Photos, videos and docs of Alan Mays, with the keywords: "scrolls"

Harrisburg Railways Company, One Eight Cent Fare

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 18:42:36 +0000

Harrisburg Railways Company, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, issued this ticket for a fare on a streetcar (or possibly a bus).

Harrisburg Railways Company

One Eight Cent Fare
Good On All Lines

035875

You Are the Apple of My Eye—We Should Make a Good Pair

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 21:21:02 +0000

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"You are the [apple] of my [eye]. We should make a good [pear]."

A postcard addressed on the other side to "Miss E. Jonkin [or Tonkin], Trescobease Manor, Falmouth, [Cornwall, England]."

Handwritten note on the verso: "Dear E., So sorry we shall not make a pair this year on account of this terrible war. Your devoted G."

Printed on the other side: "'National' Series. Made in Gt. Britain. No. 1866."

Although there's no date or postmark (and the stamp once affixed to the back of the postcard is missing), "G." was evidently writing to "E." sometime during the "terrible" years of World War I (1914-1918).

For other romantic rebuses featuring fruit and vegetables, see You Had Better Ask Papa and A Farmer's Love Letter.

Order of Railroad Telegraphers Membership Card, 1900

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 07:33:02 +0000

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A membership card for the Order of Railroad Telegraphers (ORT). As Wikipedia explains, "telegraphers would be stationed in individual depots along the railroad line in order to receive train orders from a centrally located dispatcher and report back on train movements; telegraphed train orders would be written out on paper and 'handed up' to the crews of passing trains."

See also a 1915 version of the ORT membership card.

The Order of Railroad Telegraphers

Issued to L. W. Ricker.

Good until June 30th 1900 unless revoked.

W. V. Powell, president. H. B. Perham, secretary and treasurer.

The Order of Railroad Telegraphers, Grand Division.

Christmas Greeting, Edward Ridley & Sons Department Store, New York City, 1880

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 16:45:02 +0000

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Edward Ridley & Sons, a New York City department store, printed this trade card for customers during the holiday season in 1880, and the store also took out newspaper ads to offer its "annual greeting."

The other side of the trade card is a wintertime illustration of a little girl holding some toys as she stands in the snow. This side (above) features the store's Christmas greeting:

32nd Annual Greeting

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Toys, Dolls, and Holiday Presents.

Edw. Ridley & Sons

309, 311, 311½ Grand St.
59 Orchard St.
58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70 Allen St.

New York

The following excerpt from the store's advertisement in the New York Herald on December 5, 1880, provides additional details about its holiday sales:

Thirty-second Annual Greeting

Santa Claus' New Building. Opening Monday, December 6.

First Floor—Endless variety toys, dolls, hobby horses. Also china, glass ware, &c.

Second Floor--Work boxes, writing desks, Japanese varieties, &c., &c.

Tuesday, December 7. Third Floor—Dolls, dolls, dolls. And everything belonging to a doll.

Fourth Floor—Wednesday, December 8. Will contain toys of the very finest description….

Our new building gives 23,000 square feet. All devoted to toys. Come and see the toys and our methods.

Worsted embroideries, slipper patterns, brackets, &c. Photo and auto[graph] albums, in plush, Russia[n] leather and French calf bindings.

Handsome jewel and combination cases, pocketbooks, cigar cases, &c.

Prices below every other house—we warrant.

Girl with Toys in Snow—Christmas Trade Card for Edward Ridley & Sons, 1880

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 16:45:04 +0000

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This is the front of a Victorian-era trade card advertising a New York store (for the other side, see Christmas Greeting, Edward Ridley & Sons Department Store, New York City, 1880).

I'm not sure why this wide-eyed little girl is taking all those toys with her out into the snow. She's dressed for the winter weather, however, and is even holding her hands—and her doll—in a muff to keep them warm.

A Merry Christmas—Let Every Heart in Christmas Customs Bear Its Part

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 16:49:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A small Victorian-era Christmas card featuring a fairy and flowers.

The verse on the card appears in J. S. Ogilvie, compiler, The Album Writer's Friend: Comprising More Than Three Hundred Choice Selections of Poetry and Prose, Suitable for Writing in Autograph Albums, Valentines, Birthday, Christmas, and New Year Cards (1881), p. 60.

A Merry Christmas

Christmas comes, let every heart
In Christmas customs bear its part:
The old be young, the sad be gay
And smiles chase every care away.

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb in Their Wedding Attire (Back)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 19:29:26 +0000

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Handwritten note on this CDV photo back : "Mr. & Mrs. Tom Thumb." Backmark: "Published by the New York Photographic Co., No. 453 Broadway, New York."

For the photo on the front of this CDV, see Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb in Their Wedding Attire:

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb in Their Wedding Attire

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 19:29:28 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A weddings photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

Handwritten caption (barely visible at the bottom of the photo above): "Mr. & Mrs. T. Thumb." Handwritten note on the back of the photo (see below): "Mr. & Mrs. Tom Thumb." Printed on the back of the photo: "Published by the New York Photographic Co., No. 453 Broadway, New York."

