Cincinnati Commonbook, circa 1915
[Cincinnati, Ohio]: [1915]. Boards. [SCRAPBOOK]. 8vo (9½” x 6½”); [34 unnumbered leaves]; three-quarters green calf; blind-stamped “Scrap Book” and hubs on spine; marbled boards; sewn-in bindings; commercially sold scrapbook with Daniel Slote & Co. book trade label on front endpaper; 1 ½” split to spine; fragile without wrinkling or odors; good plus. Good +. Item #1303
Approximately 200 newspaper clippings (170+ pasted or laid-in; 16 loose clippings) covering topics of household and garden, presumably collected by a young woman circa 1915. Among tips for raising fowl, pork, and dairy cows, recipes for all seasons, and “Comforts for Sick People” and “For the Invalid’s Tray,” two laid-in clippings offer competing remedies for “blackheads, miscalled ‘flesh worms’ by many a young miss.” Eleven of the loose clippings document a record-breaking cold snap in Cincinnati in summer 1915. Each leaf contains two columns of gummed lines on the front and back. The scrapbook was produced by Daniel Slote & Co., under a patent held by his close friend Mark Twain (see Slote featured as Twain’s roommate in The Innocents Abroad, 1869) and advertised as “the only gummed Scrap Book made: always ready for use without extra gum or paste.” This particular scrapbook highlights articles of note and hints helpful to a young woman, some of which remain timeless.
Price: $200.00