Conservation Department News

Recently Todd Pattison gave the Library Company his collection of 183 books with decorated endpapers. Some may remember that Mr. Pattison gave a colorful lunchtime talk in January titled "Decorated Endpapers, 1831 -1875." The talk focused on this unique collection which includes examples of all kinds of endpapers from the 19th century: machine ruled, type printed, stereotyped, advertising, marbled, embossed, engraved, lithographic, and ruling machine papers (different from machine ruled). This collection will be invaluable to anyone who wants to study this little-known aspect of book production.

Mr. Pattison, a book conservator with the Northeast Document Conservation Center, and the Library Company conservation staff share an interest in 19th-century cloth bindings. The conservation staff maintains a database of 19th-century publishers' bindings that will make its debut online before the end of the year, and they are working on numerous other binding research projects. Mr. Pattison has been very generous over the years, giving us bindings that fit well with our collection. Last year Mr. Pattison gave us his ribbon-embossed cloth binding collection. We are, yet again, very thankful to Todd Pattison for his good eye and his generosity!


Image: Inside front cover. Alice B. Haven. The Coopers; or, Getting Underway. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1858. Click image for larger view.

“Benjamin Franklin and the Birth of a Paper Money Economy.”

Last March the Library Company’s Program in Early American Economy and Society co-sponsored, with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, a talk by University of Delaware economics professor Farley Grubb on “Benjamin Franklin and the Birth of a Paper Money Economy.” That engaging talk has now been published by the Philadelphia Fed as a handsomely illustrated booklet. You can request a copy from the Library Company or access the on-line version by following this link: http://www.philadelphiafed.org/education/ben-franklin-and-paper-money-economy.pdf 

Book Launch Celebration

Over one hundred members and guests of the Library Company attended the book launch celebration for Center City Philadelphia in the 19th Century on Thursday October 26th. Attendees enjoyed an illustrated lecture by Associate Curator Jenny Ambrose, a champagne toast, door prize giveaways, and a mini-exhibit displaying original materials from the graphics collections. Released in conjunction with the Library Company's 275th anniversary, the book was written by staff members of the Print and Photograph Department and features 195 reproductions from our photographic holdings organized in ten thematic chapters.

Above Left: Graphic Materials Cataloguer and Center City Philadelphia in the 19th Century co-author Erika Piola (second from left) posed with friends who purchased the new publication.

For more information about the book, and to order a copy, go to http://www.librarycompany.org/arcadia.htm.