Other versions of this photo are captioned "Mr. & Mrs. 'General Tom Thumb' in Their Wedding Costumes" (see, for instance, Photo_History's copy, Tom Thumb's Wedding by Brady, on Flickr).

As Wikipedia explains, "General Tom Thumb was the stage name of Charles Sherwood Stratton" (1838-1883), a little person who became famous as a performer for circus promoter P. T. Barnum. His marriage to Lavinia Warren (1841-1919), a little person who was a former school teacher, took place on February 10, 1863, and received extensive publicity.

Stratton died in 1883, and Lavinia married another little person, Count Primo Magri (1849-1920), in 1885 (see the photo of Count and Countess Magri below). Despite her marriage to Magri, Lavinia continued to make appearances as Mrs. General Tom Thumb (see below for a 1912 theater advertisement and an undated green ticket). Lavinia died in 1919 and was buried next to her first husband. Magri passed away the following year.

After all the publicity generated by Lavinia and Stratton's marriage in 1863, people began referring to the playful mock marriages in which children assume the roles of bride and groom as "Tom Thumb weddings." These events are still held today by churches and other groups for fundraising and entertainment purposes (see below for a photo of a children's mock wedding held in the 1920s).

Saint Patrick's Day Greetings with a Heart and a Hand

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 03:46:04 +0000

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"A heart and a hand, / All thy own to the last. Th. Moore."

Postmarked in Ellicottville, N.Y., March 16, 1909.

The couplet on this postcard is from a poem, "Come, Rest in This Bosom," by the Irish poet Thomas Moore.

Woolen Suitings, Dress Fabrics, Housekeeping Goods! Spangler and Rich, Marietta, Pa.

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:39:02 +0000

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For the front of this advertising trade card, see Spangler and Rich, Dry Goods and Groceries, Marietta, Pa.

Woolen Suitings, Dress Fabrics, Housekeeping Goods!

Choice styles. Satisfactory prices.

An early visit is respectfully solicited from yourself and friends.

Spangler & Rich.

Spangler and Rich, Dry Goods and Groceries, Marietta, Pa.

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:39:04 +0000

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"Spangler & Rich, dry goods, groceries, Marietta, Pa. Marietta Times Print."

A nineteenth-century advertising trade card for Spangler & Rich's store in Marietta, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. For the other side of this card, see Woolen Suitings, Dress Fabrics, Housekeeping Goods! Spangler and Rich, Marietta, Pa.

For another card from the store, see Spangler and Rich, Dealers in Dry Goods, Marietta, Pennsylvania.

Think

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 04:29:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A cigar box label.

Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Shoemaker, Dakota, Illinois

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 05:07:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A postcard-sized example of ornamental penmanship featuring a flourished bird. The piece is unsigned and may date to as early as the 1880s or 1890s.

"Compliments of Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Shoemaker, Dakota, Ill."

Joseph Shellenberger Shoemaker (1854-1936) was a well-known bishop in the Mennonite Church. He and his wife, Elizabeth Sechrist Brubaker (1856-1931), were married in 1877, and they were members of the Freeport Mennonite Church in Freeport, Illinois.

For additional examples of bird flourishes and other ornamental penmanship, see my Writing, Lettering, Flourishing album and the Clinton Clark Scrapbook, which was uploaded to the Internet Archive by IAMPETH (International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers, and Teachers of Handwriting).

Fancy Cow and Calf (Cropped)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 15:08:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

Fancy Cow and Calf

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 15:08:04 +0000

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Mama cow and baby calf seem to be giving the photographer a sideways glance as the farmer and his family hold them in place to pose for the camera. See a cropped version for a close-up of the disgruntled bovines.

The decorative mask--with its stylized flowers and curled-up edges--gives the appearance of a fancy photo frame. For a similar real photo postcard, see Man's Portrait in Elaborate Border.

Woman Standing in an Elaborate Border

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 04:44:03 +0000

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A woman standing among the shrubbery is surrounded by the stylized scrolls and flowers of the decorative mask used to print this real photo postcard.

Man's Portrait in Elaborate Border

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 04:44:25 +0000

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A real photo postcard printed with a decorative mask. The scrollwork and flowers in the design of the mask make it look like an elaborate picture frame.

Ulysses S. Grant Calling Card

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 06:10:02 +0000

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"E pluribus unum. Remember me."

A Victorian-era hidden-name calling card with an illustration of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885). The colorful die-cut scrap was a memorial to the president, and it lifts up on the right-hand side to reveal the name of "Mabel E. Emerich" printed underneath.

Here's a Wireless Telegram—Be My Valentine

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 13:55:02 +0000

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Here's a wireless telegram
That I will send to you
I'm in love with you—I am
I love you 'deed I do
Be my valentine.
R. F. Outcault

Cartoonist Richard F. Outcault (1863-1928) featured Buster Brown and his dog Tige—both of them winking and smiling—in this valentine from 1904.

Aim Straight

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 18:47:53 +0000

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"Aim Straight. A. Lanborn."

Cupid is aiming straight for the heart in the illustration on this nineteenth-century sentiment card.