My bride and I recently enjoyed seeing the historic Sturgis Library in Barnstable, Massachusetts.

Constructed in 1644 for the Reverend John Lothrop, founder of Barnstable, the house which forms the original part of the Library is the oldest Library building in the United States.

We had driven by many times over the years, but were move to stop in by the library book sale. It is a gem and worth a visit even when they are not having a sale. Actually they always have a gift shop and offer books and items about the library for sale.

The late, great Kurt Vonnegut was a library trustee and they also have Vonnegut memorabilia.

REV. SAMUEL HARRISON CHAPLIN 54TH MASS

Photograph of Rev. Samuel Harrison, in uniform as Chaplin. Circa 1863. 5 x 7 in. In Oval period frame.
An apparently unrecorded image. Harrison was an abolitionist, served as Chaplin of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the famous all black regiment. He was also instrumental in getting equal pay for black soldiers.

Samuel Harrison, was born into slavery in Philadelphia in 1818. He and his mother were freed in 1821. Shortly afterwards he and his widowed mother moved to New York City. When Harrison was nine years old, he returned to Philadelphia to live with an uncle.
Throughout his childhood, Harrison worked as an apprentice to his uncle in a shoemaking shop, learning a trade that would support him for years. He also attended church services with his mother regularly, and it was during his adolescence that Harrison decided to become a Presbyterian minister.

In 1836, Harrison enrolled in a manual school run by the abolitionist Gerrit Smith in Peterboro, New York. After only a few months, he transferred to the Western Reserve College in Hudson, Ohio (now Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, Ohio), an institution known for its abolitionist sympathies. Financial difficulties, however, forced him to return to Philadelphia in 1839.

In 1850 Harrison was ordained as a preacher by the Berkshire Association of Congregational Ministers and became the first minister of the Second Congregational Church of Pittsfield, the first black church founded in the county. His congregation was small but his work for black equality put him on the national stage. He was invited to speak at numerous churches in the region on contemporary political issues, such as blacks serving in the United States Army, war in Eastern Europe, and the history of the city of Pittsfield. In 1862 he lectured a Williamstown, Massachusetts congregation on The Cause and Cure for the War, a fiery oration in which he trumpeted support for enlistment of black troops.

Mass Governor John Andrew arrived in Pittsfield by train from Boston to visit the widow of Colonel Robert Shaw who died during the assault on Fort Wagner near Charleston SC. Colonel Shaw led the 1st and most famous all black infantry to fight in the Civil War, the 54th Mass Infantry that was immortalized in the 1989 Academy Award winning film “Glory”. During the Governor’s visit he called upon Harrison and asked him to go to South Carolina to express the sympathy of the Commonwealth over the tragic death of Colonel Shaw and that of nearly half the members of the regiment who died during the disastrous assault on Fort Wagner. Just 2 days before the tragedy a letter was sent from Governor Andrew’s Military Secretary to Colonel Shaw citing a “strong and unanimous” endorsement by the Governor of Mass, the President of Williams College, and highly respected clergy and laymen of Western Mass for Rev Harrison as the 1st Chaplain of the Mass 54th. Rev Harrison reported for commissioning and duty at Morris Island, SC and states in his autobiography that he was treated “in all respects…same as other chaplains of a fairer hue.”

But when payday came around “the paymaster refused to pay the men of the regiment the same amount paid to white troops because they were of African descent”. Harrison wrote, “Three months passed and no pay. I knew that my family’s means were nearly used up… My wife and six children, a debt of three hundred dollars on my house, and grocery bills. I had a hard burden to carry.” Chaplain Harrison filed a formal complaint to his superior officers, but to no avail.

Harrison wrote, “I grew sick under the pressure.” So sick was he that he requested and received a medical discharge during his 4th month of service. He thereupon complained to Mass Governor Andrew at being declined equal pay on account of his African ancestry.

Harrison’s demand that he receive the same pay as white chaplains led Governor Andrew and United States Attorney General Edward Bates to write letters to President Abraham Lincoln to end the discriminatory practice. In June 1864 legislation requiring equal pay, retroactive to January 1864, was passed in the army appropriations bill. Harrison states in his autobiography that it was suggested during his brief military service that he was “the victim” upon whom the whole matter of equal pay would turn and, as a consequence of the relationships he’d established with men of influence, that indeed was the case.

