Ray Boas, Bookseller

I have collected World’s Fair items for over five decades. I have enjoyed the search, and enjoyed several fairs as well: 1964 New York World’s Fair, and Expo 67. In addition I have explored many sites of previous fairs: 1958 Brussels World’s Fair (and gone up into the Atomium); I have been in the Seattle Space Needle from 1962; of course the Eiffel Tower from 1889 (visited twice, climbing down the last time); Philadelphia fair sites from 1876 and 1926; I viewed state buildings from the 1902 Charleston Fair; toured California fair sites; and, have made two visits (so far) to the Pan-American Exposition held in Buffalo in 1901.

I cannot keep everything – and it is fun to share your treasures with others by passing them onto a new collection with the next conservator. I made a wonderful trip to Buffalo and the former fairgrounds and museums in 2019 – and want to go back, thus for now will keep my 1901 Pan-American items (here are links to that Buffalo Trip — LINK ONE and LINK TWO)

So, starting October, 2021, I will be listing some of my collection, so feel free to contact me, and place an order. Thank you, RAY

1902 – CHARLESTON AND THE SOUTH CAROLINA INTER-STATE AND WEST INDIAN EXPOSITION – WORLD’S FAIR BOOKLET

“AN ILLUSTRATED SOUVENIR OF THE BEAUTIFUL EXPOSITION AND OF HISTORIC PLACES AND PROMINENT FEATURES OF THE CITY.” Softcover souvenir fair booklet measuring about 7 3/4 inches by about 10 3/4 inches with about 68 pages packed with black and white illustrations with descriptions of the fair. PLEASE NOTE – pages are loose from the binding staples. The first eight pages are advertisements. Published by Robert Allan Reid, Publisher.

below image to show the loose centerfold pages

PRICE – $65

1907 – THE JAMESTOWN EXPOSITION ILLUSTRATED – OFFICIAL SOUVENIR FAIR BOOKLET

Nice softcover photographic booklet measuring about 8 3/4 inches by about 11 inches with about 40 pages of black and white illustrations of this fair. Published by Jamestown Official Photograph Corporation, Robert A. Reid, Director View Book Publications. Many of the state buildings remained after the fair to this day as housing at the Norfolk Naval Base. On a visit in the 1970s or 80s I talked with the Curator of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, and sketched out the locations of the remaining buildings. My one page note and sketch along with his business card I will leave with the publication for posterity.

PRICE – $65

1865 – OIL CITY PETROLEUM REFINING COMPANY – STOCK CERTIFICATE

Oil City Petroleum and Refining Company, Venango County, Pennsylvania, certificate Number 23 issued January 6, 1865, for Four Hundred and Forty Five shares at $5 each. Oil City, PA, is known for its prominence in the initial exploration and development of the petroleum industry. It is located at a bend in the Allegheny River at the mouth of Oil Creek.

Embossed company seal, was folded into quarters, staple holes and two other holes near seal. Some foxing. Images making discoloration more pronounced. Great vignette of early drilling.

PRICE – $125

1864 – BULL CREEK OIL COMPANY – STOCK CERTIFICATE

Bull Creek Oil Company, Pleasants County, West Virginia, certificate for 100 shares ($10 each) issued September 30, 1864. When redeemed, this certificate was glued (as was the custom) to the original paperwork from the issuing stock book. Nice soft blue ink with early oil drilling vignette

The first image below shows the certificate as now attached to the original sales record.

sorry, colors are off on scans below – image above best portrays the actual certificate

PRICE – $75

1884 – IDA GOLD AND SILVER MINING COMPANY – EARLY ARIZONA STOCK CERTIFICATE

Issued 28 years before Arizona became a state, this certificate was issued June 7, 1884, for twelve shares of stock at $100 each. Toning spots more accentuated on scans than in person. The company was incorporated in Wisconsin.

PRICE – $125

Shipping $5 for one, two, or all three
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c1938 – MASKEE – A SHANGHAI SKETCHBOOK by FRIEDRICH H. SCHIFF

Accordian, concerina-style album, measuring about 7 5/8 inches by 10 1/2 inches, bound in red silk covers. 21 plates of hand-coloured cartoons. Copy 239 of an unstated limited edition, Title page signed by the artist. A couple plates exhibit some foxing spots – first two relatively blank pages the worst, and one illustrated below.

