Ads

Today I’m sharing some fun images from the Georgia Tech Archives – a collection of advertisements printed in student publications during the first half of the 20th century. Additionally, links to some of the other digital collections at the Archives:

• The Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill Collection, composed of photos and documents tracing the history of the mills and surrounding community, including union activity and important labor actions of the early 20th century. (The Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill was one of the buildings that sustained significant damage during the tornado in downtown Atlanta on March 14.)
• A Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way, by astronomer and astrophotographer Edward Emerson Barnard, who, among other things, discovered that gas and dust clouds cause the dark regions in the Milky Way.
• Two document-based collaborative projects – Witness to the Holocaust and Atlanta in the Civil Rights Movement.

Now, on to the ads:

Hertz anticipates text messaging by sixty years:

Ad for a bookstore and lending library:

Finally, an activity suitable for the ladies!

Drink driving is humorous:

This one’s not really funny; I just have a thing for fountain pens.

Hrm. Think I’ll stick with the gym:

I’m sure that mothers everywhere just loved this service.

Judging by the Cover

The literary world is abuzz this morning because British model and tabloid star Jordan has been nominated for a WH Smith Children’s Book Award for the very obviously ghostwritten Katie Price’s Perfect Ponies: The New Best Friend. At the Guardian, Guy Dammann argues that our definition of authorship is too restricted, and that, because multiple individuals contribute to all books, it’s not going out on a limb to award a prize for a ghostwritten piece. Plenty of other authors and commentors are weighing in on the ghostwriting issue. I’m going to go a step further and ask, “Why in the world was this book, ghostwritten or not, ever nominated for an award of any kind?”

This is the kind of book that I never would have touched as a child, much less read. Before I even reached it’s recommended age range (7-9) I would have known, based solely on the cover, that it contained absolutely nothing of substance. For one thing, the book just screams condescension. Ponies, pink stuff, friendship and hearts! That’s what little girls like. Or what marketers decide they like. These were the people who decided that what I thought was fun, like toy dinosaurs, science, and monsters were only for boys, and that baby dolls, princesses and tea sets were things that normal, good little girls liked. And girls certainly shouldn’t be reading anything serious or challenging, like a book that doesn’t revolve around the characters being “BFs 4-ever!!”.

As if the poorly drawn, pink-vomit covers of the story books weren’t bad enough, the Pony Care Book takes it a step further by displaying the hideous living Barbie doll, Katie Price herself. Should we really be legitimizing this woman as a good role model by giving her awards for crappy books she didn’t even write? If you’re wondering about the plots of these award-worthy books you can check out the Perfect Ponies website. (But watch out, no matter how many times you hit the back button you’ll never be allowed to run in the opposite direction.)

Amber and Jess have been best friends for ages, but their friendship is put to the test when Jess’s school friend, Lauren, joins the stables. Lauren is loud and bossy and taking Jess away from Amber. But why can’t Jess see that? There’s a sponsored ride going on and everybody is excited. But when Lauren says she’s coming, too there’s going to be trouble. Will all the girls get to take part? And will Amber and Jess ever make friends again?

This is the kind of plot that’s been rehased a million times on Saturday-morning cartoons. Actually, the whole series appears to be essentially a cartoon show in book form. The WH Smith award isn’t exactly the Booker, but surely they could find a book to include on the longlist that’s more deserving of an award than this tripe. Right?

Do You Read?

Treehugger is running a survey in response to the recent comments made by Apple CEO Steve Jobs that books, whether in traditional or digital format, have no future.

We have discussed alternative ways of delivering the content of books before, including the Kindle, e-books, libraries and online swap systems. But Steve Jobs of Apple says it is all for naught; “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore… The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”

Discussion has begun in the comments as to the future of reading, whether ebooks or physical books are superior, what’s more environmentally friendly, etc.

Reading Outside

It’s finally, finally time for outdoor reading. Thus, I spent the morning shopping for the cheapest lawn chair I could find. It’s aluminum and electric blue plastic, but was so cheap I could also afford a set of cushions. (It’s really important to avoid the whole flesh-sticking-to-hot-plastic issue.) Upon arriving home with the loot I proceeded to spend three blissful hours out in the sunshine reading and watching the birds, including a red-tailed hawk that did wild loops over the backyard. I finished A Bend in the River and got halfway through On Chesil Beach before I’d fully restocked my vitamin D stores.

The only downside is that after taking a long shower I still smell like 35+ spf sunscreen.

My trailer-trash lawn chair:

Dies est calidus. Tiny Penguin gets his Latin on:

Tiny Penguin only likes music you’ve never heard of, (which means he’s probably pretty disappointed with the selection on my iPod).

