Antique Books

I continued to browse through my latest find, a marvelous book called “Milwaukee Elite Directory – 1891-92.” The picture of the office of the Publisher of Yenowine’s News (Home of this Blue Book) is quite fashionable, but definitely not what you’d expect to find today. No printing press, computer, phone or group of employees. It has a chandelier, marble fireplace and a wall with pictures. We see a few drapes, perhaps hiding more supplies. The table has two chairs and is very ornate.

A short way into the book I find another super ad. This one is for Ne-ska-ra water. The advertisement shows a group of people in and near the park’s gazebo. They are all well-dressed and quite elegant looking. Who knows, these folks could still be alive, based on the opinion of the chemists who told us that after the ’severest test known’ this spring water was found to be ‘entirely free from organic matter.’ That was some testimony.

Further on, I found an ad for A. Meinecke & Son, also in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their products included India Punjab Bamboo and Veranda Furniture, bookracks, easels, screens, stools, Calcutta Settees, Whatnots, Umbrella Stands, children’s carriages, willow ware, toys, hammocks and on and on. The only Meineckes that are currently in business in the area include a muffler manufacturer, and a hardware store. I did see an Adolph Meinecke (with a son, Adolph Jr.) on Google and determined that this was indeed the company mentioned in this 1891 ad. He came over from Germany as a very young man, started his business, worked hard and at one time had 250 employees in the manufacturing facility. Fascinating!

The page also has a Schrand & Wachs, Harness Makers. They offered a large assortment of saddles, harness, whips, turf goods, valises, etc.

Ah! A familiar name is found – Reckmeyer Furs. I have heard that name often before and believed they were still in the business. But a bit of research informed me that they closed their business in 1996. That was certainly a long, successful run.

Living in Wisconsin all of my life, I was certainly aware of the great resorts that offered families delightful vacations, and lots of hunting and fishing for sportsmen. But this ad showing the “Lake Region of Northern Wisconsin and Michigan” identified more for me. The principal resorts listed were Gogebic Lake, Watersmeet, Lake Vieux Desert, Twin Lakes, Eaglewaters, Tomahawk Lake, Trout Lake, the Manitowish and Turtle Rivers. (I have heard of a few of these.) These were on the “line of the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railway. “

One of the most artistic ads that I encountered was for F.D. Beyer, Upholstery and Carpet Cleaning. What that beautiful young lady had to do with cleaning, I do not know, but she was certainly enticing. The telephone number was “822.” But don’t bother trying to reach them using that number!

As a ‘footnote’, I heard from a friendly reader from the U.K. who informed me that “black goods”, mentioned in my earlier post, could have been for mourning items – sure made sense.

I am not even half-way through this book and it continues to delight me. I will try to address the various clubs and organizations in my next blog. There are also some helpful etiquette tips for our viewers, just in case you are planning an important social event in the near future.

Hubby and I have been on a mission lately, hitting numerous antique stores to upgrade our holiday decorations. As you may know, I am a lover of all things old and try to do the house up in vintage style. I have not been looking for items other than those for my home, but while chasing down the Christmas items, came across a marvelous book. Called “Milwaukee – Elite Directory – 1891-92.” It was published by G.H. Yenowine. Growing up near Milwaukee, I knew that I would recognize many of the “who’s who” of the area. I figured I’d see names of ancestors or prominent Milwaukeeans throughout the book and I was not disappointed.

But before I got to the names, I marveled at the fabulous advertisements. Many of these companies are long gone. Perhaps their product is no longer used, they may have closed during the Great Depression, or maybe there was a merger or name change that took place. I truly enjoyed the graphics and styles used. One for Bunde & Upmeyer, Jewelers, featured a butterfly-winged lady, holding a sparkly gem with little bits of ‘bling’ floating in the air. They boasted about their wares – rubies, emeralds, sapphires, Wisconsin pearls, Oriental pearls, Moonstones, Turquois and Diamonds.

The next page in was for Frank A. Lappen & Co., Home Furnishings. They called their locations “Mammoth Stores” and lines included, furniture, carpets, chamber suits, parlor suits, crockery, ranges, bric-a-brac, etc. I was curious if this company had withstood the test of time and remained, in some fashion, in the city of Milwaukee. I searched for information and was amazed to find a New York Times article, dated December 8, 1898. It told me that Frank himself had disappeared during the panic of 1893, leaving a large number of creditors, and had not been heard of prior to the article’s date! There were seventeen indictments against him and he was discovered to be living in London, having leased a “fashionable residence from Baron Rothschild.” The article went on to say that Mr. Lappen had once more disappeared, leaving a fresh lot of creditors. It finished with “It is doubtful whether any effort will be made to extradite him.” Jeepers, a “Madoff” type guy back in the 1890s.