Friedrich H. Schiff (1908 -1968): was an Austrian-Jewish artist, arriving in Shanghai in 1930 when he was 22 years old, and lived there until 1947. He was a keen observer of the Chinese spirit, showing fascinating visual insights into life in Shanghai – then a major metropolis. His cartoons captured the foreign community’s interest in the local life, and were published in local newspapers and journals such as the China Journal & the North China Daily News. He illustrated several books on China, a number of Shanghai postcards, and decorated the walls of the well known French “Cercle Sportif” and other clubs. His works depicted some darker sides of life such as prostitutes, taxi-girls and beggars.

the image below shows one of two pages with the most noticeable foxing – on left

SORRY – SOLD – DECEMBER 2022

1883 – BROOKLYN BRIDGE OPENING INVITATION
TIFFANY & CO. ENGRAVING

Original engraved invitation by Tiffany & Co., measuring about 8 9/16 inches by 6 1/4 inches, printed on a “heavy stock” paper. With a light touch you can feel the raised engraving. The rear is blank. This invitation was never filled out and not used. Invitation only, no envelope. One of my favorite books is David McCullough’s THE GREAT BRIDGE written in 1972 about the bridge’s construction.

I purchased this invitation in the mid-1990s. I have an ebay auction sale from July 1998, with a used example selling for $615.59 (I will include that print out). One sold at Skinner’s for $764 that had been hand-colored and had a program and ticket. In 2018 at Leland’s Auction an example with a ticket sold for $1,998. And, another is currently offered on ebay for $4,500. PLEASE NOTE – the toning on my scanned image is more pronounced than the toning to the edges really is. Hard to see in real life.

Price – Sorry – SOLD
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1906 – BUSTER BROWN’S AMUSING CAPERS — COMIC STRIP

Copyright by New York Herald Company, published by Cupples & Leon Company, New York.

Cloth spine, pictorial boards (not thick and heavy) and pages printed on heavy newsprint. Measures about 11 inches by almost 16 inches, many of the stapled pages are loose from the staples, and the book block has separated from the flimsy cloth spine. This was a title done for a short life, thus hard to find after 100 years – the way it was produced was not for the long term. There are Fourteen pages of cartoon panels and with some chipping on the edges.

To help clarify — an extremely ephemeral item, not published to last. The single sheet pages are stapled on the left side. Printed on newsprint, which is fragile to begin with, some of the sheets have pulled loose from the staples. Also not bound to last, the book block itself is loose from the boards and the thin spine cloth. I tried to show this all in the images.

UNCOMMON – Price $250 – (Order Number eb1706)
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c1910 – LARDER LODGE – VERSES BY B. PARKER and ILLUSTRATED BY N. PARKER – SEASIDE RESORT

Published by: W. & R. Chambers, Limited, London & Edinburgh. Pictorial boards with edgewear as seen in the images – measuring about 9 1/4 inches by 12 3/4 inches. Sepia toned illustrations, and fantastic color chromoliths. Some pages tad loose since not a sewn binding.

This is a story told in verse of a family of foxes that open a boarding house by the sea. In no time at all, they are host to a family of pigs, a family of dogs, a hedgehog and a bear.  Their hopes are of attracting a meal. er, customers.

UNCOMMON – Price $225 – (Order Number eb1705)
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Reprints of illustrations from Scribner’s magazine from roughly the years 1888-1898. Published in about 1898 in a fold over portfolio with cloth hinges and wood veneer boards.  Inside are the black and white prints on sheets measuring about 9 3/4 inches by 13 inches. This is a broken set. Prepared with 50 prints, there are only 43 remaining. Lacking are plates 2, 3, 33, 41, 42, and 43. Plates are semi-gloss on image side (some smudges on edges that can be matted over) and matte finish on the rear. These are illustrations from the magazine, again dated from 1888 to 1898, and include some of the most prominent illustrators of that period, including: Edwin Abbey, F. S. Church, A. B. Frost, Howard Pyle, Charles Dana Gibson, C. S. Reinhart, F. Hopkinson Smith, A. B. Wenzell, A. Castaigne, Daniel Vierge, Will H. Low, Albert Lynch. Images include people riding bicycles, hunting, a men’s social dinner, historical illustrations of famous Revolutionary War scenes, etc. Incomplete set — 43 of 50 plates — full sets seldom seen. Original portfolio case in poor condition

at one point in time a sheet of paper (above) was affixed over the title printing on the wood veneer.