Feminism

Several feminist book pieces at the Guardian this week.  The first is a short introduction to Mary Wollstonecraft and her take on the place of fiction in society.

Mary disliked sensation novels because they encouraged illusions such as “love at first sight” and “happy ever after” and would only set up false notions that would inevitably end in disappointment in reality. In order to combat this she intertwined her fiction with the emerging philosophy of the day. Locke’s idea of the tabula rasa was gaining ground amongst the thinking elite, especially the Romantics, and Wollstonecraft took the philosopher’s conception of the way experience inscribes itself upon the mind of the individual and used it to challenge the belief that certain behaviours were biologically specific, such as the idea that women were essentially feeble and incapable of worthwhile learning, needing men to rescue them.

The second piece, I Was Only Being Honest, by Rachel Cusk, describes the violent reactions to her 2001 book on motherhood, A Life’s Work.  I’ve always had very negative feelings about our culture’s take on motherhood, so it’s nice to see an author being open about her own experience.  Not to mention that she’s a talented and very thoughtful writer.  More books to add to my list…

I remain uneasy in the public places of motherhood – the school gate, the coffee circuit – where the skies can unexpectedly open and judgment rain down on one’s head. I find that I like women less than I did, and wonder whether other feminists have been in the same uncomfortable position. It used to be incomprehensible to me that women of the time attacked early feminists so violently, that they loudly objected to their own sex being given the vote. It isn’t any more.

Finally, there’s a lengthy discussion on the relevance of the Orange Prize. 

Happy Easter Weekend!

History of the What, Now?

One of the most difficult aspects of being a book historian, or an aspiring one, is that no one actually knows what that is.

I know that for the majority of the US population “book” and “history” are two of the most boring words imaginable. Putting them together is liable to elicit raised eyebrows or a blank stare. Then I get the questions.

“So, what is that, exactly?”

And my favorite, “But what are you going to do with that?”

So I absolutely melted as I read the introduction to Robert Darnton’s The Business of Enlightenment: A Publishing History of the Encyclopédie. I was already a fan of Darnton’s after reading The Great Cat Massacre back in college, before I knew there was such a field as book history. Later, when I began reading as many foundational works of book history as possible, I was pleased to discover that Darnton and some of my other favorite historians were actually specialists in l’histoire du livre. (This only helped confirm my sense that book history was my great cosmic destiny.)

So this weekend, after it had languished on my aforementioned book list for a very long time, I began The Business of Enlightenment. I’m sorely tempted to have the opening passage printed in massive quantities just to hand out to people who ask about my chosen field.

By recounting the life story of the Encyclopédie, this book is meant to dispel some of the obscurity surrounding the history of books in general. A book about a book: the subject seems arcane, and it could contract into the infinitely small, like a mirror reflected in a mirror. If done properly, however, it should enlarge the understanding of many aspects of early modern history, for l’histoire du livre, as it is known in France, opens onto the broadest questions of historical research. How did great intellectual movements like the Enlightenment spread through society? How far did they reach, and how deeply did they penetrate? What form did the thought of the philosophes acquire when it materialized into books, and what does this process reveal about the transmission of ideas? Did the material basis of literature and the technology of its production have much bearing on its substance and its diffusion? How did the literary market place function, and what were the roles of publishers, book dealers, traveling salesmen, and other intermediaries in cultural communication? How did publishing function as a business, and how did it fit into the political as well as the economic systems of pre-revolutionary Europe? The questions could be multiplied endlessly because books touched on such a vast range of human activity—everything from picking rags to transmitting the word of God. They were products of artisanal labor, objects of economic exchange, vehicles of ideas, and elements in political and religious conflict.

I’ve finished the first two chapters, and the book continues to gratify. Darnton’s lively, engaging prose illuminates the often byzantine commercial practices of 18th century publishing, as well as the intellectual and cultural contexts of the Encyclopédie.

My only complaint is that all the quotes in French, some as long as a full page, have been left untouched because their unique character would be lost in translation. I did take French in college, but I’m pretty rusty, and lately I’ve been focusing all my language energy on Latin (I do plan on refreshing my French at some point in the near future). So I feel that I’m missing a lot, especially a sense of the personalities involved, whose personal and business letters I can’t comprehend.

But at the least, I now have a book history handout for everyone else. Eventually I could have an entire series of tracts for the unenlightened—with illustrations! I’ll leave them in the subways and force them on pedestrians. Genius.

Georgia Tech President Chosen to Lead Smithsonian

Georgia Tech announced today that President G. Wayne Clough will step down to become head of the Smithsonian Institution.

