FOVA #19: Far East Moon Guitar ... and more

(Note: This is only a portion of the advertisement.)¹

Magazine: House Beautiful
Date: March 1962
Company: Palley's, Los Angeles, California
Products: Far East Moon Guitar, Alabaster Grapes, Italian Hanging Lantern
Text:
1. Far East Moon Guitar. An authentic Oriental stringed instrument to inspire the decorative imagination. Traditional in Chinese life for centuries. Hang or frame as a conversation piece ... play it if you desire. A graceful 38" long. Sold up to $45.00 in decorator shops.

2. Alabaster Grapes. From Italy. An exciting decorator accent when used to decorate that special bowl, table or what-not shelf. Colors: white, yellow, pink, green, brown, black, red, or blue. Specify color and size. Give 2nd color choice.

3. Italian Hanging Lantern. A glass decorator lantern from Genoa, Italy. Has antiqued or black metal binding and chain. Complete with chain and mounting bracket. Specify glass colors: smoke, green, amethyst or white.

Footnote
1. Not pictured: Sea Grass Matting, Far East Wall Plaques, South Seas Luau Net Kit and Bamboo-Handle Silverware.

Postcrossing gems: Margaret Tarrant and Cossack Mamay of the Ukraine

I received a couple of neat, folklore-themed postcards from Europe this week via Postcrossing.

Shown above is the front of the card I got from John in the Netherlands. It's an illustration titled Water Sports by English artist Margaret Tarrant (1888-1959). The work of Tarrant (pictured at right) has been featured on Papergreat before; she illustrated this cover of the The Three Bears.

According to her Wikipedia biography:

"In the 1920s, Tarrant helped to popularize fairies in a long-running series of titles on the theme such as The Forest Fairies, The Pond Fairies, and The Twilight Fairies. She was long associated with the Medici Society and many of her postcards, calendars, and children's books were published by the organization."

Clearly, this postcard illustration, with its fairies racing ducks on a pond, fits in with her primary theme.

On the postcard, John writes:

"Hello Chris. I never before heard of Ruth Manning-Sanders, nor Margaret Tarrant. But somehow, they must at least have met. (?) Anyway, I live in the coastal town/port of Vlissingen, which gave its name to New York's Flushing. My town is some 1,000 years old, but in the 16th century only it became more important. Our most famous citizen: 'Michiel de Ruyter.' If you want, just Google him."

The second postcard came to me from Natalia in the Ukraine.

Natalia writes:

"Postcard shows Cossack Mamay [who] is a Ukrainian folkloric hero. Cossack Mamay is encountered in legends, folk stories and proverbs. Cossack Mamay is one of the most common characters in Ukrainian folk painting, from the late 17th century to the present time!"

Here are some more Cossack Mamay tidbits from Wikipedia:

• The Ukrainian spelling of his name is Козак Мамай.
• He is a primary character within the Vertep, the portable puppet theater of the Ukraine.
• He is considered to be the national personification of the Ukraine (much as Uncle Sam is considered such in the United States).
• Cossack Mamay is usually shown with a kobza (a lute-like musical instrument), a horse, and his weapons hanging from the branches of an oak tree. (All of those can be seen in this postcard, which is an illustration by Maryna Mykhailoshyna.)

Looking back, another Postcrossing postcard I received last year from the Ukraine — A meal of varenyky and uzvar — also features the character of Cossack Mamay, although he is not specifically named as such. The mustache and hairstyle are certainly similar.

FOVA #18: Olympic StereoCenter

Magazine: House Beautiful
Date: March 1962
Company: Olympic (Division of the Siegler Corporation)
Product: Olympic StereoCenter
Text: A HOUSEFUL OF FUN from one Olympic StereoCenter.
TV in the living room .. 23" TV* with expanded 3-D sound!
HI-FI in the playroom .. both stereo and monoaural!
RADIO in the bedroom .. AM, FM, FM-Stereoplex, Simulcast!
Easy as 1-2-3, you send this richly varied entertainment throughout the house! You can switch your programs from room to room, with the exclusive built-in Sound Control Center (below) and optional remote speakers. her is fun for all the family, all the time! Olympic combinations start at $329.95. Quality hand-wiring, power transformers! Early American, French Provincial, Contemporary, Traditional, Oriental styles in a wide variety of furniture finishes!

*Diagonal measure

Vintage cover: Horatio Alger Jr.'s "Risen from the Ranks"

Risen from the Ranks; or, Harry Walton's Success was written by Horatio Alger Jr. (1832-1899) and first published in 1874. It was one of the volumes in the Luck and Pluck Series.¹

This cover is from the edition that was published by the John C. Winston Company. (Many companies published and republished Alger's works.)

Chapter XIII concerns the Clionian Society and its elections.² Our hero, Harry Walton, has just been elected Secretary of the society. Here's an excerpt of the discussion that follows:

Fitzgerald Fletcher did not vote for him. Indeed, he expressed it as his opinion that it was a shame to elect a "printer's devil" Secretary of the Society.

"Why is it?" said Oscar. "Printing is a department of literature, and the Clionian is a literary society, isn't it?"

"Of course it is a literary society, but a printer's devil is not literary."

"He's as literary as a tin-pedler," said Tom Carver, maliciously.

Fletcher turned red, but managed to say, "And what does that prove?"

"We don't object to you because you are connected with the tin business."

"Do you mean to insult me?" demanded Fletcher, angrily. "What have I to do with the tin business?"

"Oh, I beg pardon, it's your cousin that's in it."

