From the readers: Ceresota Flour, axes, needles, root beer and more

I hope your 2017 is off to a dandy start. Here's the latest collection of comments and contributions from Papergreat's readers...

Another Victorian trade card featuring a child in imminent danger: This post concerned a Victorian trade card for Consolidated Milling Co. of Minneapolis. It features a young boy cutting toward himself, with a sharp knife, as he slices bread. I thought it looked horrifyingly dangerous.

Ruth Walker emailed recently to let me know about a 2014 Facebook post in which Albert Browne discusses the history of this illustration, which is more extensive than I could have imagined:

"Interesting little piece of family history: I was recently reminded that my grandfather Browne was a journeyman printer, photographer, and lithographer. While working in Minneapolis in the 1890s, he did the image for the Ceresota Flour label. This is the picture of the little boy with a floppy hat, sitting on a wooden stool and trying to cut a slice of bread from a loaf almost as big as the boy. My grandfather posed the picture, photographed it, and did the lithography. At that time, Minnesota was a major exporter of flour, and it was shipped all over the world. And everywhere it went, the label on the sacks and barrels was that same little boy. In its day, this logo became as well known as the Coca-Cola logo is today. You could buy a sack of flour in Turkey or Tibet, and see that same image. According to my aunt Amy, the little boy was a next door neighbor to the Brownes, and his parents were paid one dollar for the rights to use that image."

Indeed, here are some examples, from Google, of how the illustration was repeatedly used...

A few commenters on the Facebook post mention, as I do, the dangers of cutting toward yourself with a large knife. Others say that's just how it was done "back in the day." Browne himself states: "And as crazy as it looks, that's how people sliced bread a hundred years ago. At least, both of my grandmothers, (One Luxembourger, one Austrian) were still doing it in the 1940s."

Christmas-gift dust jacket on 1919 Harold Bell Wright novel: More fun with sharp objects. Mom writes: "Why is the guy walking down the path with his girl ... and AN AXE??!!! Talk about creepy."

Vintage Halloween postcard: "Make a ring of pumpkin seeds...": Venus, who lives in the Philippines and often leaves nice comments about Papergreat on Facebook, writes: "So now I know the relationship between pumpkins and Halloween."

"Prinzess Victoria" and a tiny old package of sewing needles: Patricia Lange writes: "I have EXACTLY the same packet of needles, but only 2 remain. The case is slightly damaged, however, I fancy the round zippered leather case and embroidered top. I wonder how much this is worth. It has sentimental values as it was my grandmother's and have no interest in selling it."

I'm guessing its value is extremely minimal, in terms of money. But, as you say, it is priceless in terms of family sentimental value.

Christmas Eve mashup: Infocom and Dan Fogelberg: Michael (‏@MadRadMike) commented on Twitter: "Friggin gold. Love the song and classic adventure games. Pretty clever!"

And Mom added: "Loved your Zorkesque piece in Papergreat. Sad at the end, though."

A label for Frostie Root Beer (a jailhouse-born beverage): A commenter dubbed "DayQuil" writes: "First tasted Frostie root beer when we moved to Texas in 1958. It had a distinctive taste then and the formula does not seem to have changed; it tastes the same now as it did then, which is a very good thing.

"In south Texas, Arlens Supermarkets stocks Frostie line and our store carries root beer, diet root beer, orange, grape and I believe cherry limeade. Their root beer is still a great beverage and I think their concord grape is the best of commercial grape soda.

"Keep up the good work, Interstate. It's nice to have a product retain its quality for almost 60 years of my life."

Check out Papergreat's ghosts of Christmases past: Sandy writes: "Wanted to let you know I enjoy your blog — really some interesting things you post here."

Thanks, Sandy! It means a lot that you took the time to post that. I'm glad you enjoy it.

Summer fun: Roller-skating, swimming and more at Playland: This comment from Ruby is almost certainly spam, but I found it amusing: "I have success in lose weight by skating. And now I love roller skating everyday."

1920 receipt from Magee Furnace Company of Boston: Maurice Guertin writes: "I own and (this time of year) regularly use a Magee Ideal 772 that has '1911' cast into the doors. It came with the house, originally built in 1850, that I purchased in 2015."

