porter and Willis Polk in 1897. During Stevenson’s brief time in San Francisco in 1880 and 1887, he often came to the Square to sit in the sun and regain his health.
The Spanish galleon atop Stevenson’s monument was chosen by Paul Elder as the totem for the booklet Happiness. It appears on the title page, frontispiece, as well as stamped in gold on the cover of the leather edition. It is also used within the booklet as the dingbat separating the quotations (see image below).
Stevenson had always been one of Elder’s favorites. Elder was working at William Doxey’s bookstore in the Palace Hotel when Stevenson suddenly died in Samoa in 1894; Doxey subsequently devoted an entire storefront window to Stevenson’s memory. Elder published three works of Stevenson’s and made frequent use of his quotations in calendars, leaflets, mottos and, of course, within Happiness itself.
Edition B cover of “Happiness” in gold-stamped leather
The three booklets Happiness, Nature and Success were published in 1903 in response to the (perhaps unexpected) popularity of Friendship. The fifth booklet in the series, Love, would follow in 1905. And as with Friendship, Elder issued Happiness three different ways:
Edition A: bound in flexible Mecca sultan. Enclosed in uniform envelope. Price, 50 cents [“sultan” is a deep red color, and “Mecca” is just a word Elder added for a flair of the exotic.]
Edition B: bound in flexible suede, with fly-leaves of illuminated Japan vellum. Enclosed in box. Price, $1.25
Edition C: bound in full white calf by Miss Crane. Price, $5.00
In 1906, Elder gathered the five booklets into a single volume called Mosaic Essays, also issued in multiple bindings.
Variant Edition C of “Happiness,” in hand-painted stamped leather, instead of “white calf”Title page of Edition B of “Happiness,” with the frontispiece photo of the Stevenson monumentVariant Edition A of “Happiness”, in green paper wraps instead of “sultan”Pages 8-9 of “Happiness”
Edition C version of “Friendship,” with hand-painted cover art, from 1902
Friendship is a 1902 collection of quotations compiled by Paul Elder and published by Elder and Shepard. It proved popular enough that Elder compiled four more booklets on similar inspirational topics: Nature, Happiness, and Success in 1903, and Love in 1905.
In a 1904 catalog, Elder notes “the favor extended to these little brochures has been most gratifying, and as the sale totals well up to 70,000 copies, it follows that the Cynic’s and other nonsense books do not exclusively occupy the public demand.” While on the one hand it must have galled Elder—who stocked all the classic literature and who was also a noted antiquarian book dealer—that his most consistently popular titles were the Cynics’ Calendars and Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum, on the other hand he had to make a living, and if humorous verse paid the bills, so be it.
Elder issued Friendship in three different bindings:
Edition A: bound in flexible Bokhara sultan, with fly-leaves of Japan wood-fiber. Enclosed in uniform envelope. Price, 50 cents [“sultan” is a deep red color, and “Bokhara” is just a word Elder added for a flair of the exotic.]
Edition B: bound in flexible suede, with fly-leaves of imperial Japan vellum. Enclosed in box. Price, $1.25
Edition C: bound in full white calf by Miss Crane. Price, $5.00
In 1906, Elder gathered the five booklets into a single volume called Mosaic Essays, which was also issued in multiple bindings, and also sold very well.
So well, in fact, that in 1910 Elder reissued Friendship in a splendid edition designed by John Henry Nash. The frontispiece is by Harold Sichel, and was also issued separately as Impression Leaflet #53.
Updated 2025-12-24
Title page of the Edition C “Friendship” from 1902Cover of Edition B version of “Friendship,” with gold-stamped leatherEdition A verion of “Friendship” from 1904, in “Bokhara sultan” wraps with matching envelopeTitle page of Edition A version of “Friendship” from 1904, with decorated Japan vellum endpapers (as opposed to the wood-fiber endpapers advertised in the catalog; clearly there were many variants)Cover of the 1910 edition of “Friendship”Title page of the 1910 edition of “Friendship”Page 1 of the 1910 edition of “Friendship”
As I write these words, the political situation in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea is explosive. Historically part of Russia but given to Ukraine in the 1950s, Russia is threatening military action to recover it. So this week I am featuring verses by the Polish poet and activist Adam Mickiewicz, entitled Sonnets From the Crimea. (in Polish, Sonety Krymski). Originally published in 1826, this edition is from August 1917, one of the last books issued by Paul Elder prior to his retirement from regular publishing. It is a slim undecorated volume, with uninspired typography but well-made and printed on quality laid paper.
Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855) is a renowned figure in Polish literature. He is one of Poland’s “Three Bards,” along with Juliusz Słowacki and Zygmunt Krasiński, and is of comparative importance to Lord Byron in English or Goethe in German. He was also a political activist, and campaigned for Poland’s independence from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania–for which he spent five years in exile in Russia. He spent most of his later life in Rome and Paris, but died in Istanbul while organizing Poles and Jews to fight against Russia in the Crimean War.
Title page of “Sonnets of Crimea”
The poem highlighted in the image below, “The Ruins of Balaclava,” refers to the Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 between the British and Russian forces. That was also the day of the Charge of the Light Brigade, where miscommunication among the British officers led to the brigade’s charge directly into Russian cannons, resulting in grievous casualties. Tennyson wrote his famous poem just six weeks later, to great acclaim.
The poetry was translated by Edna Worthley Underwood (1873–1961), who learned many languages despite little formal education. Her first works were chiefly historical novels, but by the time of Sonnets From the Crimea she had turned chiefly to poetry and translations. In addition to Polish, she also worked in Russian, Spanish, Farsi, Japanese and Chinese.
The Princess of Manoa (1906) was the second book of Hawaiian folklore tales collected and retold by Emily Foster Day for Paul Elder. Her first book of Hawaiiana, The Menehunes, published by Elder in 1905, must have been reasonably successful.
The Manoa Valley is in Honolulu, a bit towards Diamondhead from the old town center and then mauka (towards the mountain) along Manoa Valley Road. At the head of the valley is the lovely Lyon Arboretum, and farther up the trail is Manoa Falls.
Two different versions of the cover are known: paper on boards with a full-page decoration of an ocean sunset, and cloth on boards with a small gold-stamped border around the title. There is also a leather edition of the latter design.
Illustrator D. Howard Hitchcock (1861-1943) was an American painter who specialized in depictions of Hawaii, where he lived his entire life. In the San Francisco area, his work was exhibited both at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 and the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939.
Alternate cover of “The Princess of Manoa”, buckramAlternate cover of “Princess of Manoa,” leatherDust jacket of alternate coverTitle page of “The Princess of Manoa”Frontispiece of “The Princess of Manoa”Page 1 of “The Princess of Manoa”Custom leatherbound edition of “Princess of Manoa”
