I recently found online a digitized version of The Graphics Arts and Crafts Year Book 1908 (Republican Publishing Company, Hamilton Ohio; Joseph Meadon, editor), which has several examples of John Henry Nash’s typographical work at the Tomoye Press. See pages 122 through 134.
In 1902, May E. Southworth wrote a cookbook for Elder & Shepard called One Hundred & One Sandwiches. It was sold very well, and Elder asked Southworth to write more. In the 1904 Catalog From a Western Publisher (catalog C20), he writes:
The many who have experienced the gustatory joys of 101 Sandwiches will give a hearty reception to four additional volumes, affording them that multiple of the famous 101 Epicurean Thrills
The four new cookbooks were Salads, Chafing-Dish Recipes, Beverages, and Candies. The five cookbooks, including Sandwiches, were reprinted with a Tomoye Press title page and whimsical cover art by Spencer Wright. They were issued in two bindings: paper wraps, and the “Kitichen edition” of canvas over boards. Elder named the series “101 Epicurean Thrills,” and by 1908 there were eleven titles in the series:
One Hundred & One Beverages
One Hundred & One Candies
One Hundred & One Chafing-Dish Recipes
One Hundred & One Desserts
One Hundred & One Entrées
One Hundred & One Layer Cakes
One Hundred & One Mexican Dishes
One Hundred & One Salads
One Hundred & One Sandwiches
One Hundred & One Sauces
One Hundred & One Ways of Serving Oysters
In 1914, Southworth followed up the series with a cookbook entitled Midnight Feasts: 202 Salads and Chafing-Dish Recipes.
101 Sandwiches, 1902 cover artwork.101 Sandwiches, 1904 revised cover artwork, in cloth over boards101 Salads101 Chafing Dish Recipes101 CandiesAlternate cloth cover of “101 Candies”101 Desserts101 Entrees101 Mexican Dishes101 Layer Cakes, cloth over boards101 Ways of Serving Oysters
It would have taken the pen of a Carlyle to describe our mysterious flight over Paris at midnight. The impression was so startling that for an hour we never spoke above a whisper.
George Eli Hall’s 1902 story A Balloon Ascension at Midnight is one of my favorite publications from the Elder & Shepard years. Gordon Ross’s color illustrations, including several of Notre-Dame cathedral, immediately sweep the reader back to the Belle Epoque. The book was published in two bindings: paper on boards (below), and green suede with gold trim on boards.
Hall (1863-1911) was born in Nice, France, and was an agent and importer. About 1895 he became the Consul-General of Turkey and Persia in San Francisco. The job evidently included some danger and intrigue: the 8 November 1898 edition of the San Francisco Call, in a note entitled “Lurking Death for Turkey’s Consul,” said that Hall “had been receiving anonymous packages for the past week containing high and deadly explosives. At first the matter did not seem of much consequence to him, but as these munitions of war continued to constitute a portion of his daily mail, he became apprehensive and reported the matter to Chief of Police Lees.”
Cover of “A Balloon Ascension at Midnight”Frontispiece of “A Balloon Ascension at Midnight”. The sculpture is the famous “Le Stryge” on the parapet of Notre-Dame cathedral.The balloon catches in a treeThe balloon soars over the Arc du Triomphe
In 1902 Elder and Shepard published a series of six Christmas carols, on single sheets with particularly beautiful three-color printing. The artwork is by Harold M. Sichel (1881-1948), who was one of Elder’s favorite art contributors over the next decade. His “HMS” monogram is visible on the cover just underneath the center box. The rear exterior design is the mirror-image of the front exterior. The exterior background artwork is the same in all six sheets; only the color is different. The series was issued with matching envelopes, which only rarely survive.
Carol #1 – I Saw Three Ships, exteriorCarol #1 – I Saw Three Ships, interiorCarol #4 – Coventry Carol, exteriorCarol #4 – Coventry Carol, interiorCarol #5 – Wassail Song, exteriorCarol #5 – Wassail Song, interiorCarol #6 – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, exteriorCarol #6 – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, interiorMatching envelope for Carol #4
