Michael Popek's Blog, page 230

Building The Hype

I got an email yesterday informing me that the author copies of " Handwritten Recipes: A Bookseller's Collection of Curious and Wonderful Recipes Forgotten Between the Pages " were on the way.

Naturally, I was pretty excited. Check out this terrific cover art:


I think it perfectly captures the book's spirit. I hope you enjoy it, it comes out on October 2nd.

So, to get you all talking about the new book, I thought I'd give away an old one:




This is "Lowney's Cook Book" prepared by Maria Willett Howard and published by the Lowney Company in 1912. It's filled with some great vintage recipes as well as some terrific color illustrations (hm, sounds like some other book we were just talking about).

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below. You can also enter over on Facebook , on twitter or via email . If you have any questions about Handwritten Recipes , go ahead and ask!

I'll gather up the entries and announce the winner in tomorrow's Forgotten Bookmarks post.

Good luck!


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Lacking Space And Direction

Photograph and the last page of a letter:

I'd like to have a studio to continue doing the type of work I'm doing here when we move to New York. I think I'll be able to sell myself so I can some freelance consulting to make a little money to live on and support my studio. And, of course, I'd like to teach a little bit. 

Allannah's been tutering college and high school students in math and we've been talking a lot about what helps people to learn. These discussions have got me thinking about how I taught the color class at Pratt and the many changes I'd have to make from the last time to better help the students understand and use color. I'm looking forward to really organizing my thoughts about color and trying to convey my ideas to students again. 

Allannah's having a lot of trouble at the school here. The place is right on the edge of disaster. 'Way underfunded, lacking space and direction, and it obviously has a morale problem amoung the faculty. She wants to achieve a lot and is very demanding about that, but the teachers do not seem to want their students to set their sights too high. This seems to be part of the overall attitude here in Maine and Allannah has not only to study her tail off, but also has to fight that attitude constantly. If we would have thought about the school at all before she started there, we would have gotten out of here and made sure she went to a good school. But since she has less than two semesters to go she's got to stick it out. 

I hope you both are feeling well and are having a good year with your classes at Pratt. 

I'd like you to keep the photographs if you want them and/or can use them for anything. If you don't want to keep them forever, you can send them back to me or give them to me the next time I see you (which I hope will be soon).

Sincerely yours,
Martin 

PS Allannah says hello to you both

Found in "From Abacus to Zeus" by James Smith Pierce. Published by Prentice-Hall, 1977.

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Just A Friend

Card, front reads "From A Friend."

Inside:

If you've
a corner in your heart,
One little corner, unemployed.
Pray, darling
pray set it apart
And let me in
to fill
the void

Small photograph has been glued on the reverse side.

Found in "Their Yesterdays" by Harold Bell Wright. Published by A.L. Burt, 1912.

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Giveaway winner

This week's winner was Angela Brodie, who entered over on Facebook.

Friday Giveaway: Alice and Looking Glass - contest closed

As promised, I'm giving away these two antiquarian Lewis Carroll books:


"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was published by the Homewood Publishing company, circa 1900. "Through The Looking Glass" was published by Donohue, circa 1904. Both feature the Tenniel illustrations inside.

"Looking Glass" is in better condition overall, but both books are heavily worn. I'm hoping they find a new home with an owner that doesn't mind these flaws.

Contest now closed, winner announced shortly.

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Friday Giveaway: Alice and Looking Glass

As promised, I'm giving away these two antiquarian Lewis Carroll books:


"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was published by the Homewood Publishing company, circa 1900. "Through The Looking Glass" was published by Donohue, circa 1904. Both feature the Tenniel illustrations inside.

"Looking Glass" is in better condition overall, but both books are heavily worn. I'm hoping they find a new home with an owner that doesn't mind these flaws.

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below. You can also enter on Facebook , twitter or via email .

I'll gather up the entries and select a winner at random tomorrow morning (Saturday) at 11:00 AM EST.

Best of luck!

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You Would Think You Was In A Palace

An absolutely terrific letter from 1883, lots of great historical references. Read it for yourself:

Saturday Jan. 6th 1883

Dear Sheri ???

I guess you have given up all thoughts of ever hearing from me, you must forgive me for not writing before. I have thought of writing forty or more time when we were coming down here but I though I would wait till we got down here so I would have more to write about and when we got down here I soon commenced going to school and then I didn't find any time to do any thing.

I received a letter from Hattie as soon as we got down here and a postal yesterday asking if I was dead or alive the reason I didn't write.

