The Age of Aquariums

A handbill for J.W. Fiske Cast Iron Aquariums. New York: no date, but probably early 1870s.

An item in the latest issue of Bookin'!

A New Edition of Bookin'!

ANA ONE, ANA TWO...

Wonnerful, wonnerful -it’s time for another edition of Bookin’, as we swing into Fall with some of our favorite books and ephemera, brought to you again this week by our very own Book Elves! They went on the internet yesterday and joined something called the Thanksgiving Turkey Liberation Front, and then liberated 27 Thanksgiving turkeys. Unfortunately they seem to have missed the point of the Front’s goals, and liberated the turkeys from the freezer section of our local supermarket. 

The Book Elves are calling it a Blow for Freedom. 

The police are insisting on calling it “theft”.

Here in the Cataloging Cave we call it just the usual-

Chaos, panic & disorder. 

My work here is done.  

Have fun!

The new Bookin'! is here

A new month, a new Bookin'!

Well, the Cataloging Cave seems to have survived Halloween intact, and most of the Book Elves made bail in time to get this catalog together.  I know I say this every time, but there’s some interesting stuff in this one. Whale oil, fake arrowheads, weird sunflowers, snuff, ostriches and croquet mallets -and more. 
I can’t decide whether my favorite quote from these items is the woman who compared early American rug hookers to Matisse, or this one- 

"The savage who tattoos his flesh is a painter, the barbarian who ornaments his club with carvings is a sculptor, the Indian who constructs his wigwam in the forest is an architect, the cannibal who sings in triumph while his enemy is burning at the stake is a musician, and all are artists." 

I think I’m just going to leave it there.


You can see the latest issue of Bookin'! here.