Thank y ou so much.  One of his scrapbooks plays a large part in
my interest in Twain.  I've never checked, but I wonder if any blank
ones ever come up for sale.  I imagine plenty of used ones might.  I
assume the collection of scrapbooks    held by the Mark Twain Project
in Berkeley contain examples of scrapbooks the family created before
the patent and some they made after.

THANKS!
Arianne Laidlaw

On Fri, Nov 10, 2017 at 11:38 AM, Robert M Ellsworth <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Here is a direct link to the Google Patents page for the =91Improvements =
> in Scrap-books=92 patent, from which you can download a PDF copy if the =
> online documentation is too hard to read (as it very often is!)
>
> https://www.google.com/patents/US140245
>
> The idea is rather interesting: he covers the whole page with =
> water-soluble glue or mucilage, and a user moistens just the area where =
> something is to go, presumably most easily with a small brush or blot of =
> paper.  Contemporary ads appear to show something between the treated =
> gummed pages, perhaps material to which the gum left exposed between =
> pasted items won=92t self-stick in humid locations.  Presumably there is =
> some care to provide =91adhesive=92 that will not stick until desired, =
> perhaps dusting with (dyed) cornstarch or similar material to form what =
> parents with diapered children might know as =91a barrier layer=92.
>
> The accounts I=92ve read say that he made ample profit from this =
> invention, and my guess is that the name recognition was a large part of =
> the attractiveness.  Perhaps it would still be, if anyone decided to =
> =93re-introduce=94 these with modern materials =85 I can think of a few =
> improvements just looking at the patent drawings.=
>



-- 
Arianne Laidlaw A '58