Washington Irving

My chief critic, editor and "significant other"(and the one responsible for getting me to write and maintain this journal), Katherine, pointed out quite meritoriously that my last post left her somewhat in the lurch as to the identity and importance of Washington Irving. My thirty year love affair with American magazines and popular culture sometimes causes me to falsely assume that my audience is as familiar with some of the personages whom I take for granted.

Washington Irving was of monumental importance in the development of truly American literature and was really America's most successful humorist prior to Samuel Clemens. He was also a man of many other literary talents and he crossed paths with and influenced virtually every other important literary personality of the first half of the nineteenth century.

This reminds me quite a bit of Sara Josepha Hale, a magazine editor of many other talents, though Ms. Hale is considerably less well remembered today. (See blog entry) http://magazinehistory.blogspot.com/2008/11/great-women-in-american-magazines-sara.html

Ironically, Irving was criticized during his time for selling out to the British but his indelible mark on American popular culture cannot be minimized. The cream rises to the top and, while the reputation of some early American superstars such as Longfellow are fading, the mark of Irving continues to shine, vis a vis, Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the term "Gotham" as applied to New York City and "Knickerbocker" as applied to a New Yorker.

Frank Luther Mott lists "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon" as a magazine, since it was issued periodically, though it is really more of a book in parts than a true magazine. Nonetheless, it appears on Irving's magazine curriculum vitae, with Analectic, Salmagundi and his later conributions to Knickerbocker Magazine (for one issue, Knickerbacker Magazine).

A few additional Irving-related items from my collection:


The Star Spangled Banner and the first issue of Knickerbocker.

As you can read on the long Wikipedia entry, that is only a portion of Irving's legacy. One correction on the wikipedia: Irving was the first magazine editor to print Defense of Fort McHenry. Oversight addressed. The next installment of American humor periodicals to follow shortly. More about Irving http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Irving



SL

19th Century American Humor Magazines

As virtually all of American popular culture, the origins and development of truly American humor and cartooning is chronicled in its magazines.

These magazines are particularly desirable and collectible, fueled mostly by present-day comic book purveyors, who have, for the last few years, been looking backward beyond the 20th century for the origins of comic illustration. It appears that the comic book market is somewhat played out and prices peaked a few years ago. 19th century comic magazines are much rarer. Many of even the major publications do not have complete runs in existance.

By far, the greatest repository of magazines prior to 1876 is the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts. The greatest individual collection is held by Richard West of Periodyssey. Even these two collections only hold a small fraction of the comic universe.

David Sloane's book on American Humor Periodicals, published by Greenwood Press, is by far the best and most comprehensive reference. It is out of print and very hard to find. Copies are available on the web for about $200 and well worth it.

I guess the best way to tackle this subject is chronologically, so I'll use items from my collection to provide a long series of posts to tell the story.

Perhaps the first, and clearly the most famous of truly American humorists was Washington Irving, and his earliest and best effort was the highly important and valuable Salmagundi published for a year or so in 1807-1808. Complete runs in original wrappers sell for many thousands of dollars.

Success breeds imitation and there were many imitators to follow, none of which acheived anywhere near the lasting impact of Salmagundi.

Plenty more to follow. Have a great Sunday.

Monsters: Polidori, Byron, Shelley and New Monthly Magazine April 1819

Great buys are still available on eBay if one is prepared with the proper knowledge. A few years ago, I learned that "The Vampyre", originally attributed to Byron and later, correctly to his doctor, John Polidori, first appeared in the April 1819 issue a British periodical known as New Monthly Magazine. The first one I found in a mixed bound volume that contained only the April issue. It actually wasn't on the heading but showed up in the text of a search "magazine 1819". There was no illustration or mention of the contents. Price: 8 dollars- shipping from England: 21 dollars. I usually limit my magazine collecting to American or americana but this was too good to pass up!

Within a few weeks it arrived and Bingo! The true first appearance of a rare classic- in its entirety. Since then I've managed to get two more for a relative pittance- but now the secret is out. Good luck!

The first British book edition (published shortly after the magazine) is legendarily rare since it was recalled due to the misattribution to Byron. Later contemporary issues sell on the web for about $2000. So how much is the magazine really worth? I traded one for $6000 worth of magazines to a very astute collector friend of mine.

