Vintage book cover: "A Cruise in the Sky"

• Title: A Cruise in the Sky
• Alternate Title: The Legend of the Great Pink Pearl
• Series: The Aeroplane Boys Series (#5 out of 8)
• Author: Harry Lincoln Sayler (1863-1913), writing under the pen name Ashton Lamar
• Illustrator: S.H. Riesenberg
• Publisher: The Reilly & Britton Company (Chicago)
• Original price: 60 cents
• Year of publication: 1911
• Pages: 218
• Format: Hardcover
• First sentence: All afternoon the train had been following the picturesque shore of the Indian River, in Florida.
• Unfortunate random sentence from middle: "Tell the great thief Cajou that the white man brings death."
• Last paragraph: Tearing it open, a narrow strip of blue paper dropped in Andy's hands. It read: "Royal Bank of Nassau. Pay to Andrew Leighton or order £1,000. Monckton Bassett."
• Notes: The odd cover illustration seems to show a combination of a bird and an airplane. This might refer to the "Bird of Death" that comes into play as part of the book's narrative. ... Author Harry Lincoln Sayler was a newspaperman who wrote several series of juvenile fiction and was an expert on pirates. His other pen names were Elliott Whitney and Gordon Stuart. ... The first page of Chapter I features this cursive gift inscription: "Lee M. Brosius, Xmas 1918 from Mrs. Gast [?]." ... If you are interested in juvenile series about flying airplanes, you might want to read Boys’ Books, Boys’ Dreams, and the Mystique of Flight, a 2006 book by Fred Erisman. Here's an excerpt from the book's description: "In this first comprehensive study of the more than forty boys’ aviation series, Erisman reveals the part played by the books and their writers in spurring the American nation’s fascination with flying. ... [T]he books communicated a steadfast vision of the liberating, exhilarating world that flying offered every boy. More than that, they conveyed as well a glimpse of the better world that would come as air-mindedness and aviation worked their uplifting influence on the larger community."

Check out more aviation-themed vintage covers in this post from two months ago.

1909 postcard: Balloon at the Merchant's Picnic in Hanover, Pa.

Here's a fun one...

This black-and-white postcard was postmarked on August 19, 1909, in York, Pennsylvania — nearly 1,300 full moons ago.¹ It was mailed to Mr. George Williams in Newville, Cumberland County. The cursive message on the back states:

Suppose you wonder why we did not come to-day but the lady that promised to keep house for me could not come & one of my boarders has taken sick so it was impossible for me to get away. Am very much disappointed. Hope to see you all sometime again.
Sister Emma

The postcard photograph was taken by Swords Bros. & White, which was based in Hanover. No publisher is listed for the card, though.

The image, featuring a large crowd and what looks like a hot-air balloon with the words "HAPPY DAY" printed on the side, is titled "Merchant's Picnic, Eichelberger Park, Hanover, Pa."

It looks like this big summer event started in 1906. Here's an article from The Baltimore Sun on August 12, 1908, and refers to that year's event as the "third annual":

The Big Picnic.Hanover, Pa., Aug. 11 — This town was closed tighter today than on Sundays. All business was suspended and streets and homes practically deserted. Traveling salesmen and visitors were astonished when they arrived and hastened to inquire why the town was abandoned, some thinking an epidemic of contagious disease had broken out and that a quarantine had been established. They learned that this was simply merchants' picnic day and that the populace was enjoying their third annual outing at Eichelberger Park.

Fully 10,000 persons from Hanover, McSherrystown, Littlestown, New Oxford, Spring Grove and country districts were in attendance. A baby show proved a popular feature, and more than 300 youngsters were in competition for liberal gold prizes offered for the prettiest babies. William H. Long and Luther P. Horn, the judges, made these awards: First prize, Elizabeth Sell; second, Dorsey Venard; third, Marie Tressler.

Balloon ascensions, peanut scrambles, a pig race and stilt walking contest were other amusing features. Two baseball games between Columbia and Hanover and a game between the Merchants and Barbers drew the largest crowds.

A newspaper article from the next summer, 1909, features some very similar themes to that 1908 article in The Baltimore Sun. This is from the August 11, 1909, issue of the Harrisburg Daily Independent:

MOTHERS OBJECT TO COACHES.
Pretty Feature of Merchants' Picnic Called Off.Hanover, Aug. 11 — Yesterday was merchants' picnic day at Eichelberger Park, and fully half the population deserted the town for a day's outing, while thousands came from the surrounding towns of New Oxford, Spring Grove, Littlestown, McSherrystown, Abbottstown and East Berlin. Hanover was closed tighter than on a Sunday, and traveling men got the impression that a quarantine prevailed.

The leading feature of the picnic was to have been the baby show, but this was a failure owing to the requirements that all babies appear in coaches, which the mothers objected to.