It’s very exciting to know that a Tech alumn and President has been selected for this honor. President Clough has done so much for the school, especially by creating a new emphasis on humanities and the connections between science, technology and the liberal arts. I’m pretty sure I have him to thank for my History of Technology degree. He will certainly be missed on campus, but will no doubt be a brilliant leader for the Smithsonian.

As Georgia Tech’s tenth president, Clough has led the university through more than a decade of unprecedented growth and expansion. Since his inauguration in September 1994, Clough has led the Institute to national and international prominence…

While improving Georgia Tech’s reputation for science and engineering, Clough has emphasized the importance of humanities education. He established two endowed chairs in poetry out of 20 in the nation, and strengthened the university’s commitment to public policy and public service. In all, 23 of the 25 new majors are in non-engineering disciplines or are interdisciplinary, including degrees in music and modern languages.

“Wayne Clough has been one of the greatest presidents in Georgia Tech’s history,” said Gary Schuster, provost of Georgia Tech. “His leadership and vision have been responsible for the unprecedented and revolutionary advance in Georgia Tech’s programs and stature during his tenure.

Teeth

• Image courtesy of the University of Michigan Dentistry Library

Having my wisdom teeth removed is a procedure I’ve been putting off for, well, years at this point. So when my jaw started aching this week I didn’t pick up the phone to make an appointment with the oral surgeon. I got online and looked up the history of dental books.

One of the first things I found was a great Flickr collection by rosefirerising from the University of Michigan Dentistry Library.   Tons of stuff, including books, journal articles, anatomical illustrations, cartoons, ephemera and antique dental instruments.  Some of my favorite pictures are in the set called “Dentistry – Women and Children First.”  The one above is fantastic; who knew teeth wore tiny boots. 

• Image courtesy of the University of Michigan Dentistry Library

Additionally, the American and British Dental Associations have history websites that list major works on dentistry.  I’ve compiled some of the most interesting below.

 - Artzney Buchlein (Little Medicinal Book for all Kinds of Diseases and Infirmities of the Teeth,) the first book “devoted entirely to dentistry,” was published in Germany in 1530.  Image courtesy of the University of Michigan Dentistry Library.

 - Libellus de dentibus (A Little Treatise on the Teeth) by Bartholomew Eusttachius, was published in 1563.

Eustachio’s contributions to the development of dental science were substantial. In addition to the many conceptual advances concerning tooth development and function, based on anatomical dissections, he also presented more detailed plates of the musculature of the face, floor of the mouth and neck as well as detailed plates of the tongue and of the crown and roots of the teeth. – Dental Classics in Perspective, Volume 2, 1999

 - “1575—In France Ambrose Pare, known as the Father of Surgery, publishes his Complete Works. This includes practical information about dentistry such as tooth extraction and the treatment of tooth decay and jaw fractures,” (ADA).

 - The first dental book in English, The Operator for the Teeth by Charles Allen, was published in 1685.

 - In 1723 French surgeon Pierre Fauchard published Le Chirurgien Dentiste (The Surgeon Dentist, A Treatise on Teeth).

Fauchard is credited as being the Father of Modern Dentistry because his book was the first to describe a comprehensive system for the practice of dentistry including basic oral anatomy and function, operative and restorative techniques, and denture construction (ADA).

 - The Natural History of the Human Teeth was published by John Hunter in 1771, followed by A Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Teeth in 1778.

These works revolutionised the practice of dentistry and provided a basis for later dental research. The natural history of human teeth is a detailed study of the mouth, jaws and teeth. Its plates are exceptionally clear and accurate (King’s College London, ISS).

 - In 1890 Willoughby Miller publishes Micro-Organisms of the Human Mouth, utilizing the germ theory to explain tooth decay. “This generates an unprecedented interest in oral hygiene and starts a world-wide movement to promote regular toothbrushing and flossing,” (ADA).  The picture below is the Human Mouth as a Focus of Infection, Plate 3, courtesy of the University of Michigan Dentistry Library.

Palaeography Summer School 2008

The Centre for Manuscript and Print Studies of the University of London has announced the 2008 London Palaeography Summer School schedule.  Of particular interest, at least to me, are Introduction to Latin Palaeography, Electronic Resources for Manuscript Studies, and especially Western Scientific Manuscripts.

Western Scientific Manuscripts: This course will examine manuscripts of texts on arithmetic, geometry, astrology, astronomy, divination and medicine (using facsimiles), showing how scribes dealt with the representation of numbers and the setting out of tables and diagrams. Also to be explored is the didactic use of illustrations (e.g. in surgery), and the adaptation of the manuscript book, parchment and paper to practical exigencies (e.g. the use of paper dials, medical and astrological vade mecums, and scraps of writing paper for sketching horoscopes). More generally, the role of the book in medieval science will be discussed.