By the way, this story is the product of the most productive horror story competition in history. On a rainy summer night in Switzerland in 1816, a small group of people were sitting around and decided that they would attempt to write a supernatural story, among them Byron, Polidori and Mary Shelley(then Godwin). Polidori's Vampyre was not the first vampire story, but it is considered the basis for many other offshoots including Bram Stoker's Dracula (never appearing in a contemporary magazine). The world has continued its fascination with the blood sucking night creatures to this day, viv a vis "True Blood" on HBO.

Of course, Ms Shelley came up with a pretty good character of her own that night- Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus. see an excellent treatment at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein The first American edition did not appear until 1833 but it was extensively reviewed and excerpted in Portfolio in 1818.

The first American magazine printing of Vampyre was in 1819 in volume two of the very rare Robinson's Magazine, published in Baltimore (I own volume one but have never seen volume two).

For a great read on the subject, you can buy (or download to your Kindle) a great book by Tom and Dorothy Hoobler http://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Mary-Shelley-Curse-Frankenstein/dp/B000SESF46/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1249678527&sr=8-2

Sadly, this story helped to precipitate a falling out between Byron and his doctor and the despondent Polidori committed suicide (ingesting a cyanide compound, prussic acid) in 1821 at the age of 25.

Polidori's letter claiming authorship in the May 1919 issue.

America the Beautiful, Patriotic Songs

I don't just collect magazines. As a lover of history and Americana, I've always kept an eye out for great paper items. When I had more money (and no ex-wives!) I put together a now long-gone collection of Presidential signed documents and still get goose bumps at autograph dealers booths at bookfairs.

Fortunately, I was able to hold onto a few great pieces, in particular patriotic songs. Musicians often reproduced a few bars of music for collectors and poets do the same for lyrics, known as faircopies. Here are a few of my favorites:

During the Civil War, perhaps the most beloved "flag" song (on both the Union and Confederate sides) was "Rally Round the Flag Boys" written in 1862 by George F. Root.

"America", or "My Country Tis of Thee", written by Samuel F. Smith was very popular and Smith wrote out hundreds of copies, some including all the stanzas, for collectors.

Katherine Lee Bates was inundated with requests for "America the Beautiful". Here's mine with the letter she sent to the collector who requested it. Not a bad piece of Americana!

Of course, how could one exclude John Philip Sousa

or Irving Berlin.

I've been looking for over thirty years for a George M. Cohan "Grand Old Flag" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy" but I've never seen or heard of one for sale. Perhaps one will surface. More likely he never did one. Oh the collector's mentality!

OK. 2 posts done- off to the pool. Once again, have a great holiday.

United We Stand July 1942 Flag Covers

In July 1942, seven months into "the good war", as a sign of solidarity and patriotism the Magazine Publisher's Association decided that every magazine should have a cover depicting a flag. Over 500 magazines participated.

In 2002, to commemerate the sixtieth anniversary of the campaign, the Smithsonian presented an exhibition of over a hundred of them. The website http://americanhistory.si.edu/1942/introduction.html shows nearly 500 images. An interesting story worth reading.

Here is how it was described in 2002

During July 1942, seven months after the United States entered World War II, magazines nationwide featured the American flag on their covers. Adopting the slogan United We Stand, some five hundred publications waved the stars and stripes to promote national unity, rally support for the war, and celebrate Independence Day.
For magazine publishers, displaying the flag was a way to prove their loyalty and value to the war effort. For the U.S. government, the campaign was an opportunity to sell bonds and boost morale. The magazines brought home a message of patriotism and ideals worth fighting for.
The National Museum of American History presents this exhibition to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the United We Stand campaign. We hope you enjoy touring the virtual exhibit, and we also invite you to visit the Museum, where nearly one hundred original flag covers will be on view from March 22 to October 27, 2002.
Today, in light of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the flag and the slogan United We Stand have a renewed meaning for many Americans. As the home of the Star-Spangled Banner, the National Museum of American History is a place to explore the history of our national symbol and the ideals for which it stands.

The winner of the competition for the best of all was House and Garden

Here's two from my collection that aren't on the site.