The amusements combined a balloon ascension, two baseball games, concert and prize contests for children.

Finally, here's the coverage of the event that appeared in the August 10, 1910, edition of The York Daily:

MERCHANTS' PICNIC
Delightful day Spent by Hanover Business Men
at Eichelberger ParkHanover, Aug. 9 — With weather conditions all in their favor the members of the Merchants' association, and their relatives and friends spent an enjoyable day at Eichelberger park, the affair being one of the best ever held. Despite the fact that many farmers were home getting ready for the fall seeding, the attendance was large and all of the amusements were enjoyed. The dance floor, which was free to all in the afternoon, was crowded with young people and the ball games were well attended. All of the contests were enjoyed as were the thrilling balloon ascensions and parachute drops of King Kelly and wife. These concert in the evening by the City band completed a delightful program.

I found references to the Merchants' Picnic going all the way up to 1972. I'm not sure if it still persists today.

Footnote
1. In baseball games on August 19, 1909, the Philadelphia Phillies split a doubleheader with the New York Giants and the Boston Doves swept a doubleheader against the Brooklyn Superbas. The Boston Doves eventually became today's Atlanta Braves. While in Boston, the team went through a lot of nicknames, including Red Stockings, Beaneaters, Rustlers, Bees and Braves.

Cool postcard advertisement for Paper Girls, a Papergreat favorite

Nifty Things Received in the Mail This Week, Part II...

This postcard, a nice bit of above-and-beyond comic-book marketing, was mailed out this summer to remind readers about various editions of Paper Girls that will be available this autumn. The card was sent by the American Newspaper Delivery Guild, the "fan club" of this comic (sort of the like the old Merry Marvel Marching Society).

The comic, launched in October 2015, has had 15 issues thus far. It's the work of writer Brian K. Vaughan, illustrator Cliff Chiang¹, colorist Matt Wilson and letterer Jared Fletcher. Without giving away too much plot for those who might want to dive in and catch up, it follows the sometimes-terrifying, sometimes-cosmic adventures of four Reagan Era newspaper delivery girls. (On the postcard illustration, from left, they are Mackenzie, KJ, Tiffany and Erin.)

The comic will return in October with Issue #16, and Paper Girls Book One, collecting the first 10 issues, will be published in hardcover in November, just in time to be a great Christmas gift.

Footnote
1. Cliff Chiang, for his work as a Wonder Woman comic artist, received a "special thanks" credit in this year's Wonder Woman movie. He is also one the artists whose work was featured on the 75th anniversary Wonder Woman U.S. forever stamps.

Japanese stamps featuring Mitsumasa Anno artwork

Nifty Things Received in the Mail This Week, Part I...

An envelope from Japan came to my Dover mailbox this week. Inside was a Postcrossing postcard from a woman named Midori who loves mystery novels and TV shows such as Criminal Minds. Midori's envelope was especially cool, because most of the front was covered with a large stamp featuring artwork by Mitsumasa Anno. Here is how Wikipedia describes Anno's work:

"Anno is best known for wordless picture books featuring small, detailed figures. In the 'Journey' books, a tiny character travels through a nation's landscape, densely populated with pictures referencing that country's art, literature, culture, and history. Anno's illustrations are often in pen and ink and watercolor, and occasionally incorporate collage and woodcuts. They are intricately detailed, showing a sense of humor as well as an interest in science, mathematics, and foreign cultures. They frequently incorporate subtle jokes and references. Anno's style has been compared to that of M.C. Escher."

At first, though, I had no idea who created the detailed illustration on these stamps. (You really should click on it and view it at a higher magnification.) To figure out that out, I had to do a fair amount of trial-and-error digging and apply some Google-brand elbow grease. I finally determined that they came from a sheet of stamps titled "Nostalgia of Pictures for Children Series 4," which was released in November 2016. The full 10-stamp sheet, as issued, looks like this:

According to a website that archives Japan's stamps, "the theme of this series is the 'Pictures for Children,' which remind us of childhood memories. Nostalgic townscape and scenery from the works by Mitsumasa Anno, a picture book writer, are depicted for the fourth of the series."

Other artists featured in the series included Chihiro Iwasaki and Akiko Hayashi

1951 U.S. stamp marks United Confederate Veterans' last reunion

This 3-cent stamp, which I'll be sending overseas for a Postcrossing mailing, was issued in Norfolk, Virginia, on May 30, 1951. It was issued in conjunction with that summer's last-ever reunion of an association called the United Confederate Veterans. The group consisted of veterans who had fought for the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War, from 1861 to 1865. So, as you might imagine, their numbers were dwindling precipitously by the summer of 1951. In fact, only three Confederate veterans attended that summer's UCV reunion, according to Wikipedia.

