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THE EPHEMERA JOURNAL VOLUME 20, NUMBER 2 JANUARY 2018 “Divertissements for Young People” Book-Based Games and Game-Based Books in Nineteenth-Century America BY LAURA WASOWICZ New England was a significant center for both children’s book and paper toy production between 1840 and 1890 when American children’s print culture was flourishing amid the market expansion, technological developments, and entrepreneurial genius that imbued the transatlantic print trade. Five brief case studies exemplify the children’s print market from a loose network of experimental regional enterprises to an established industry dominated by major brands, both commercial and literary. W. & S.B. Ives of Salem, Massachusetts. The first commercial blockbuster card game produced in Antebellum America was The Improved and Illustrated Game of Dr. Busby.1 (Figures 1 & 2) This game was devised by author Anne Wales Abbot, who was employed by the Salem, Mass. publisher W. & S.B. Ives to make a game out of wood-engraved images the firm had in stock. The daughter of Congregational clergyman Abiel Abbot from nearby Beverly, Miss Abbot (1808-1908) wrote didactic stories for children, including How to Spoil a Good Citizen (1848), which denounced the Mexican-American War.2 Active in Salem from 1837 to 1853, brothers William and Stephen Bradshaw Ives did miscellaneous job printing and Figure 1. The card game of Dr. Busby, 1840s, with edges color-coded for the ‘family’ groups. issued didactic children’s stories but Designed by Anne Wales Abbot, published in Salem MA by W. & S.B. Ives. [All images courtesy Continued on Page 4 The American Antiquarian Society.] In This Issue: Ephemera of Protests Present & Past ~ page 11 • Immigrant Memories ~ page 17 George Wein & Jazz Festivals ~ page 20 • Dance Cards ~ page 25 • British Students Pick Ephemera ~ page 29 1 Dear Members and Friends: The George King Fox, one of our long-time, most active and beloved members, Ephemera Journal passed away on October 29, 2017. George had served with highest distinction as Vice-President of our Society, as a member of our Board of Directors, and as the humorous, coaxing auctioneer for our conference fund-raiser. He installed scintil- lating exhibits, culled from his vast collections, at most of our conferences. He was the consummate ephemerist who began collecting printed rewards of merit at age six. For the next three-quarters of a century, his love of the printed word Copyright 2018 continued unrelentingly. He used his keenly-focused connoisseur’s eye to form The Ephemera Society of America, Inc. remarkable collections of, for example, printer’s tradecards, cameo cards, social P.O. Box 95 Cazenovia, NY 13035-0095 ephemera (such as ball invitations), fine press books, and Beat poetry. You are in- Messages & Fax: 315-655-9139 vited to read more about George in the remembrance of him published in this issue. Web Site: www.ephemerasociety.org George’s life will be celebrated as part of our banquet program at our conference E-mail: [email protected] in March 2018 From March 15, 2018 to March 18, 2018, we will host our annual conference at Volume 20, Number 2, January 2018 the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. The title of ESA/38 is Let Me Entertain You. Nine distinguished speakers will give image-laden talks on wide- The Ephemera Journal (ISSN 1543- ranging forms of entertainment including movies, festivals, the circus, vaudeville, 4990) is published three times a year by pleasure gardens, competitive flying, music, and cross-word-puzzles. These talks The Ephemera Society of America, Inc. will be illustrated by broadsides, posters, invitations, programs, handbills, photo- President: Bruce Shyer (’18) graphs and other eye-dazzling ephemera. Please visit our website for further details. Vice President: Richard Sheaff (’18) Our Saturday evening Banquet speaker will be Craig J. Inciardi, the Curator Treasurer: Henry Voigt (’18) of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. He has had a lead role in using Directors: ephemera and artifacts to create major exhibitions, including The Rolling Stones: 50 Barbara Fahs Charles (’19) Years of Satisfaction. We expect to see and hear original lyrics and compositions. David Freund (’18) On Sunday morning, March 19, 2018, Will Shortz, the extremely witty and re- Sheryl Jaeger (’18) vered puzzle editor of The New York Times, NPR Weekend Edition puzzlemaster, David Lilburne (’18) Glenn Mason (‘19) and an avid ephemera collector, will regale us with an illustrated talk entitled A David Mihaly (‘18) Century of Crosswords. Michael Peich (’19) The importance of ephemera in the art and graphic design world was underscored Jeremy Rowe (’18) by the passing of prominent designer Ivan Chermayeff and art dealer Steven Leiber. Donald Zaldin (’18) Mr. Chermayeff was known for creating or streamlining logos of entities such as the Tamar