These are fun to collect and display. The more obscure the title, the more valuable. Enjoy! Happy 4th of July.

Early Michael Jackson Magazines

In Memorium Michael Jackson 1958-2009

Michael's first solo national magazine cover. Text of article below.



Rolling Stone's Article about Michael and the Jackson 5



Earlier pictures of the entire Jackson 5 appeared on Jet in 1970







These are considerably rarer than the Rolling Stone.




This is not the time to buy these magazines. The market will stablilize in a few months at a reasonable level. Pre June 25th price $10.

A rare African-American Playboy clone: Duke Magazine and Dan Burley

After the phenomenal success of Hugh Hefner's Playboy, started in 1953, dozens of clones appeared. Most were low class ripoffs with little or no redeeming merit. Some, like Rogue and Cavalier were a cut above the rest and, as Playboy, featured some good literature and other germaine articles. One that is little known (thanks to David Leishman for making me aware of it) is Duke, published in June 1957. Duke was published for an arican-american audience and featured reprinted literature from Langston Hughes and Chester Himes as well as Ray Bradbury "The Last White Man" and others.

Amazingly, there is very little about this magazine on the web and it probably lasted only one issue.

The editor was Dan Burley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Burley who was involved in many African-American publishing enterprises, including Jet, whose idea he sold to the Johnson Publishing empire. Burley's daughter is an international radio host and maintains a wonderful website about her father http://danburleyfoundation.wetpaint.com/ which incidentally does not mention this magazine! Burley was involved in many aspects of popular culture, most notably music, and coined the term "bee-bop".

The magazine cost me 16 bucks on eBay and is worth considerably more due to its rarity and cultural importance. So, you can see that twentieth century rarities can be found.

sports and baseball

Sporting magazines in America began in September 1829 with American Turf Register, published in Baltimore.

Here's a very rare offshoot from New York in 1833. As you can see, equestrian and aquatic sports predominated.









Cricket hung on in popularity until the late 19th Century whan it was replaced by Baseball. This magazine also has one of the earliest references to competitive tennis.





Baseball Magazine was the predominant publication of the sport begining in 1905, by which time the sport was wildly popular. Here's the first issue.








Remember, today's collectibles are items which were not recognized as particularly valuable in their time. Manufactured collectibles rarely are worth collecting. The baseball card market, since the mid-1970's has been ridiculously overmarketed. Bob Feller estimated that he's signed his name over 100,000 times. I ask you, how rare can that be in the future?

The same is the case for the millions of perfect condition Don Mattingly and Darryl Strawberry Rookie cards from the 1980's. The notion that baseball collectibles are a stock market of individual players will just not hold up with time. Supply and demand!

If you love baseball, as I do, its nice to have reminders of your favorite players to look at. Just don't get sucked into the notion that someday you'll be able to retire on them. Aside from the blatantly phony ones, sports autographs and memorabilia from the 70's, 80's and 90's are just not worth putting serious money into. Enough morality, I just hate to see too many people victimized by slick marketing.

More great (and truly rare) images to come.

Baseball 2

Here's a few more great items from my collection:

I showed the Ball Player's Chronicle earlier but only the masthead. Here's the entire first page.

National Chronicle is a rare title from the 1860's featuring baseball. This is the first issue.

Baseball guides made their debut in the 1860's. FYI from a website (with my illustration)

Baseball Guides Galore


By Ralph E. LinWeber

Record books have been compiled on every game of skill and athletic endeavor that exists. Baseball, America's national game, is, of course, the most prominent because of its long history, the long season in which it is played, the endless flow of statistics, and the broad interest it affords. Although statistical based newspaper and magazine articles had appeared before, the first known baseball guide made its appearance in 1860. It was called the Beadle Base Ball Guide or Beadle's Dime Base Ball Guide - an indication of its cost. It is a rare item and today the few in existence are known to be in collectors' hands.
The Beadle Guide continued publication until 1881 and in that period showed the evolution of various baseball terms and statistical categories. Baseball "matches" eventually became games and "hands lost" became number of times the batter was put out. In 1868 the Dime Baseball Guide added base hits to the score with outs coming first, runs second, and hits last in the three columns. In 1871 the Boston and Cleveland National Association clubs issued batting averages based on hits to times at bat. However, it was many years before all clubs started to show at bats in the box score.
From 1868 to 1885 the DeWitt Baseball Guide was in publication, with Henry Chadwick the editor from 1869 on. It was smaller than the Beadle Book and contained less information, but it boasted a larger circulation. Chadwick also put out his own Baseball Manual in 1870 and 1871. The man called the "Father of Baseball" was a statistician of note and his endless research into the records uncovered facts and figures that enlightened the sports world. George Wright, one of the early star players, also published a record book on baseball in 1875 while he was with the Boston club of the National Association.