Price – $120 (Order Number eb1562)
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1928 – UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SONG BOOK
and NEW HAMPSHIRE COLORS

Perfect gift for your historically minded UNH student, graduate, or your own collection. Offered together from the original family, whose member attended UNH, are the UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SONG BOOK, hardcover measuring about 7 3/8 inches by 10 1/2 inches with 106 pages of music scores and lyrics, and a softcover 4-page Songsheet – NEW HAMPSHIRE COLORS with words by E. Y. Blewett (Class of ’26” and music by L. C. Swain (Class of ’18)

PRICE – $20 for both items (Order Number eb1696)
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1921 – FINGER PRINT MAGAZINE – 12 ISSUES – COMPLETE YEAR

“A Monthly Journal Devoted to the Science of Finger Print Identification” published by the University of Apple Science, Chicago, Illinois. First published in 1919, and continued to about 1972 from what I can ascertain. Each issue measures about 7 3/4 inches by 10 5/8 inches and shows two folds probably from mailing in an envelope. On each issue some light wear, soiling, few small tears. Great ads for fingerprinting equipment. Included are:

January, 1921 – Volume 2, Number 7 – 8 pages – articles include: Two Experts in the Navy Department, The Modification and Extensions of the Henry System, and more
February, 1921 – Volume 2, Number 8 – 8 pages – articles include: Washington DC fingerprinting, Man Palms Himself into the Penitentiary, and more
March, 1921 – Volume 2, Number 9 – 8 pages – articles include: Walter S. Kaye, Chief of Identity Section, War Department, Thumb Trace Classification, and more
April, 1921 – Volume 2, Number 10 – 8 pages – articles include: Vancouver’s New Chief of Police, Blackmailer Sealed His Own Fate, How to Powder a Latent Print, and more
May, 1921 – Volume 2, Number 11 – 8 pages – articles include: One Finger System (Five Page Article), and more
June, 1921 – Volume 2, Number 12 – 8 pages – articles include: Found Guilty of Burglary on Finger Print Evidence Alone, New Ideas on Contact Photography, and more
July, 1921 – Volume 3, Number 1 – 8 pages – articles include: Finger Prints – Versus Politics, A Home Made Finger Print Camera, and more
August 1921 – Volume 3, Number 2 – 8 pages – articles include: Thumb Print on Glass Causes Man to be Convicted in Burglary Case, The Identification Expert as Witness, and more
September, 1921 – Volume 3, Number 3 – 8 pages – articles include: Finger Prints Lead to Arrest of Two, Convicted on Palm Prints, and more
October, 1921 – Volume 3, Number 4 – 16 pages – articles include: University of Applied Science – Alumni Number (most pages mug shots of alumni), Finger Printing a Nation, and more
November, 1921 – Volume 3, Number 5 – 8 pages – articles include: PRESIDENT HARDING’S FINGER PRINT CARD ON FRONT COVER – THE PRESIDENT IS FINGERPRINTED, Finger Prints on Opened Safe Bring Conviction, and more
December, 1921 – Volume 3, Number 6 – 16 pages – articles include: Annual Convention Digest, and more

Below you see President Harding’s fingerprint card on the cover

and some sample two page spreads

SORRY – SOLD

WATERBURY CLOCKS: HISTORY, IDENTIFICATION & PRICE GUIDE by Tran Duy Ly.

Published by the Arlington Book Company, Arlington, Virginia, 1989. Softcover, 304 pages, about 8 3/8 inches by 10 7/8 inches. Black and White illustrations. Listing it here with illustrations to show the edge wear to the covers. Not affecting the interior or the information you desire, but I am fussy, and want you to see the wear. Illustrated are 1387 various clock models from advertisements. Book starts with some tips and Waterbury Clock Company history. Ly did a number of similar clock books which are highly collectible. No updated price list with this copy.

PRICE —SORRY SOLD – but I have a large selection of clock books, ask for list
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