We left Newark that same night that I was to your house for Syracuse. I told you there that Ma was going to carry a live rooster on the cars didn't I? Well, she was bound she would and so she did. I told her I wouldn't take of it a minute not even when she got her ticket. I was in a perfect fret all the time till we got on the boar. I was so afraid the shang-hai would squawk or get away from her, but I guess no one suspected what it was. We got to Syracuse about 8 or 9 o'clock and we ????? to the depot till about twelve o'clock before our folks came after us. They had just come from Oswego. I tell you wasn't I sleepy.

Nothing happened of much account as I can remember down to New York unless I mention that one of our horses fell in the canal and came fully near being drowned, we thought it was dead once but it came out all right after a while.

The first Sunday in New York was Thanksgiving. I went to Talmage's church in the evening it was decorated lovely, I just wish you could see it you would think you was in a palace. The organ in it is perfectly grand it is played by a middle aged man and a man plays on a silver horn at the same time. The sermon was good, the subject was "Hagar in the wilderness."

A few days after Thanksgiving we went to the " Erie Basin " Brooklyn to tie up for the winter and about two days after than I went to school, a girl on a boat in "Atlantic Basin" came and stayed two days with me she has been to school here before. I got acquainted with her about give years ago when I went to school in New Jersey her name is Ella Bawless(?).

I  have a nice little walk only a mile and over. The school is number 27 Nelson Street , there is only about thirty two teachers and only about 200 (?) scholars in it, how is that for a school and the rooms are all partitioned off by sliding glass doors. The principal's name is "Mr. Weed" he is just as nice and pleasant and sociable as he can be, my teacher's name is Mrs. Lyons, she is nice too.

I was first put in the first class, first division that is the highest class next to the graduation class. He told me I might go in that but I told him I would rather not go quite so high than to go in that class and possibly be put back. Emma Allen goes to this same school she was in the same one that I spoke to you about that I got acquainted with at Lockport . I would like to have you get acquainted with her she is a sweet girl. I have got acquainted with a girl on a boar where we lay (?) they have a piano on the boat, she is a splendid player and singer, she has taken singing lessons of ???? masters and received a salary for singing in the choir well, she and ??? and Jared ???? crossed the ferry and got to the elevated railroad to go to 14th to see if we could get a piano small enough to get in our cabin but we couldn't find any any where. Once place we went into where Nora (Nora Vandover (?)) got hers. They made them there but the did't have any on hand of the small ones, so we all went to Bunnell's museum where they have curiosities, we saw the ???asian girl and two albinos, and the giants Mr. and Mrs. Bates. It was perfectly comical to see them. They were about 8 feet tall, but the most interesting to me of all the curiosities was a little boy about a foot high, he was ten years old and weighed 5 pounds, he talked and acted like a little child 2 years old. He was just as cute as he could be.

At the stage performances Dr. Lynn (?) cut a live man's head arm and leg off and put them on again and I saw it done. He invited any man out of the audience to come up on the stage and he would to do the same thing to them. Two men went up but when the man came up to them to cut off his arm they backed out frightened, one of the men that came up was a doctor. The arm and leg that Dr. Lynn cut off from the man (that he had a purpose for it) he placed the arm in one man's lap and the leg in the other man's lap (the ones that came upon the stage) they were about frightened to death. There lay the leg with the leg of the pants on it and his arm with the sleeve on it. Besides this I saw a living head, you could see all around it and under it that it was not on a body it was suspended in air. When the manager asked it to tell who I was I said "I am Rourah (?) , the Roman Mystery."

Well, I guess I have written enough on this subject, the last two were some sort of tricks I guess. Though well got up for I don't see how under the ??? they were down as the were both life size and alive. I don't believe have written about these in a way so you can understand it. (enough on this subject)

What did you get for Christmas? I got

Found in an extremely worn copy of "Money in the Garden: A Vegetable Manual" by P.T. Quinn. Published by The Tribune Association, 1872.


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I've Been Workin' On The Railroad

Repair and inspection report for the Delaware and Hudson Railroad, looks to be dated 1931, although I can't really make out any of the notes in pencil.

Looks like our repairman had other things on his mind, as there is a detailed trout stream map drawn on the other other side:


Found in "Inspection of Locomotive Brake and Signal Equipment" published by Westinghouse, October 1928.



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A Capitol Idea

Photograph of the US Capitol Building, no writing or date stamp.

Found in "SeinLanguage" by Jerry Seinfeld. Published by Bantam, 1993.

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Love Many, Trust Few

Four illustrated namecards. If you fold back the flowers, it reveals the name:
Found in "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare" published by Belford and Clarke, 1884.

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