Someone - possibly you Kevin, considering your collection - mentioned that profits were in the neighborhood of $10,000. By itself, the number sounds like success. But over 20-30 years, maybe not so much. Is that a verifiable number?



Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 13, 2017, at 9:23 PM, Kevin Mac Donnell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> The Mark Twain Scrapbook is nicely written up in a book on scrapbooking that 
> I reviewed in the Forum a few years ago. As claimed in the advertisements, 
> it was a clear improvement over the practice of having to apply your own 
> paste. That could get messy. I have over 50 examples--all different cover 
> designs and sizes--and this includes some unused ones. The pages do often 
> stick together, but this should not comes as a surprise for a book kept over 
> 100 years in a barn, house, or attic without the benefit of humidity and 
> temperature control. I'd get a bit sticky myself, probably within days. But 
> I have many more examples whose pages have not stuck together, and the glue 
> is remarkably stable. The glue used in some self-adhesive photo albums of 
> the 1970s is notoriously unstable and often reacts very badly and destroys 
> whatever is stuck in the album. Not so with the Mark Twain Scrapbooks.
> 
> The thing was a success and was produced from 1877 to at least 1901 (the 
> date of the last catalogue I have listing them).
> 
> Kevin
> @
> Mac Donnell Rare Books
> 9307 Glenlake Drive
> Austin TX 78730
> 512-345-4139
> Member: ABAA, ILAB
> *************************
> You may browse our books at:
> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
> 
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Martin Zehr
> Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2017 12:46 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Mark Twain Scrapbook
> 
> Mark Twain scrapbooks are not in the rare category of Twain collectibles,
> as far as I can determine, and Kevin Mac Donnell can attest. They come in a
> variety of covers and sizes, with the "Mark Twain" trademark prominently
> displayed inside the front cover. They come up on ebay once in awhile and
> I've purchased three over the years, none which were expensive.  They were
> available from the 1870s into the 20th century.  The examples I have were
> used and are interesting artifacts to peruse, the owners inserting news
> items, bad poetry and personal items.  An unused example would undoubtedly
> be more expensive, but undoubtedly less interesting.
> Martin Zehr
> 
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> 
>> On Sat, Nov 11, 2017 at 3:17 AM, Arianne . <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>> 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
>>