The 2018 Houston Book Show took place last weekend at the Arabia Shrine Center. I exhibited and had a good show, seeing lots of old friends among the dealers and the collectors. I also met some new people including a number of younger folks, who were a nice addition.

It was a benefit for The Printing Museum, whose volunteers were present with printing demonstrations both days and helping out at the show. Thanks to all the volunteers, including those from the Houston Book Hunters Club. We couldn’t do it without you!

In addition to the displays of rare and collectable books, there were free appraisals by local appraiser Kurt Zimmerman, a talk about his Viet Nam memoir by Dr. Sam Axelrad and a talk on Sunday afternoon on Book Collecting 101, let by Kurt Zimmerman and myself with helpful commentary from Luke Bilberry of 12th Street Books of Austin.

There were a number of dealers from around the country, including California, Tennessee, Maryland, New Mexico and from all parts of Texas.

We hope to have a bigger and better show next year, at roughly the same time. Hopefully you can join us then. Cheers!

The Texas State Historical Association annual meeting was in San Marcos, Texas this year. The new convention center was very nice. Easy access for dealer set up. The staff was helpful as always. The only complaint I heard was that the tables were not the usual 6 foo by 3 foot tables, but were two six foot by 1.5 foot tables under the table cloths. Fortunately this did not seem to present any issues for setting up book displays.

I have found over the years that it is better to have more room for display of items, as most people will not take time to dig through things, especially at a conference where they hit the rare book room in between sessions. So I was happy I had six tables. Even so I had trouble fitting it all in, since things expand to fill the available space.

My only disappointment was that there did not seem to be as many people from San Antonio as I had hoped, despite the relative closeness. I brought a number of things relating to the Alamo City, including Pioneer Flour plates, but there were not many takers for S. A. material. Ollie Crinkelmeyer gave the talk at the Book Lovers Breakfast. Despite the early hour and the cost it was a sell out. Ollie did a bang-up job as expected, relating the path he took to becoming one of the best Texana dealers in the state, despite his late start after a full career in the oil patch. His booth was as usual filled with gems and serious collectors were crowded around.

Things that had interest included maps, land promotionals, Jose Posada broadsides, Indian Wars, town promotional booklets, ranching, including the King Ranch, Dobie, Hertzog, and early Texas items.

I had a number of new items, many of which sold briskly, as did a few old friends who had been with me for a while.

Recently I have been issuing an e-mail list of items I am bringing to the show. This proved to be worthwhile as I had orders for quite a few things before the show opened. If you would like a copy of my lists let me know. There are still interesting things that have not sold, including a contemporary letter written to Peg Leg Ward from Washington on the Brazos, criticizing the terms of the Annexation proposal.

Another thing that proved popular in San Marcos was the hotel’s nightly manager’s reception with free drinks and snacks. Cheers!

For some reason I was at the back of the room and away from the popular silent auction. So you had to be a dedicated collector to seek me out. Fortunately enough people found me to make for one of my most successful shows. Plus I got to visit with my old friend Ken Huddleston who was across the way.

I understand that next year’s meeting will be in Corpus Christi. You should come and join the fun!

Last Fall, the Original Round Top Antiques Fair celebrated its 50th Anniversary. I have been exhibiting there for only a few years, but one of the original dealers is still at the show 50 years later. The well known antique publication Maine Antique Digest (MAD) visited the show and stopped by my booth. The resulting article just showed up in my mailbox. Thanks MAD!

Here is the Kansas ranching photograph they features from my booth

Susan Franks who ably runs the Show put on a party for the dealers with live music and dancing in the aisles

The Winter Antiques Show is January 26-27, 2018. Tickets are on sale at www.RoundTopAntiques.com Come and see us.

Our booth will have Texas and Western maps, books, including Dobie, Haley and Hertzog, photographs, documents, art and antiques.

