Rare Book Monthly
Articles - October - 2005 Issue
Collecting: When it Rains it Reigns
Early magazines tell an interesting story of the period.
A group of Poughkeepsie almanacs dated 1828, 1831 and 1832 came up on eBay. I've found eBay pricing to be erratic but been satisfied overall. Not this time. I bought the 1831 and 1832 for $64 including shipping. The 1828 came up two days later and someone decided it was worth $56. That's more interesting than the almanac. I buy them as examples of printing as the contents are quite nondescript. Patience is part of the game as I was reminded by Mr. [or Mrs.] 56.
If Hannah Hobbie is reading this [the internet has a long reach] I hope you'll forgive me. The account of your life, printed by D. Fanshaw for the American Tract Society in 1837 at least twice failed to attract a bid and while I was interested I have seen Tract Society publications go begging for buyers too often to count. So I waited. I offered the seller a guaranteed lower bid of $8.00 if he would put it back up for a day. They agreed. No one joined me on the item and I bought it for that price. The full title is Memoir of Hannah Hobbie: or, Christian Activity, and Triumph in Suffering. She'll find many of her old friends on my shelves.
My interest in Joel Munsell, the Albany printer whose career spanned much of the 19th century, was also rewarded this month. I particularly like sammelbands, bound volumes of multiple works and I bought one for $100 that contained eighteen 19th century New England pamphlets including two Munsell printings: "Exercises of the Alumae of the Albany Female Academy" [1851] and "An Oration Occasioned by the Death of Henry White" [1846]. There are also two addresses by Charles Sumner who, as a senator, became a leader in the anti-slavery movement. These speeches were given in 1846 and 1847. There is also a speech by Horace Mann, father of American education given on the occasion of July 4th, 1842 in Boston.
Finally I bought a bound volume of the Panoplist, a magazine published in four forms beginning June, 1805 and suspending December, 1820. This volume is from the final iteration, Vol. XIII for the year 1817. As a window on contemporary thinking, magazines are the second response to current events [after newspapers] and often offer more perspective. As luck would have it the index is very good.
Pursuing, collecting, organizing and, as often as is practical, reading this material is an exceptionally interesting avocation.
