I have completely finished shopping for my daughter, but I have three sons and a husband in various states of completion.If you need something for your family, please take a look at my shop. I have several books already made up, and can quickly reproduce one of the books on my site if it isn't readily available. If enough people are interested in one title, I may be able to reproduce it more efficiently and slightly reduce my prices, so please consider a batch purchase, and contact me with any questions. As a parent, I understand the hesitation to get a paper item at such a high cost.
I've been sick and dealing with family issues that have pulled me away from my work on books. I promise, I have some great ones lined up, but it may be a while before anything gets posted, because now the reenacting season is upon me, and I have 6 people to dress - yikes!
I have a new children's book that just arrived. Printed in 1875, it's called The Widow's Cottage and Other Stories, and has 21 stories in it. A lot of work would be needed to produce a replica of this book. All of the text would have to be retyped. One-hundred twenty-eight pages would have to be cut, folded, and trimmed to fit eight folios. The folios would then have to be sewn together, and finally, glued into a thick cardstock cover. The book is just under 5x4" and almost 1/2" thick. Given the very low production number and the many, many hours of work, this book would require a high price, which can only be determined when I have an idea of how long it will take me, and about how many copies I can expect to sell. Please answer the poll to help me make a decision. Thank you! Copyright is so hard to decipher. In general, anything produced prior to 1923 is fair game. It's my understanding that if I own a copy of an out-of-copyright book, I have the right to legally reproduce it. Of course, that means if there are 20 copies of an original, 20 owners have the right to reproduce it, either as is or by scanning and digitally cleaning the pages, which is what I do.
However, what if I scan my copy and put it on the internet? Can someone else now take those scans, digitally clean them, and reproduce the book for commercial purposes or those beyond fair use? This is a question I'd love answered, but I'll leave it for a time when I've run out of my own materials to reproduce. Meanwhile, below are some links about copyright that might be of interest if you want to reproduce things, too. And if you have any insight on this topic, please leave a comment! http://baylyblog.com/blog/2006/02/christian-businesses-make-copyright-claims-without-legal-merit http://fairuse.stanford.edu/2009/07/30/turning_outofcopyright_books_i/ Now that I have more experienced readers amongst my children, it's become more important that they have something period appropriate to read at Civil War events, both as an occupation and as a way for them to better understand the culture they are imitating and representing.
Student & Schoolmate formed from a merger of two magazines in 1855, and was published until 1872. It has facts, stories, poetry and plenty of pictures in each monthly issue. Unfortunately, it's also hard to find today, but I recently lucked out. Usually I purchase my books from ebay, but my search for this magazine brought me to Amazon. There I picked up three issues from 1863 and 1864 for $45, and found a listing with no pictures and a very confusing description for a bound volume of magazines. I wasn't sure how many issues were included or what the condition was like, and believed that they were from 1859. I took a chance because the price was very low and I love this magazine. I was surprised to receive a bound volume of the entire year of 1862! It's obvious that it was once very nice, but it has that dank, musty smell, and a child must have attacked one issue with scissors at some point. While the cover is coming off, the spine is tight. I can't scan these pages with my flatbed scanner, so this is going to go with my other books to be reproduced when I have a better way of tackling this format. My kids woke up early this morning to a tree full of presents, and are all pleasantly engaged in some new toy or other, so I have a little time to play with my new toys. My children got me a 4x6 photo album to showcase my little books, and a metal ruler, box cutter, and blades to help cut them (I'd been borrowing my husband's tools).
Once I finished with that, I continued a little personal project I've been working on. The Passionate Child was reprinted and updated a few times during the 19th century. It's about a little girl who can't control herself very well. She kicked and hit her nurse in two separate incidents, and as punishment, her mother tied her hands and feet together, respectively, and left her alone in a room to contemplate her actions. Today, that would be considered child abuse. I wonder how many mothers of the day used this story as a threat rather than actually carry through with it. Interesting that her mother didn't lose her temper, but rather explained the punishment as a logical consequence (my words) of the girl's actions, something many modern moms would be familiar with. I would love to share with you the book that I made, but as I don't own it, and haven't resolved to my satisfaction if "sweat of the brow" work counts toward legally reproducing out-of-copyright pieces from the digital copies someone else owns and has disseminated online, instead I will just include the link to a copy of this book: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7214580M/The_passionate_child. Enjoy! I've gone on a buying spree, and now have enough to keep me in reproductions for at least 6 months, if I continue at this rate. I've purchased, but am waiting for:
The British Library has added over one million images to its flickr account, from the 17th-19th centuries. All of them are in the public domain and have been made available for the public to use. Read more here: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/dickens-darwin-dr-johnson-millions-of-images-from-the-british-library-now-available-online/282396/ And find the images here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/page1/ I found the image to the left, cleaned it up, and added a new background. I'm on page 25 of 10,201. How long should it take me to get through all the pages Chapbooks are a recent addition to my collection, and the easiest to reproduce. Right now, I own only three of these little gems, which, from the 16th century through today, were, and remain, cheap to mass produce. The picture to the left shows my three chapbooks next to a standard size book, 4-3/4"x6". The middle one, The Rose-Bud, with the green cover, is the only one I am positive came with that cover. It is my understanding that sometimes people would use bits of wallpaper to cover their books and protect them. As soon as I can document that, I will post it here. The following are links to information about chapbooks and their history.
I just can't help myself. I was so close to finishing that I finished the Almanac. Just researching how to correctly bind it, and then I'll post pics. Meanwhile, I've begun work on a magazine for much older kids: Student and Schoolmate and Forrester's Boys & Girls Magazine, published April, 1863.
Hoping I can get these both printed, photographed, and published in time to make it into some Christmas stockings! |
AuthorA mom, a reenactor, a librarian, a collector of old books. Archives
October 2015
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