Here are some of the sort of things I may bring

Please join us for the 2018 Houston Book Show. The Texas Booksellers Association is sponsoring the show, as an exciting addition to its Austin and North Texas Shows, beginning in May 2018. We invite all interested parties to participate in what we expect to become a premier event on the bookselling calendar.
We are working with The Printing Museum of Houston, which has sponsored the annual Houston Book Fair at the Museum for the last 14 years. Proceeds from ticket sales for this show will go to benefit The Printing Museum, a non-profit organization. See the website http://printingmuseum.org/ for more information.
The facility for the 2018 show is the spacious Arabia Shrine Center, 10510 Harwin Dr., Houston, Texas. We are very pleased to secure this space. It features over 16,000 square feet of well-lit exhibit space and ample free parking. It is conveniently located in West Houston near the intersection of Beltway 8 and the Westpark Tollway and easily accessible from I-10 and US-59 (I-69).

For more information see the Texas Booksellers Association Web Site http://bookfair.us/houston

To date the book dealers who are confirmed include the following:
EXHIBITORS HOUSTON BOOK SHOW 2018

1. 12th Street Books Luke Bilberry, 827 West 12th St., Austin, Texas 78701. ABAA / ILAB / TxBA
Antiquarian, literary first editions, scholarly books, fine press, books by Texas writers.
2. Bob Lakin Books & Collectables Bob Lakin, Stephanie Jones, Bryan Young P.O. Box 186, Chatfield, Texas 75105. TxBA
Children’s Illustrated, Modern Fiction, Mystery, Signed Books, Juvenile series books, Literature, Vintage horror.
3. Crinkstuff Ollie Crinkelmeyer, Sandi Crinkelmeyer, 10109 Talleyran Dr., Austin, Texas 78750. TxBA
Rare Texas Books, Documents, Photos, Maps, Currency, etc.
4. First Folio Dennis Melhouse, 1206 Brentwood, Paris, Tennessee 38242. ABAA / ILAB / TxBA
Fine bindings, illustrated, rare books.
5. Good Books in the Woods. Jay Rohfritch, 25915 Oak Ridge Drive, Spring, Texas 77380. TxBA
History, Modern First Editions
6. Langdon Manor Books. Adam Schachter, 1800 St. James Place, Suite 105, Houston, Texas 77056. ABAA / ILAB / TxBA
American Social Movements, American Personal Narratives, Outsider Books, Photo Albums
7. Mac Donnell Rare Books. Kevin Mac Donnell, 9307 Glenlake Drive, Austin, Texas 78730. ABAA / ILAB / TxBA
Mark Twain, 19th & 20th century American & English literary first editions and manuscripts.
8. Michael Laird Rare Books. Michael Laird, 335 W. Pecan St., Lockhart, Texas 78644. ABAA / ILAB / TxBA
Documents, Early printed books, ephemera, fine bindings, Illustrated Books, Law, literary archives, manuscripts, photographs, prints, Renaissance books, Texana, Victorian books.
9. Octavaye Wendy Ossoinig, Karl Ossoinig, Fort Worth, Texas. TxBA
Contemporary design bindings, decorative volumes, Restoration services of antiquarian books and paper, custom protective enclosures.
10. Schroeder’s Book Haven Bert Schroeder, 104 Michigan Ave., League City, Texas 77573. TxBA
Texana, with good selections in History, Military, Art, NASA / Space & Literature.
11. The Book Collector. Michael Utt. 2901 6th Avenue, Fort Worth, Texas 76110. ABAA / ILAB / TxBA
Literature, Anthropology, Chess, Americana and works on Voyages of Exploration.
12. Whiting Books. Chuck Whiting, P.O. Box 596, Fulshear, Texas 77441. TxBA / IOBA
http://www.facebook.com/whitingbooks http://twitter.com/whitingbooks.com
Fiction, Nonfiction, Art, Sports, Texana, Military
13. William Allison Books. William Allison, 6219 Longmont Dr., Houston, Texas 77057. ABAA / ILAB / TxBA
Western Americana, Texana, Ranching, Cowboys, Indians, Outlaws, Wild West Shows, Texas and Western Fiction, J. Frank Dobie, Tom Lea, Carl Hertzog, J. Evetts Haley, Larry McMurtry, Documents, Maps and Letters.

Examples of books I will be bringing include:

A. B. Guthrie the western writer known for his novels Big Sky and the Pulitzer Prize winning The Way West also wrote for the movies. For example, Guthrie was credited for the screenplay for the 1953 Paramount film Shane based on the novel by the same name by Jack Schaefer.

