It's too bad a lot of these old covers were apparently used for some kid's math homework.
I suppose kids may have been responsible for some of this scribbling, but most of the examples I've seen from this era were clearly done by adults. Some of them were similar to this example, but others were shopping lists or listings of household expenses.
Tom
I think the scribbled sums add to the authenticity of the cover - it has been lying in the kitchen or has been fished out of the rubbish box and used as scrap paper.
I have a very old Anwyl family bible, which my late father acquired early in the 20th century. He was passionate about genealogy, and the Anwyl family did overlap with his own a few generations age.. It’s very definitely a home binding job – the Prayer book, Old and New Testaments and then Aprocrypha all bound together with the end-papers being tax return sheets dated 1798. And bound in boards with a skin covering. The binding is quite strong, and with careful handling it should hold together for another hundred years or so – that’s what a bookbinder told me about 25 years ago. The New Testament section has the date 1678 on the title page.
The family notes are hand-written in the middle – between Old and New Testaments, with many scribbled calculations of dates in the margin, and much scrawl – someone has written Watkin Anwyl his book over and over – presumably Watkin when a child. It’s much more of a living item – it appears to have been used a lot, scribbled on, and used to press flowers – there are ferns between some pages – presumably very old ferns.
Then some scribbled date/age calculations thus 1862
1833
29
and others in pencil.
So I'd be happy with scribbles on an old cover (if I collected covers, which I don't).
Best - Neville
I am finding a lot of old covers with math on them, from the beginning of time through the 1930s or so.. the pre-calculator days. In the old days, paper was both scarce and expensive, so they used scrap paper... as in old mail. And think about it... in many cases the only reason that cover survived is because of the message on the scrap paper!
Here's a cover I found in one my recent hoards. It sucks as a cover. It's all torn to shreds. No doubt it's been passed off in cover mixtures for the past 100 years. It should be thrown away.
Then I stopped to look at it. Addressed to a bishop, with bible verses and religious notes. Was this the notes to a sermon in 1919? So how did it survive? Was it tucked into a bible and eventually tossed out? Ah, if this piece could only speak!
And what now? I didn't dare throw it away. Out of respect for it's surviving 100 years against all odds! And maybe this would be a piece that a religious scholar or collector would find unique and dear! So I have presented it for sale (super cheap!) on eBay hoping to find that special person who would enjoy owning it! And you know there is someone out there!
This cover is from Chatham N.Y. in Columbia County not far from Western Massachusetts. Columbia county was a bit rural for my wife a village girl..so we settled on Red Hook !
re: cover from `19th century stamp dealer from my area
It's too bad a lot of these old covers were apparently used for some kid's math homework.
re: cover from `19th century stamp dealer from my area
I suppose kids may have been responsible for some of this scribbling, but most of the examples I've seen from this era were clearly done by adults. Some of them were similar to this example, but others were shopping lists or listings of household expenses.
Tom
re: cover from `19th century stamp dealer from my area
I think the scribbled sums add to the authenticity of the cover - it has been lying in the kitchen or has been fished out of the rubbish box and used as scrap paper.
I have a very old Anwyl family bible, which my late father acquired early in the 20th century. He was passionate about genealogy, and the Anwyl family did overlap with his own a few generations age.. It’s very definitely a home binding job – the Prayer book, Old and New Testaments and then Aprocrypha all bound together with the end-papers being tax return sheets dated 1798. And bound in boards with a skin covering. The binding is quite strong, and with careful handling it should hold together for another hundred years or so – that’s what a bookbinder told me about 25 years ago. The New Testament section has the date 1678 on the title page.
The family notes are hand-written in the middle – between Old and New Testaments, with many scribbled calculations of dates in the margin, and much scrawl – someone has written Watkin Anwyl his book over and over – presumably Watkin when a child. It’s much more of a living item – it appears to have been used a lot, scribbled on, and used to press flowers – there are ferns between some pages – presumably very old ferns.
Then some scribbled date/age calculations thus 1862
1833
29
and others in pencil.
So I'd be happy with scribbles on an old cover (if I collected covers, which I don't).
Best - Neville
re: cover from `19th century stamp dealer from my area
I am finding a lot of old covers with math on them, from the beginning of time through the 1930s or so.. the pre-calculator days. In the old days, paper was both scarce and expensive, so they used scrap paper... as in old mail. And think about it... in many cases the only reason that cover survived is because of the message on the scrap paper!
Here's a cover I found in one my recent hoards. It sucks as a cover. It's all torn to shreds. No doubt it's been passed off in cover mixtures for the past 100 years. It should be thrown away.
Then I stopped to look at it. Addressed to a bishop, with bible verses and religious notes. Was this the notes to a sermon in 1919? So how did it survive? Was it tucked into a bible and eventually tossed out? Ah, if this piece could only speak!
And what now? I didn't dare throw it away. Out of respect for it's surviving 100 years against all odds! And maybe this would be a piece that a religious scholar or collector would find unique and dear! So I have presented it for sale (super cheap!) on eBay hoping to find that special person who would enjoy owning it! And you know there is someone out there!