A Tyrannosaurus matchbox label, phillumeny and thoughts on Godzilla: Flemming Henningsen, who lives in Denmark and has been a phillumenist since the 1960s, writes: "I have now a new website showing a part of my Worldwide Collection. Please feel free to take a look here: www.phillumeny.dk"

Thanks for writing and sharing your link, Flemming. I can confirm that it's a great, deep site that y'all would enjoy, if you love ephemera.

Early 1900s Oilette postcard from Tuck's featuring snowball fight: Mom writes: "In today's postcard, it looks like they're doing the 'mannequin' thing that lasted about 2 weeks about 2 weeks ago. In my day, this was called 'statues'. Yes, we did it too."

Real photo postcard: Young woman wearing glasses

The first mystery real photo postcard of 2017 is a true mystery, as is often the case. And it's one that will likely never be solved.

There's no identifying information or writing on the front or back. The AZO stamp box on the back, with all four triangles pointing upward, sets the date range for this photograph between 1904 and 1918, according to www.playle.com.

I do have one thought, though. The young woman on this postcard could be the same woman who appears on the postcard that I featured in February 2016. Here they are, side by side...

And, full disclosure, it's likely I purchased these two postcards at the same time, but I can't be 100 percent sure any more. If they are from the same batch, that would lend more credence to the idea that it's the same woman. Of course, that doesn't get us any closer to knowing her name. But that's another matter.

Other mystery RPPCs

• Family from 100-plus years ago
• Toddler in a rocking chair
• Mystery classroom (1907-1929)
• Young woman and young man
• Vintage tree huggers
• Well-dressed girl and chair
• The old man and the boat
• Four women sitting on the ground
• Who were these three kids?
• Just an ordinary fella
• 5 young ladies (4 of them cheery)

Original Robin Jacques illustration for "A Book of Dragons"

Here's a beauty. It's the original version of an illustration that Robin Jacques created for Ruth Manning-Sanders' A Book of Dragons. That book was first published by Methuen in 1964 in the United Kingdom. My personal copy is the E.P. Dutton hardcover, which was published in the United States in 1965. This illustration does not appear in my E.P. Dutton edition.

I believe — and this is pure, potentially-poppycock speculation on my part — that this image was first created and used exclusively for the Methuen paperback edition of A Book of Dragons, which was published circa 1977. That cover is shown at right. You can see that it's a cropped version of Jacques' original illustration and that it has been colored differently.

Regardless of when Jacques drew this and when and where it has been published, the illustration is gorgeous.

And it's for sale.

Now all you need to do is win Powerball.

This original piece of artwork is being offered by Blackwell's Rare Books for £1,750. As of this morning, that would be about $2,150.

Here is Blackwell's description of the item:

"ink drawing with water-colouring in blue, pink and yellow, 21 x 19.5 cm (image size 16 x 17cm approx) residue of adhesive tape and blue paint dab on verso, stored in envelope, excellent condition"

So, the image itself is only 16 centimeters wide, which is about 6.3 inches. That gives you a sense of how much incredible detail Jacques, who used the stippling technique, was able to pack into his illustrations.

This illustration should be framed and hung in a children's library, preferably next to a whole shelf of Manning-Sanders fairy-tale books. I think it would surely inspire new generations of children to read, dream, imagine and create.

Cool illustrations: The New Human Interest Library (Part 11)

Getting back into the swing of things with the 1929's The New Human Interest Library, we wrap up the "Drawing Made Easy" section of "The Do-It-Yourself Book" with these cartooning instructions by Cobb Shinn. (You can read about Shinn's background in the November 23 post.)

Shinn guides those who aspire to draw better through the creation of a stork, a bear, an elephant, a clown, and a little Dutch boy. (There are also instructions on drawing a racist caricature that I will not include here.) I like the elegant way in which Shinn uses easier-to-draw familiar objects, such as horseshoes, bells and ice-cream cones, as starting points for drawing more elaborate creations. The elephant is especially inspired.

Happy drawing!