the first De Witt's Baseball Handbook

from my collection.

In 1877, A. G. Spalding, a former star player who became a sporting goods magnate, launched Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide. It lasted for many years and enjoyed the greatest success of any publication of its kind. It first covered the National League and expanded to other leagues as they were established. In 1883, Alfred J. Reach, like Spalding, a former player who moved into the sporting goods field, introduced the Reach Guide. It contained the first year averages of the American Association as well as the National League and was similar in coverage to the Spalding Guide. With the establishment of the American League as a major circuit in 1901, the Reach Guide took the title of Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide. Of course, Spalding also covered the AL.
Starting in 1908, Spalding published two books, which caused some confusion to later researchers. All the minor league records were taken out of the Guide and put into the Spalding Base Ball Record, along with the major league records. The Guide also carried major league records and expanded its narrative section. This division continued until 1925 when the Spalding company cutback to one publication - the guide - with its original content.
In this period there were many other short-lived baseball guides and record books. The Wright & Ditson Baseball Guide was published intermittently between 1884 and 1912 with Tim Murnane, a former player turned writer as editor. There was a Sporting Life Guide in 1891, a Victor Baseball Guide of 1896 and 1897; John McGraw's Baseball Book of 1904 and 1905; the Lajoie Baseball Guides of 1906-07-08; and Bull Durham's Guide of 1910 and 1911.
The Spalding and Reach Guides continued strong throughout this period, publishing separately through 1939. They were duplicative, however, and published a combined edition in 1940 and in 1941. The foreword of the 1940 Spalding-Reach Guide explained the background and is quoted here in full.

Puck's Library was an offshoot of the famous humor magazine started bt Johannes Kepler. The first issue in 1887 was devoted entirely to baseball.

I love this one. A rare and short lived title featuring a cover of Babe Ruth in 1927. The second issue feature Man O'War.

There's presently an issue for sale on eBay for $750. Probably a little high but not by much.

Speaking of Yankees, here's Joltin Joe DiMaggio and his son on the cover of the first issue of Sport in 1948, the year I was born.

and the great Ted Williams.

More to come- seventh inning stretch!

Our National Game: Early baseball magazines

As with virtually every other aspect of popular culture, the history of baseball can be traced in magazines. While there are a number of illustrations in books in the first half of the 19th century touted to show early images of baseball, the game we know today had is real roots in New York/New Jersey in the mid 1840's when a number of amateur teams began playing each other. The first games were played in Hoboken at Elysian Fields and reports began to crop up in Spirit of the Times in the mid-1850's. If one searches the index of the 1854 volume, there are only four articles, the remainder being predominantly cricket. Within a few years, articles and box scores became quite frequent and the American game was now well established.

I was fortunate enough to find a number of quite interesting and early baseball references in magazines. The May 12th 1855 issue of Spirit of the Times published an early (the first?) version of the rules. The third volume of Porter's Spirit of the Times in 1857 published the first image of the game in an original engraving, here reproduced for your viewing pleasure.

The first magazine devoted to baseball was Ball Player's Chronicle, whose first issue appeared in 1867, two years prior to the establishment of the first professional team, The Cincinnati Red Stockings, in 1869. Before this a number of great images appeared in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and The New York Clipper. Sports is now one of the favorite areas to collect, unfortunately it is far too commercial and many devout present-day card collectors will find that their investments will have very little demand for them in the future. As I've said: collect because you enjoy it. If someone tries to sell you something "because its a good investment", run in the other direction!

Enough lessons in collecting: Play Ball!