Publicite

1896 · réf. 72755 — New York: Harper & Brothers 1896. First U.S. edition. In heavy-paper advertising dust jacket imprinted "Columbia Book Cover/ Protector Co./ Patented/ 1320 Chamber of Commerce/ Chicago Ill" and consisting of fold-on sleeves for the book covers each one three-holed punched and fitted with metal grommets through which string is laced across the spine. One cover illustrated with lithograph of the Siegel-Cooper & Co. department store at the corner of Van Buren and Congress. The other with a chromolithograph of The Woman's Building at the 1863 Chicago's World Fair with "The Womans sic Building. 200 x 400 feet. Cost $120000" printed at bottom. The cover is folded onto the book upside down so that the Woman's Building image is on the back vs. the front and the flaps are reversed. Presumably intended as a school textbook cover - with flaps intended for the front unprinted and the ones intended for the back printed with a message encouraging children not to spend their nickels and dimes on useless things when they can deposit them and earn a 4.5% interest instead. Unfortunately for all involved Henry Siegel and his partner Frank Vogel would later be accused of using monies from the bank to finance their department stores as well as receiving bank deposits while insolvent. Although nothing on the jacket explicitly states that it was made for distribution at or during the fair period advertisements show that Siegel-Cooper department store dubbed itself the other "Magnetic Attraction" in Chicago during the fair and offered extra services to entice fair-goers into the store -- while also advertising their unregulated Savings Bank. 8vo green cloth boards stamped in gilt and black; 194 pages plus 6 pages of publisher's ads. Book is near fine with trace rubbing at spine offsets from jacket flaps on opposing endpapers and 1897 ownership signature on front endpaper. Dust jacket/book cover protector is a little age darkened but otherwise about very good with edges rubbed corners nicked short narrow hole to one fold and few inconspicuous tears. We can find no other example of a similarly styled dust jacket. Rare. Harper & Brothers unknown