Viel Glück im Neuen Jahre Good luck in New Year

This cheery and peaceful old postcard has the German greeting Viel Glück im Neuen Jahre on the front. That translates simply to "Good luck in New Year." I think that's a sentiment that most of us can agree with, especially coming out of 2016.

The back of the postcard contains an oval logo with the word "Amag" inside. That means, I believe, that it was published by Albrecht & Meister of Berlin, a company that produced postcards both before and after World War II. The card was postmarked on December 30, 1957, and sent to an address in Paris, France. The note is written in German cursive, which gives me an extra level of difficulty in trying to translate it. I started, but my first attempt resulted in the partial translation "we lick you," so I gave up. So much for that New Year's resolution to learn to read German cursive.

Anywho, the other nifty thing about this 60-year-old postcard is the two stamps that were used.

These stamps are from Switzerland, so that must be where the card was mailed from.

Helvetia is a goddess who serves as the national personification of Switzerland, in roughly the same way that Uncle Sam does for the United States (but with a much longer, deeper history). Helvetia is used on coins, postage stamps and some official documents.

These two stamps were part of a set focused on "technology and landscape" that was first issued on on August 1, 1949, according to www.stamp-collecting-world.com, where you can see the whole set.

The orange stamp on the left shows the viaducts near St. Gallen, while the purple stamp on the right shows the reservoir at Grimsel Pass. There is a rarity version of the Grimsel Pass stamp, detailed by stamp-collecting-world.com, that is worth $4,000 in mint condition and $70 in good used condition. The stamp on this postcard is not the rarity.

The inspiration provided by Carrie Frances Fisher

I used to have a small pile of yellow-bordered Topps Star Wars cards that had stayed with me through the years (alongside zillions of baseball cards), traveling from Clayton to Montoursville to Largo to Wallingford to State College to Gettysburg to York to Spartanburg and back to York. These were the "Series 3" cards that were first issued in 1977. (I also had a couple red and orange cards — Series 2 and 5, respectively — but most of mine had the yellow border).

My cards were in rough shape, with rounded corners and plenty of edgewear and scuffing; not nearly as nice as the example shown above. I finally gave most of mine away a few years ago, forgoing any remaining sentimental attachment. But I couldn't remember whether I gave them all away, so I spend last night doing a light search to see if I still had one or two around. No dice.

While there was a lot of focus yesterday, in the wake of the death of Carrie Fisher, on the thoughts and memories shared by her Star Wars co-stars and Hollywood friends, the tweets that I found the most interesting came from everyday people who shared what Fisher meant to them and how their lives were inspired by her. Here's a sampling...

The first scene of A New Hope is one of the great character intros ever. a princess staring down a tyrant and being annoyed not scared.

— Austin Shinn (@untitleduser) December 27, 2016

She's flippant and irritated. She's already executed a plan to get rescued. This is a character to be in awe of.

— Austin Shinn (@untitleduser) December 27, 2016

No. No. No no no no no no no. No. No. No. No. I can't. Leia was my first role model.

— Emily Hughes ✨ (@emilyhughes) December 27, 2016

First time I ever saw #StarWars was the beginning of RtJ. Dad said "Look it's Princess Leia" and I thought "THAT'S a princess?! Badass."

— Zalka Csenge Virág (@TarkabarkaHolgy) December 27, 2016

Heartbroken. Carrie Fisher was a brilliant writer, funny as hell, & she gave me someone to look to during my struggles w/mental illness.

— Megan Levens (@SadMeganGirls) December 27, 2016

Gonna spend the rest of 2016 meditating upon the symbolism of Princess Leia strangling her oppressor with the very chains that bound her

— Andrea Phillips (@andrhia) December 27, 2016

Speaking openly and hopefully about mental health is difficult, even more so when the entire world has its eyes on you. Carrie was a light 🌹 pic.twitter.com/jW4yuEOr9g

— Lauren ❄️ (@laurenevie_) December 27, 2016

She overcame instant fame, drugs & mental illness with a warm smile & a wonderful sense of humor. A *true* princess indeed. #RIPCarrieFisher pic.twitter.com/PxFyV97lJj

— Cheryl Zaidan (@FeralCherylZ) December 27, 2016

What little girl didn't want to be Princess Leia? One that could handle a dire situation and a blaster. #CarrieFisher https://t.co/1yiZM9T0Ii