Guthrie was nominated for an Academy Award for this screen play. Guthrie also wrote the screenplay for the 1955 Burt Lancaster film The Kentuckian. This movie is an adaptation of the novel The Gabriel Horn by Felix Holt.

Guthrie is not known, however, for writing the screenplays for any of his own books. When I was preparing for the recent Museum of Printing History Book Fair, I was surprised to see a letter from Guthrie on the letterhead of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

Musical aside: Yes, I am a child of the 60s and so the mere mention of this motion picture studio’s name causes the Doors song of the same name to play in my head. Thanks Jim Morrison!

Does this happen to anyone else?

Anyway, back to the Guthrie letter.

In the April 1957 letter Guthrie responds to a fan letter asking about his next book. I can relate to this fan, as I hate to have to wait for a favorite author to finish her next book (come on Louise Penny, write faster!) Guthrie’s response is that he is in Hollywood (see the letterhead) and working on the screenplay for his novel These Thousand Hills, which was published in 1956. While this book was released as a film in 1959 (two years after the date of this letter), Guthrie is not credited with the screen play, which is by the Englishman Alfred Hayes.

Of course, under the somewhat arcane (at least to me) rules of screenwriting, it is unclear if any of Guthrie’s attempts at a script may have made it into the final movie, or whether he suffered from Charlie Kaufman-like difficulties in crafting an Adaptation. But it is interesting to see he was asked to take a shot at it first, and that he was apparently unsuccessful, despite his past success in adapting the works of other authors.

To me this letter is an unexpected pleasure, giving an interesting side-light on Guthrie’s Hollywood career.

According to Wikipedia, the California ghost town of Volcano was so-named because of the shape of the valley, which early miners erroneously thought was caused by a volcano.

I became interested in this former gold mining center as I was writing up the description of a Wells Fargo document in my collection.

Here is my description:

[Volcano, California] Wells, Fargo & Co. Express Receipt. San Francisco, California: Towne & Bacon Print. July 17, 1859. One page engraved express receipt.
For a shipment from Volcano, California of one sealed package valued at $1,500 and to be delivered to the banking department with the proceeds to be returned to Volcano. Today Volcano is a ghost town, but in the gold mining days it was a boom town. The town, in Amador County, California, is named for its setting in a bowl-shaped valley which early miners thought was caused by a volcano. The town dates back to the late 1850’s and was originally nicknamed “Crater City”. It is said that in 1849 one miner took out 8 thousand dollars’ worth of gold in a few days. Another got 28 pounds in a single pocket. In 1851 a post office was established and by April 1852 there were 300 houses, and by 1853 there were 11 stores, 6 hotels, 3 bakeries, and 3 saloons. Hydraulic operations began in 1855 and by 1867 most of the mining operations were idle. George A. Macomber, the consignor was a senior member of the firm of Macomber Bros. He came across the plains in 1850 with his brothers. For many years they operated mines in Tuolumne, Calaveras and Amador counties. In Amador County they practically established their right to be known as the fathers of hydraulic mining in California.

To me this document has so much going for it in terms of California local history: gold mining, shipments of gold via the iconic Wells Fargo Express, (does any one else think of a John Wayne film like War Wagon?) and of course, what is now a ghost town with the colorful, if erroneous name of Volcano. This is why I love researching these items to see the back story. Thanks to the interwires for making so much information easily available!

The Museum of Printing History is a small jewel of a museum in Houston. It is also the host of an annual Book Fair every November. This year’s Fair was well attended and featured free book appraisals, guest speakers and – of course – books for sale!

It all works thanks to the volunteers.

There were many beautiful books of all types:

Not to mention hand-made items from the Houston Book Arts Guild:

Last week it was so hot in Houston one of my very conservative friends allowed “Al Gore might be right.” That is hot! So our thoughts turn to going to cooler places, like New Mexico. Here are a few photos from past trips.

We are looking forward to our trip in a few more weeks. Lots of shows coming up in August that we plan to attend and hope for some good book and art finds.

When you go, don’t by-pass Albuquerque in your haste to get to Santa Fe and Taos. Old Town is worth a visit and there are still some good book dealers as well.

We also got our opera tickets for The Marriage of Figaro. The opera house is in such a great setting it is worth a visit even if you are not into the opera. And we novice opera buff love the English translations in the seat backs.