We lived in Annapolis, Maryland from 1996 to 2002, the year we moved back to Nova Scotia. There were a number of good bookstores and antique stores and malls within easy driving distance, including Baltimore that had some great shops. I found a great number of wonderful books during our sojourn in this beautiful city and state, many of which have been featured in my musings.
My go to bookshop was Briarwood Books. Right in the heart of Annapolis. In one of my last visits to the shop, in 2002, I saw the cover of a book and immediately knew that I was going to buy it.
I love Art Nouveau, and this cover was a wonderful example. Sometimes, you can judge a book by its cover!
I bought it even though some miscreant removed the title page! This is not a misdemeanour, it is criminal. And the perpetrator should be burnt at the stake fueled by the flames from maligned books. Not that I feel strongly about it.
But in the following month, I tracked down a copy of the book from another dealer’s inventory.
Alfred G. Bauer; The Art of Window Dressing for Grocers; Sprague, Warner and Company, Chicago, 1902. (Price $75.)
For this musing I was going to go onto Abebooks, find a copy, and take a photo of the Title Page for this musing. Not a copy in sight. It is very scarce, but I don’t have to worry about pricing the book since it resides in our personal library. But here is a copy of the Table of Contents.
The book is very well illustrated and as you will see the author had a terrific sense of humour. Some of the examples were of “bad windows” such as this one.
Here are some of the full-page illustrations. Some of the products look familiar.
There is a chapter “For Big Special Occasions”. Here is their Easter example, that I personally find somewhat odd.
There is a chapter “For Special Week Days” and I find Mondays hilarious!
Here are a couple more interesting vignettes.
And saved for last is my personal favourite.