The last surviving (and confirmed) Confederate soldier, the wonderfully named Pleasant Crump, died at age 104 on December 31, 1951. His long life ended, somewhat ironically, in the town of Lincoln, Alabama, although that town is named for Revolutionary War Major General Benjamin Lincoln, not the man who led the fight to preserve the Union.

This gray stamp is officially U.S. #998 and 119 million of them were printed, so they're not hard to come across. According to the background information for the stamp on the Mystic Stamp Company's website, the United Confederate Veterans formed their association in 1889 and had their first reunion in 1890. Its constitution declared the organization’s purpose as "strictly social, literary, historical, and benevolent," and the association invited Confederate veterans, Union veterans and the general public to its reunions.

I'm guessing, by the way, that the United Confederate Veterans, along with seemingly everyone else, wouldn't have been in favor of the new "what if" Civil War series that HBO has in the works.

Very authentic Star Trek postcard for Annika in Sweden

Here's the postcard I sent to fellow Postcrosser Annika, who lives in Sweden and said in her profile that "cards that make me extra happy is Star Trek (all about it)."

She also sternly reminds people that Star Trek is not Star Wars.

We'll have to see how long it takes for Annika to receive her card. In her profile, she writes that she is not enamored with the Swedish postal system (aka PostNord Sverige): "Unfortunately the mail service in Sweden has been very lousy, if we are lucky we got our mail twice a week, if we are unlucky there are no mail during the whole week. Every 4th day, I call the customer service and complain. And often I got my mail same or next day, but it is very time consuming."

So I reckon we have it pretty good here in the USA. I know that I greatly appreciate all of our postal carriers.

Maybe, in our lifetime, we'll reach a point where we can just beam our handwritten mail to each other, using miniaturized transporter technology. Seems reasonable.

Other Star Trek/Papergreat posts

• 1975 Power Records recording with a trio of Star Trek tales
• Unfortunate apparel of 1980: The official Star Trek duty jacket
• Advertisements for a pair of 1980s Star Trek games
• Telegram: Sandra & Leonard Nimoy plead with JFK for a safer planet
• The Nimoy Award for 1967 goes to Miss Nancyann Hiera!
• From 1982: William Shatner peddles Commodore's VIC-20
• Illustration: "Revolving Poker Rack" from Pacific Game Company

A final Star Trek note: I'm currently, on my daily commute, listening my way through the podcast "70s Trek: A Look at Star Trek in the 1970s" by Bob Turner and Kelly Casto. It's really good and highly recommended if you are a fan of The Original Series.

"Atoms For Peace" first day cover perhaps misses the point

This post is a companion to the one from a year ago on the 1955 Atoms for Peace U.S. stamp. Pictured is a first day cover for the official release of that stamp on July 28, 1955.

While the three-cent stamp itself seems to convey the idea of bringing together people from all corners of the Earth and contains the phrase "to find the way by which the inventiveness of man shall be dedicated to life," the first day cover illustration by Cachet Craft's Ken Boll has a decidedly different tone, with its violent atomic cloud.

President Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" address had been delivered a year-and-a-half prior to this cover's creation, so I'm not sure what the thought process was behind the illustration.

The idea of "peace" via the threat or use of nuclear annihilation is certainly on many minds these week, with the high-stakes verbal sparring between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. If you want some great perspective on the history of "nuclear poker" (and confirmation that Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump are particularly ill-suited for this "game"), I highly recommend Dan Carlin's nearly-six-hour mega-podcast from earlier this year titled "The Destroyer of Worlds." It's simultaneously terrifying, fascinating and full of great historical insights.

Snapshot: Mom at Lycoming College

Here's an interesting snapshot from (what I'm assuming is) Mom's dormitory room at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in 1967. The caption on the back states, "costume for Sigma Pi Pledge party, May '67." Fifty years ago!¹

The photo isn't quite sharp enough to identify everything on the walls and shelves, but some of it is clear enough:

• a pennant for Lackland Air Force Base (AFB) in Texas
• a life-size portrait of a young woman that might have been drawn by Mom
• a Vermont truck license plate with the number A764
• a sign stating "CARD PLAYING IN THE CARD ROOM ONLY!"
• a snapshot of a car
• a calendar
• something that looks like either a decanter of whiskey or a huge bottle of perfume
• a pink pinwheel
• SO MANY PIECES OF EPHEMERA tacked to the bulletin board

Footnote
1. Interestingly, there are very few photos of my time at Penn State from 1989 to 1993. Taking pictures just wasn't something we did. (As opposing to now, when I take 20 pictures of alpacas with my iPhone every Saturday morning.) I'm guessing that, including the silly party snapshots, there are only about a dozen Penn State photos of me.