Saturday, March 31, 2012

Lt. Danenhower's Narrative of the Jeannette, 1882

Another book from Chet Ross Rare Books here is Lieutenant Danenhower's Narrative of the Jeannette, published by J. R. Osgood & Co. in 1882. (First Edition) It was a half binding with black leather spine and marble paper boards, and it basically just needed rehinging. But, Mr. Ross wanted corners added and the leather to be brown instead of the black as the original. I think brown was a good choice for this book. It feels more "just right" with brown, of which color also enabled me to antique it slightly on the surface. (If it were black, I wouldn't have been able to do so, and the leather would have appeared too new, compared to the beautifully aged marble paper.) This is a thin book, so stamping the title was tricky - I'm glad that our smallest micro type fitted on the narrow spine!! OR I'd have to stamp it vertically, which would be less attractive, to say the least. Anyway, I thought somehow, Lt. Danenhower's goggles are strangely modern looking and are cool to me. So, I took a picture of his frontispiece portrait. (He had an inflammation issue with one eye, so one of the goggle glasses is stained?) Oh, by the way, based on the library label, this particular book was one of the very first books to be collected by The Ames Free Library in Massachusetts, considering the library was officially opened in 1883. (This book was acquired on October 11th, 1882. Shelf No. 326,14. Accession No. 6875.)

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