Collectors of ephemera †or papermaniacs as they are fondly known †are especially energized by shows such as Papermania Plus, which is possibly the best-known ephemera and collectibles event on the East Coast. Conceived by the late Paul Gipstein and managed by his wife, Arlene Shea, and son, Gary, the show began in 1977 as a yearly marketplace and quickly evolved into its twice-a-year format. Shea reported that the most recent event, conducted August 22 and 23 at the XL Center, saw several new dealers, bringing the total to 135 exhibitors.
Hailing from Maine to Florida and west to Arizona, Arkansas, Ohio, Michigan and many Canadian provinces, dealers always bring their best to Papermania. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the show is what visitors can find: everything from a plate from the Hindenburg airship, a wooden display box that once held embalming fluid, a daguerreotype of a slave and slave tags, a broadside calling for revolt against the tyranny of taxes, vintage toys and games, first editions and Pennsylvania Dutch fraktur, to a vintage boxful of Dreft detergent, the “marvelous suds discovery.”
Jerry and Paulann Turner came from Hot Springs, Ark., to show here for the first time. The highly experienced dealers are hardly new to the business, however. “We’ve been showing, buying and selling for years,” Paulann said. Their perfectly appointed booth took advantage of its outside wall to display advertising signs; inside the booth †some behind locked glass boxes †were salesman’s samples, such as an EIMCO Rocker Shovel at $7,500; a Buddy L Model T Huckster truck was $4,795, and an advertising model of a dapper gentleman dressed in tails and top hat and carrying his overcoat offered “Made to Order, National Tailoring Co.”
Atop a glass case was a toy ship, about 2 feet long, made by Reed of wood with paper lithograph covering †with two masts, it was ready to sail away for $2,395.
Edward J. Cohen, who deals primarily in Nineteenth Century photographic images, came from Bristol, Conn., with fine daguerreotypes, as well as important journals and handwritten documents. An Edward Curtis photograph titled, “Vanishing Race,” evoked the sad trail of disappearing Native Americans, and was displayed prominently.
Cohen has been a longtime exhibitor at Papermania, and has been in the business for more than 30 years, so it was no surprise that his booth was teeming with serious collectors within minutes of the opening.
Leigh Stein was spotted high above his booth, straightening out a broadside for his neighbors, Resser-Thorner Antiques, of Manchester, N.H. Stein, who trades under the name Eveleigh Books & Stamps from Dover, Mass., had maps as his focus this year. While he was showing books, first editions and sundry documents, he had several excellent maps, including a wall-size, pull-down Coulton’s Railroad and Township Map of New England and parts of New York, with the Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, 1825; and a map titled Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova, dated 1635 and offered at $4,250. Held in its proper position, it showed Cape Cod jutting out from a Massachusetts shoreline, but it had the Cape sticking out toward the South and curving West. The mapmaker had most likely never left Europe, Stein surmised.
His best sale of the weekend, however, was on Sunday of a broadside by Union General John Adams Dix of Virginia. As he was sending troops into Maryland early in the Civil War, Dix sent out this proclamation reassuring the people of Maryland that they had nothing to fear from his troops, as long as they did not help out the Confederacy. “A great broadside that went to a serious collector,” Stein said.
Demonstrating the eclectic range of material at the show, pop culture describes Gary Sohmers’ Wex Rex booth. From psychedelic posters and original Woodstock memorabilia, to toys and celebrity photographs, Sohmers’ corner booth, where he has been set up since 1984, attracts collectors and first-time attendees alike. “The buyers who come to Papermania are specialized and able to afford their choice of collectibles,” the Hudson, Mass., dealer said. “We met a couple of new [to us] collectors who made some good purchases.” He was also showing an American flag, circa 1861‶3, in remarkably good condition, with 34 stars and replete with tiny handmade repairs. The repairs looked almost as old as the flag, which he found in an estate attic.
Maps hung beside botanicals and broadsides at James E. Arsenault & Company. He was showing a collection of specimen books that were filled with colored plates printed in Rochester, N.Y., showing botanicals, from apples to pears. “I really like finding the unusual and sometimes bizarre in old prints and books,” he said as he showed a small book of American bestiary painted in watercolors. The end paper may have been from another time, but it was dated 1787, and the animals inside were most probably painted from a natural history book and included animals from baboons to zebras.
The Arrowsic, Maine, dealer said, “The show went quite well for me. I sold some very nice Western photographs, including several late 1860s images of Colorado silver mining towns attributed to William Gunnison Chamberlain, as well as a beautiful vintage albumen photograph of downtown Tuscaloosa, Ala., circa 1870. I also sold a number of interesting broadsides and hand bills, including one advertising the services of silhouette artist Moses Chapman of Salem, Mass., circa 1808.”
John William Pye Books, Brockton, Mass., had a great show, he said. On Sunday morning he came into his booth and moved things around and within minutes he sold three things, which made it a better show.
Early in the morning, Eric Caren, Caren Archive, Inc, Lincolndale, N.Y., was in the booth of Resser-Thorner Antiques. The two well-known dealers were conferring over a colored mezzotint, “John Paul Jones [a particular favorite of Caren’s] shooting a sailor who had attempted to strike his colors in an engagement,” printed for and sold by Carrington Bowles, London, circa 1779. The Manchester, N.H., dealers were also showing, in honor of the show’s location, an 1826 “Drunkard’s Progress,” printed in Connecticut. The tiny handmade repairs were in thread and carefully stitched. The piece was marked at $550.
At his corner booth, Caren showed off a Titanic broadside, printed in Oklahoma in 1912. It was double-sided, and the other side showed a drawing dated 1921. In a collection of Civil War letters he had, one was from a girl to her Union fiancé in 1864, where she proclaimed that she wished she were a man so she too could join the fighting.
Caren was able to show Vincent Golden, curator of newspapers and periodicals of the American Antiquarian Society in Worchester, Mass., something he had never seen before: An antislavery newspaper, printed in New London, Conn., in 1838 and titled Ultimatum.
Proving again the variety offered here, Randy Fry, Fry’s Antiques, had an amazing collection of vintage and antique toys, mostly in their original boxes, some even new-in-box. Randy’s 16-year-old grandson, Doug, came with him from Elmira, N.Y., and was trying to help out and get items down for the crowd of customers. His favorite may have been the Britains, metal soldiers lined up in their boxes. Randy showed a pen and ink drawing by Frederic Remington (1861‱909) that was done as an illustration for the poem “Hiawatha.” Handwritten and signed by Remington, the title was “Quiver N.W. Tribes Sioux.”
“The economy is getting better; the dealers did well. The gate was down somewhat, but most dealers were still doing good business. When dealers say they want to come back, you know it has been a good show,” Shea said, “and they are!” The next Papermania Plus will be at the XL Center on January 9 and 10. For information, www.Papermaniaplus.com or 860-563-9975.