Zimmerman (’18) Smithsonian Institution, Showtime, Mobil Oil, and the NBC Peacock. But he also created ephemera (e.g. posters) and used ephemera (envelopes, cut-outs. postage President Emerita: Nancy Rosin stamps etc.) to create wonderfully rectilinear collages. Mr. Lieber was a pioneer Vermont Agent: Pat Laffin in the field of gathering ephemera which extensively documented conceptual art APS Affiliate #256 and the avant-garde art movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s. The Getty Museum acquired more than 2,600 files on artists from Mr. Leiber which include invita- Administrative Director: tions, correspondence, posters, catalogs and other ephemera. The Getty considers Mary Beth Malmsheimer this collection of artists’ ephemera “as integral as the art itself” and a rich resource [email protected] for scholars and curators. Ephemera Journal Editor: The Board of Directors has changed our membership fee structure and has added Diane DeBlois benefits to the new categories of membership. Those who are life members will P.O. Box 477 continue to retain that status and the benefits applicable to that status. Please feel West Sand Lake, NY 12196 free to contact us if you have any questions regarding membership. We want and [email protected] need you! DISPLAY ADVERTISING RATES: Have you noticed the playful tendency to create oxymoronic titles juxtapos- The Journal will accept pdf, jpeg or tiff ing the short-lived meaning of the word “ephemera” with a contrary “forever files as well as camera-ready ads at the quality”? For example, the Institute of Conservation had a magazine issue aptly following pre-paid rates: entitled Long Live Ephemera! A recent book on evolution, concerned with the Quarter page (3.25” x 4.5”) $ 85 emergence of new species from transitory ones, is entitled Eternal Ephemera. I Half-page vertical (3.25” x 9.5”) $120 recall seeing a poster entitled The Permanence of Ephemera. As we enter the new Half-page horizontal (7” x 4.5”) $120 year, I bid you happiness accompanied by the wish that ephemera lasts forever. Full page (7” x 9.5”) $215 Deadlines: April 1, August 1, Bruce Shyer December 1. 2 President George Fox By Dick Sheaff One of the most dependable navigational stars in the ephemera firmament is no longer to be seen. George Fox died on October 29, 2017, just shy of his 80th birthday. The man we all knew as a dedicated San Francisco Californian was also a New Englander and mighty proud of it. George King Fox (”kingyodel” on eBay) was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and spent many a happy time at “Seldom Farm,” the family Berkshires homestead in East Charlemont. He led an amazingly diverse and impressive life. Details can be fleshed out by reading at the links below the informative obituaries published by his firm, Pacific Book Auctions, and by the San Francisco Chronicle. At one time or another George was a competitive alpine ski racer who took up yodeling while in Switzerland, played also pointed out that the French horn, loved whitewater canoeing, was a skilled no matter what George fly fisherman, became a show dog enthusiast (Lord knows, was collecting— you could not prevent him from pulling out photographs of from Beat poetry his and Dorothea’s two collies), sometimes played pool in to fine press books dive bars, loved to roller skate and to play hockey, worked to printers’ trade as a paper salesman, was a committed and loving parent, cards to lithographic became a rare book auctioneer, served as an officer or prints to black-and- board member for numerous American culture collecting white business cards organizations, camped alone in the backwoods, studied early to his self-coined American furniture, repeatedly visited Historic Deerfield, “bar cards” to rare loved Lamson cutlery. broadsides—George And became a beloved friend to so very many people. always focused on George was always open, friendly, gregarious, and the design, printing generally had an observant, humorous twinkle in his eye. He and typography. He treasured the best and glided past the was equally at home in the bow tie crowd and in seedy pool ordinary. halls. He just plain liked people. There is not room enough here to even begin to mine the And he collected. Did he ever. As son Bronson recounts, countless “George Fox” anecdotes we all share . hijinks George tended to say that old things were better than over martinis, backpacking trips, the Fox definition of a new things, due to the fine craft required in earlier eras. fair trade deal (both sides end up feeling like they got the There was perhaps nothing George loved in life more than short end of the stick), the diner meals, the $4.99 grocery scouring every possible flea market, antiques mall, book store breakfasts during ESA conferences, the bursting forth show and paper show for the elusive “killer item.” It was of unexpected yodels, his exuberant triumph holding aloft a a dedicated calling.