One of my favorite finds was a magazine I obtained at Hartford in the early nineties. It was, of course, a first issue in wrappers and therefore fair game for my bookshelf. I think I paid less than ten dollars for it.
When I got home, I started researching my cache and found that I had obtained the first journal in America (and, indeed, the english language) devoted to education. Moreover, I learned the editor was William Russell and the journal was alternatively known as Russell's Journal.
To my great surprise and with obvious joy, I then noted that the name William Russell was penned across the top of the front wrapper. So for a few dollars, I had bought the first issue, in wrappers of America's first education journal, in wrappers, signed by the editor and founder. Not a monumental financial coup by any means, but nonetheless an irreplaceable highlight of my collection.
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Here's a nice bio of Russell.
http://books.google.com/books?id=PgoCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA139&lpg=PA139&dq=american+journal+of+education+russell&source=bl&ots=GcHpsq1NIv&sig=WFJuH-mQcc9pAX5JV0Qcmi6hVrI&hl=en&ei=-AylSraiEsSM8Qb22LnODw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7#v=onepage&q=american%20journal%20of%20education%20russell&f=false
Graphically, this decade, magazines look pretty much like the previous one, though, as I said, the locations have expanded and the topics are more varied. These images represent only a small part of my holdings, basically first issue octavos in wrappers, though a pretty good representation of the era. Many of these titles were celebrations of our religious freedom, including the first published by a Jew, in response to the proselytizing efforts of another magazine. It is quite rare and valuable. I believe I bought this volume from Baumann Books for about $2000.
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There were three different American Monthly Magazines. The first (left) published the first appearance of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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The United States Literary Gazette also featured Longfellow and Bryant.
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This is the direct precursor of today's important New England Journal of Medicine.
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One of countless masonic and anti-masonic publications.
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More literature.
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etc., etc., etc
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A great idea then, still unresolved now. To quote Pete Seeger"when will we ever learn"
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This was edited by the important pioneer and author Timothy Flint
see: http://books.google.com/books?id=51SORmBAL7cC&dq=timothy+flint&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=dSQnUMnVEt&sig=rWazOpKPeJRBCbdDW_6DUchbo-s&hl=en&ei=AzelSqHdAZeL8QbOy8DrDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Off the the shore, have a great Labor Day!
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