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Some Cool Old Ads - Great Find!


AAAndrew

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For those who are interested in the history of fountain pens, you are undoubtedly familiar with The American Stationer. This was the major trade publication for the stationery and fancy goods trade from the 1870's through the 1920's. The amount of information from the articles and advertisements is invaluable to researchers and the merely curious.

 

For a while we had some big gaps, and some important ones. Recently we saw the critical 1900-1901 issues digitized, but there are still about a dozen missing volumes. (after 1880, all years were bound into two volumes, one for Jan-Jun, one for July-Dec).

 

I was recently able to get a bound copy of one of these missing volumes, vol. 70, from the second half of 1911.

 

I'm in the process of exploring options for getting it scanned and OCR's so that it can be added to the list of online versions of this critical resource. I received the volume in the mail yesterday all the way from Germany. Yes, it was in Germany. It's in great condition. I took a few quick snapshots with my iPhone on my dining room table last night to send to a possible collaborator and the images are so fun I couldn't resist sharing them with y'all. These aren't great scans, but they give you an idea of what the ads are like.

 

The real surprise were the color inserts. I've found three so far: one for Hardtmuth pencils, one for Hardtmuth tracing paper and one for Waterman pens. These are gorgeous, full-page ads. The Hardtmuth pencil one in particular has a ton of color and even shiny silver highlights.

 

Anyway, here are a few ads from 1911.

 

fpn_1535466851__waterman_ad.jpg

 

 

 

fpn_1535466808__swan_safety.jpg

 

 

 

fpn_1535466797__rival_fountain_pens_ad.j

 

 

 

fpn_1535466780__mephisto_pencils_color.j

 

“When the historians of education do equal and exact justice to all who have contributed toward educational progress, they will devote several pages to those revolutionists who invented steel pens and blackboards.” V.T. Thayer, 1928

Check out my Steel Pen Blog

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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Andrew, you always find the coolest things.... Thanks for posting.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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There's so much cool stuff out there. I just wish someone would pay me to find it so I can stop this job that has nothing to do with pens and history. Any patrons out there? Something tells me that Patreon pitch wouldn't go over so well. "Pay me a lot of money so I can do cool stuff I really enjoy, like digging through old Stationery trade journals."

 

:D

 

“When the historians of education do equal and exact justice to all who have contributed toward educational progress, they will devote several pages to those revolutionists who invented steel pens and blackboards.” V.T. Thayer, 1928

Check out my Steel Pen Blog

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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I suppose you could maybe write a book and get some recompense....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Thanks Andrew, some beautiful pens.

 

Self Filling? Similar to the Conklin? In Shaeffer's lever came out in 1912.

 

I was completely unaware of the American Stationer.

 

As a historian you have brought up many things of interest, that I was at best using the 1894-5 Montgomery Ward or 1902 Sears replica catalogs for. ...Saving me from using Eagle nibs among other mistakes in a 1881 saga.

 

Looks like I'll have to have a more informed murderous heroine, popping into her Stationary Store in Denver in 1881/82....or looking at the stationary section of her book stores. I do find it amazing what books of that era are still being read.

 

Some of the Classic French books were sold under the counter back then.. :) That I found in a regular good library years ago.

 

I had no idea Valentine cards were so old.

Inks I didn't have, and I thought I had a few old inks. Carter inks also came in a small white bottle. Had the Carter inks. Stafford ink, which ESSR is the remaining ink. It was bought up by a conglomerate in the 1970-80's, gutted for the factory property. One of the managers managed to get his you are fired bonus, the wooden vat and the recipe for the blue black ink. Now ESSR...the last of the Stafford inks.

 

Now back to reading.

 

A one piece, wallet, pistol and notebook.......for when being mugged. :lticaptd:

 

I'd found many things in the Old Office museum site, but it's neat to see such things advertised that were in still use before Computers came in, and still might be in use.

Having a great time Andrew.

Edited by Bo Bo Olson

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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Interesting to know about ESSRI

 

And if you've only just discovered The American Stationer, you have many, many hours of fun ahead.

 

In this volume there is a photo of a stationery store in Saskatchewan in 1911. That was still pretty much frontier, and it was well-stocked, so feel free to have your heroine be able to pick up a fair selection of goods.

 

“When the historians of education do equal and exact justice to all who have contributed toward educational progress, they will devote several pages to those revolutionists who invented steel pens and blackboards.” V.T. Thayer, 1928

Check out my Steel Pen Blog

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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There was once a 40 page theme on that ink four or five years ago. I called it sneaky, Sandy1 called it mischievous.

Paper makes a great difference with that ink. I did a 17 pen, then all my widths and flexes , 40 + paper photo survey of it. That use to be on Ransom Bucket. On many papers it changed color as you watched. Others took days, some a week.

 

On Eston's Corrasable, 16 lb, 25% cotton, typewriter paper, it never changed. It's a great paper for one sided fountain pen use, but will bleed through big time. It's only sized on one side, in typewriter paper was only designed for one side use. If you stumble across some on Ebay, buy it. :notworthy1: :thumbup:

 

Chicken scratch pure. :P

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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