The next page in this fantastic old book had the Contents listed but I decided to check out more of the advertisements.

The very next page was a nifty ad for Val Blatz Brewing Company. Fancy company logo and list of their products. They included “Tivoli, Imperial, Wiener, Muenchener and Private Stock” and near the bottom it read “Is highly recommended by all leading physicians as a whole-some beverage for family use. Orders by Telephone No. 52 promptly attended to.” (I tried the number but it did not go through!)

The ad on the following page also featured an elegant lady. It was for Carroll & Kennedy Co. – Fine Dry Goods. They carried a large stock of dress goods, silks, velvets, plushes, black goods, linens, hosiery, underwear, laces, handkerchiefs, ribbons, art materials, corsets, ladies gloves and men’s furnishings. All were familiar except for “black goods.” A bit of a mystery.

Another ad was found after the start of the Elite Directory. This was for the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co. of Philadelphia with assets of $17,000,000 and Surplus of $2,700,000. I found one of the claims to be quite interesting. It assured me it was “Where the dollar of either lady or gentleman buys equal benefit.” Now what was that all about? Was lady’s money worth less in those days? Or did insurance for women cost more then for men, from other companies? .

A split-page ad was a found a few pages later. It was for Spiegel, Crolius & Co., found in the Plankinton House Drug Store, a seller of bonbons and chocolates. The lower portion was for Art Goods of all kinds sold by Deloreme & Quentin. They sold “lace, pearl and feather fans, cards, games, Euchre prizes and every variety of novelty and requisite demanded by the usages of society.” Boy, that’s really saying something and must have been a tough claim to live up to.

The next ad I came across was for C. Preusser Jewelry Co. A search to see if they were still peddling brought me to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the store had some history. Nothing on Milwaukee, so I presume it is no longer here.

I then found an ad for Otto Pietsch – Dye Works. The unique thing about this establishment was their claim to fame. “Dyeing and Cleaning of Feathers a Specialty.” Who would even think of that today, except perhaps in their down comforters or pillows?

Scattered throughout the book are various insurance companies and banks. We see that the Wisconsin Marine was said to be the “Oldest Bank in the West” with a paid up capital of $500,000. It was not a major corporation at this point because we see that in addition to the President and V.P. they list the cashier and assistant cashier. Another saving establishment was the Commercial Bank, incorporated August, 1883. Further in the book is a nice picture of the Plankinton Bank. John Plankinton was the President (makes sense to me) and they also listed the V.P. and Cashier. Ahh, a familiar name was found – The Travelers of Hartford, Connecticut – “the Largest Accident Company in the World, Only Large One in America and Best of Life Companies.” I know they are still in business.

I vowed to spend more time checking out this charming look-back at Wisconsin-based establishments. I am sure you’d enjoy learning more about your home state.

Last Monday, the Wifey and I were returning from Wisconsin and stopped at one of our favorite small-town antique shops, Desperado Antiques in Wyeville. They’ve got a lot of paper and magazines, which is well worth stopping, and their antique book section generally has things I haven’t seen before. This time we stopped, I found two books of a similar genre: Scottish novels.

The genre is called the Kailyard school of storytelling. A ‘kailyard’ is vernacular for a cabbage garden, a staple food of poor Scottish families. Novels in the kailyard style are stories of the blue-collar, hard-laborers of Scotland, composed in their style of language and detailing the everyday aspects of Victorian Scotland. The style reminds me of southern Black novels of the same time period, describing the lifestyle of low-income, hard working people in their vernacular, converting their accent to text as well as the alphabet could allow. The Kailyard movement was very brief, appearing for a few years just before the end of the 19th century. James Barrie, best known for Peter Pan, was the most notable member of this movement, his novel Auld Licht Idyls being considered one of the finest of the genre. The style was considered somewhat ‘lowbrow’, being accused of corniness or excessive sentimentality, but as a approachable subject of a relatively exotic culture for English and Americans alike, the genre had a brief popularity. The two books I purchased are not the most common books overall, but their authors are both frequently mentioned as leading authors in the genre.

Wee Macgreegor by John Joy Bell was originally published in 1902, and is a compilation of stories Bell wrote for the Glasgow Evening Times. Bell attended the Glasgow University, starting in the sciences but ending up in the J-school. Writing for various papers and magazines, he eventually found his niche with the Wee Macgreegor stories. “Wee Macgreegor” is the young son of the Robinson family, living in Glasgow, and the young lad’s interesting adventures and precocious nature make for good tales. The book I have is the first in a series of books published revolving around the same Scottish family. Understanding the trouble with the Scottish dialect, Bell had the foresight to include a glossary at the beginning of the book. The dialect appears to be a combination of phonetic spellings of common words (“gundy” is “candy,” “wannert” is “wandered”), along with many words seeming to be of a pre-modern-english source or pure slang (“drookit” is “soaked”, “canny” is “careful”). An average sentence from the book is: “Deed, I wis thinkin’ it wis mair nor naethin’ than wis makin’ ye saw jokey-like, said Lizzie, with a laugh.” You can read Wee Macgreegor online via Google Books.

Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush by Ian Maclaren was first published in 1894, after parts appeared in serialized form in the British Weekly in 1893. Maclaren, however, us just as fictional a person: “Ian Maclaren” was the pseudonym of Rev. Dr. John Watson, a fine generic British name. Watson was educated at Edinburgh University and entered the clergy at his father’s behest not long after finishing his education. He had little intention of becoming a writer, but the editor of a magazine called the Expositor encouraged Watson to contribute articles. Brier Bush focuses on community life in the fictional Scottish town of Drumtochty, documenting the trials and tribulations of the colorful citizens, with an understandable focus on the Church’s presence in the community. This book has far less dialogue than Wee MacGreegor, which should make it more readable despite lack of a glossary, but the dialogue is no more clear than the former: “weel, yon’s the last sicht o’t ye’ill get, or a’m no Drumsheugh. I’ve nae objection masel’ to a neebur tastin’ at a funeral, a’ the mair if he’s come fraw the upper end o’ the pairish, and ye ken I dinna hold wi’ thae teetotal fouk.” This book, as well, is available via Google Books.

I originally picked up the two books just for their unique language, and now that I’ve discovered that these comprise examples of a lost literary style, I’m all the more anxious to read them — I better take my time, though; as we’ve seen, the language that embodies the Kailyard style might hang me up a bit until I get into the swing of things.

I wanted to list an item on Wifey’s Ebay site, but could barely read the mark on the back of a decorative plate. Shown photo enhanced is a factory mark I did not reconize. I turned to our book shelves for help.

Our library of antiquing books contains two volumes that get lots of attention with wifey’s antique business. The one we have had the longest is “Kovel’s New Dictionary of Marks.” Published in 1986, it’s from Crown Publishers. Inc of New York by Ralph and Terry Kovel. It covers the world of ceramic companies.

The second, a newer book, acquired just a few years ago, is “U.S. Marks on Pottery, Porcelain and Clay” by Lois Lehner, published by Collectors Books a division of Schroeder Publishing Inc. © 1988.

Since neither book contains prices, they provide a wealth of information without losing their usefulness with age.

The Kovel book has an interesting arrangement for finding and identifying marks, especially when blurred, partial or faded. The layout of the pages are by the actual major design element of the maker’s mark in alphabetical order – Animals, Arrows, Banners, Birds, Cartouche, etc.

In the boxed section containing the logo is a small synopsis of the company essentials, the factory name, locations, dates the mark was used, successor companies, and years the factory was in production.  Here I found the information I was looking for.

Back pages titled “The Vocabulary of Marks” list the dates country names were first included on the pieces, the meaning of words found in marks, dating systems listed by company, and factory’s family trees.

Lehner’s Encyclopedia of U.S. Marks is the “War & Peace” of antiquing books. Containing 634 pages, it’s arranged alphabetically by factory name. In the back are definitions used in the book, lists of various types of manufacturers, railroad letters and symbols used on diner car china plus electrical porcelain insulator markings.

Each company listed contains a great deal of detailed information on the founders, locations, dates, products and general history of the factories along with examples of the various iterations of the marks used.

The importance of identifying the marks and knowing the history are two-fold, first is having a key word or “tag” to include with wifey’s on-line antique listings, that steer searchers to her Ebay site.

Secondly, age and obscurity drive the passion of many collectors, and knowing the history and longevity of a particular mark’s usage, adds validity to your purchase price.

One other book in our library is this recent addition titled “Antique Trader, Pottery & Porcelain Ceramics, by Kyle Hosfloen, published by Krause Publications in 2006 and listed as its 5^th edition.

While on the same general subject as the other books, it is first and foremost a price guide and includes dolls, figurines, cookie jars and lamps among the more common shapes and functions of typical pottery. Filled with color photos in 768 pages, this book also includes a small glossary on the back pages.

Alphabetically arranged, mixing categories with manufacturers, this book also contains histories of items and companies throughout, so when looking up examples of children’s ABC plates, we first learn they were popular at the turn of the last century, often incorporating the alphabet on the rim and scenes or rhymes at center. Other reference books are suggested for the serious collector throughout. The ABC section is followed by the manufacturer Abingdon, and so on. 

We find this book’s usefulness in the information sections provided, the introduction to each entry and the quality of the pictures, along with the relationship between prices of like item you might see in a retail setting. Since antique and collectible values can change in either direction and have contracted in recent years, the use of any guide should be verified with recent sales on sites like Ebay or Tias.com.