— Lisa Schoolcraft (@ATLBizLisa) December 27, 2016

Book cover: "Lost Tribes & Sunken Continents"

• Title: Lost Tribes & Sunken Continents
• Subtitle: Myths and Method in the Study of American Indians
• Author: Robert Wauchope (1909-1979)
• Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
• Date of publication: 1962
• Price: $3.95, per the dust jacket
• Pages: 155
• Format: Hardcover
• Dust-jacket excerpts: This entertaining book reports on a longstanding feud over the ancestry of American Indians, between the anthropologist Ph.D.'s — the "Phuddy Duddies" — and Atlantis, Mu, Kon Tiki, and similar enthusiasts — the "crackpots." ... Mr. Wauchope considers particularly the "mystic" jargon of some of the starry-eyed laymen, but concludes to that, while they have been too lyrical, the professionals have no been lyrical enough.
• First two sentences: When Columbus discovered the natives of the New World in 1492, there was no doubt in his mind that they were east Asiatics, and he promptly began referring to them as Indians. He is said to have carried this belief with him to his grave.
• Last two sentences: However, the scientist has not competed seriously for the reading public; the average professional anthropologist cannot or will not write the kind of book that people in any great numbers will want to read. For the most part he has surrendered this function, usually somewhat condescendingly, to the journalist, the travel-book writer, the sensationalist, and the devoted mystic, all of whom will prefer, any day, a lost continent, a lost tribe, or a lost city, to Lo the Poor Indian plodding through the snow and the centuries to his cultural destiny.
• Random sentence from middle: There is something vastly amusing to professionals in this implied picture of anthropologists surreptitiously passing secret papers to fellow conspirators in order to guard the Fearful Truth of Wheeled Toys from a brain-washed public.
• Review from Amazon.com: In 2013, "Dixie" wrote: "Entertaining and enlightening. A very fun book to read and debunks some of the downright dumb theories still being presented in mainstream media."
• Notes: Wauchope was the director of the Middle American Research Institute and a professor of anthropology at Tulane University when this book was published. ... The original price of $3.95 in 1962 would be the equivalent of about $31 today. So this was a pricey volume, especially considering how slim it is. I would guess that price was geared toward it being purchased only by libraries and academics. In good news, there are plenty of copies now available on Amazon for less then $2. If only those libraries had waited! ... During his career, Wauchope was the author or editor of a number of other books related to archaeology and anthropology, but I also came across this title in his bibliography: Invisible Inzi of Oz. A mistake? Nope. And it's a hell of a story. Here's an excerpt from a 2012 post on Hungry Tiger Talk:
  

  "In 1919, sometime between May and December, a sister and brother, Virginia (age fourteen) and Robert Wauchope (age nine), began playing with their Ouija board. They were also big Oz fans. Well, the Ouija board started dictating an Oz story which Virginia dutifully wrote down sentence by sentence. There has always been an implication that the story was 'dictated' by L. Frank Baum to the children shortly after his death. In 1923 the children's mother typed up the story from Virginia's penciled manuscript and the kids sent a copy to Baum's widow. Maud Baum responded kindly and suggested the children submit the story to the children's magazine A Child's Garden, which they did. It was accepted for publication and serialized in the magazine from February 1925 through March 1926."

  So, a crazy little slice of Oz fan-fiction (or is it?) was brought to the world by a child who would grow up to become an Mu- and Atlantis-debunking archaeologist. You can also read a little bit about this tale on The Royal Blog of Oz.

Merry Christmas and, as Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller wrote...

Bydded heddwch ar y ddaear.
A gadael iddo ddechrau gyda mi.

Es werde Frieden auf Erden sein.
Und fange mit mir an.

يجب ألا يكون هناك سلاما على الأرض.
والسماح لها تبدأ معي.

讓地球上有和平。
讓它從我開始。

Пусть будет мир на земле.
И пусть это началось со мной.

اجازه دهید وجود داشته صلح بر روی زمین.
و اجازه دهید آن را با من آغاز خواهد شد.

Hebu kuna amani duniani.
Na basi ni kuanza na mimi.