"I deny the relationship," said Fletcher, "and I will thank you not to refer again to that vulgar pedler."

Footnotes
1. Some of the other Alger series included the Ragged Dick Series, the Tattered Tom Series, the Brave and Bold Series and the Way to Success Series.
2. There have been at least three U.S. colleges with a literary club known as the Clionian Society. According to Wikipedia, the one at McKendree University in Lebanon, Illinois, is still active. Clionian, I believe, is a reference to Clio, the muse of history in Greek mythology.

FOVA #17: Atmore's Mince Meat

Is that boy coming out of the pie?!?

Magazine: The Ladies' Home Journal
Date: November 1919
Company: Atmore & Son, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Product: Atmore's Mince Meat
Text: Really Thick Mince Pies! There's no pride or pleasure in a pie unless it makes the mouth water — unless its goodness fulfills your expectations. Mouth-melting pies of this sort are made with Atmore's Mince Meat. Sun-Maid Seedless Raisins and Fruits in Atmore's expand and absorb the rich juices. Your oven produces a thick pie that's a revelation. Housewives: insist on Atmore's. No sugar or "extras" needed. Atmore's Old-Fashioned Wet Mince Meat (sold in bulk) needs no mixing. ... Try Atmore's Philadelphia Plum Pudding.

Old-style Ruth Manning-Sanders library book borrower's card

Remember when library circulation cards looked like this?

This is the card that's still tucked away in the interior pocket of my copy of A Book of Spooks and Spectres by Ruth Manning-Sanders.

The book was previously part of the Metro Nashville Public Schools library system and, according to a stamp on the outside edge of the book's pages, was housed at Joelton Elementary School.

And, in the early 1990s, some students named April, Chris, Angela and Derrick checked this book out. (If, perhaps, more students had checked it out, it might have remained on the library's shelves.)

This circulation card was made and sold by Brodart, which has been in the library supplies and furnishings business since 1939, according to the history page on its website. In a neat twist (for me), it turns out that it's primarily based in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

In fact, you can still get the borrower's card pictured in today's post from Brodart! The cost is $30 for 1,000, or $3.15 for a "convenience pack" of 100. (I'm curious how many of these Brodart still sells, as libraries become more digital.)

As for the book itself, A Book of Spooks and Spectres contains 23 international folk and fairy tales, as retold by Manning-Sanders. Some of the tales include "Old Tommy and the Spectre" (from England); "Yi Chang and the Spectres" (from Korea); "Rubizal and the Miller's Daughter" (from Bohemia); "Tummeldink" (from Schleswig-Holstein); "The Little Old Man in the Tree" (from Yugoslavia); and "The Lake" (from Estonia). That last one is an odd and delightful tale in which a lake, tired of the annoying villagers who live nearby, rises up into the air — fish and all — and flies off to a new, more peaceful, home.

Related posts

• There's beauty in them thar old library circulation cards
• Pennsylvania College's old library copy of "Flatland"

FOVA #16: Perfect Cold Cream

Magazine: The Ladies' Home Journal
Date: February 1920
Company: Daggett & Ramsdell, New York City
Product: Perfect Cold Cream "The Kind That Keeps"
Text: It's your charm of face — your lovely complexion — that brings you the Valentines of love and admiration. To win supremacy in the courts where many vie for beauty, you have but to use Daggett & Ramsdell's Perfect Cold Cream "The Kind That Keeps." Indoors and out-of-doors, at fêtes and under public gaze, your fair skin will be assured of softness and delicate freshness., if you apply D&R Perfect Cold Cream daily. It's the cream supreme that relieves all irritation of chapping and chafing. Hands that are rough and red respond quickly to its healing qualities. Babies are kept happy by its use. You will enjoy its home ministrations in countless ways.

Battling cold, flu or grippe? Take some opium-laced Derfule!

While the polar vortex, bombogenesis, cryoseisms and other nasty weather phrases are attacking North America this winter, many of us are further plagued with coughs, sniffles, fevers, chills and general unwellness.

But if you still have some Derfule — as advertised on this vintage ink blotter¹ — in your closet or medicine cabinet from 80 years ago, you're all set!

Derfule, produced by the Cole Chemical Co. of St. Louis, was specially formulated to fight colds, grippe and flu:

"Discomfort is often quickly relieved, mucous secretion checked and cough reduced by use of Derfule. Each capsule contains Powder of Ipecac and Opium (containing 1/40 gr. Opium) ¼ gr., 'Warning - may be habit-forming' Atropine Sulfate 1/500 gr., Acetophenetidin 1½ gr., Aspirin 2 gr., Camphor ⅛ gr., and Caffeine Alkaloid ⅛ gr. Average adult dose 1 or 2 capsules. Exempt narcotic, registry number required."

It looks like Derfule contained an ingredient that was also known as Dover's Powder, an opium-based medicine developed in the 18th century by English physician Thomas "Doctor Quicksilver" Dover (1660–1742).²

According to Wikipedia, Dover's Powder "was an old preparation of powder of ipecacuanha (which was formerly used to produce syrup of ipecac), opium in powder, and potassium sulfate. The powder was largely used in domestic practice to induce sweating, to defeat the advance of a 'cold' and at the beginning of any attack of fever."

Of course, if there's no Derfule around or if it doesn't give you the needed relief from your cough due to cold, you can always try to find an old, old bottle of Bayer around the house...

Footnotes
1. The Herb Museum website features a different vintage ink blotter for Derfule.
2. Doctor Quicksilver sounds like a name of a character in a Marvel comic.