SULLIVAN PRESS
Our goal in presenting this page is to show you some original items from the periods we depict in our reproductions. Some of these originals are the ones on which we base our reproductions. Also, if we find items of note, we will post them here so that visitors to this page can benefit.
Featured Exhibits:
The Field Desk - a picture gallery of our reproduction desk with notes about originals.
Confederate Cartridge Labels - So, they didn't have them, eh? Check this display out.
Galleries:
19th Century Stationery
Special: A closer look at Envelope
Flap Styles
Mid 19th Century Everyday Items
Civil War Era Labels and Paper Items
19th Century Money and Banking
Other Small Books of the Civil War Era
Gift Shop (a link to the Sullivan Press main page!)
| 19th Century Stationery Examples | |
| Shown below are 11 examples of original envelopes of the period. Most of these are Patriotic Stationery, meaning that they have patriotic designs somewhere on the paper. | |
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Example 1 - A plain envelope, addressed, stamped, and canceled. Note the style of addressing envelopes. |
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Example 2 - Liberty seated atop the world. Note the double cancellation, the city (St. Louis) and the "bullseye" cancellation of the stamp. |
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Example 3 - An unused envelope with another patriotic design on it. |
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Example 4 - Another unused envelope with a large patriotic design across the top of the envelope. |
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Example 5 - Another unused envelope showing a cannon and flag design. This envelope has been reproduced by us and can be found as part of our stationery set CWS101. |
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Example 6 - An unused envelope with a soldier standing guard in a camp scene. This envelope has been reproduced by us and can be found as part of our stationery set CWS101. We have seen a Confederate copy of this envelope with the flag changed to the stars and bars. |
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Example 7 - A stamped and canceled envelope showing a flag design. This envelope has been reproduced by us and can be found as part of our stationery set CWS101. |
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Example 8 - A stamped and canceled envelope showing the same cannon design found in example 5. However there is no slogan under the picture on this example. |
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Example 9 - Liberty standing on a pedestal. We have seen this same design used on passes found in Baltimore during the war. |
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Example 10 - A Zouave with flag. The stamp has been placed on the upper left corner of this envelope. |
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Example 11 - A picture of General Banks, with words about Baltimore and Ft. McHenry |
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Example 12 - A play on words about the Navy, referring to Confederate privateers as Jeff Davis's Private-Ears. |
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Example 13 - A paragraph from Washington's Farewell Address about maintaining a strong Union. |
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Example 14 - Always a popular topic, Soldiers and a pretty girl. |
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Example 15 - Washington, a native Virginian, was used by both sides. This envelope, while probably a Union example, could just as easily be used by Confederate patriots |
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Example 16 - Seated Liberty, a familiar topic among patriotic stationery. |
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Example 17 - General John Wool, one of a few full Major Generals in United States service, secured Fort Monroe in the early days of the war. A veteran of the War of 1812, he retired on August 1, 1863, after more than 50 years of service. |
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Example 18 - A woeful Confederacy. |
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Example 19 - "Shame on the Dastard who would dim a single star!" |
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Example 20 - When Colonel Elmer Ellsworth was killed in 1861 in Alexandria Virginia, his death and the resulting "Remember Ellsworth" became a rallying point for the North. |
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Example 21 - An envelope featuring General Winfield Scott. |
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Example 22 - Private blue envelopes. These envelopes are very close to modern business envelopes in size, and note the embossed circular mark on the flap. |
| Envelope Flap Styles | |
Many people think that all envelopes made during the mid 19th century have the distinctive "teardrop" style flap. While this style can be found on many originals from the period, the style of flap varied from this curved style to a straight style that is virtually indistinguishable from modern envelopes. Shown below are three envelope flaps from originals in our collection. |
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Example 1 - The distinctive and sharply curved "Teardrop" style. |
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Example 2 - A second type of flap, less curved than the one shown above. |
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Example 3 - Looks like a modern envelope, doesn't it? |
| Back to Galleries | |
| Some examples of Everyday Items | |
| Here are some photos of items that saw
everyday use. From our collection |
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A hard rubber eraser, with a patent date of 1863. |
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A pencil sharpener. You place the pencil in the cone, while holding the sharpener between your thumb and forefinger. then you turn the sharpener and the blade (shown in this picture) sharpens the pencil. |
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Some typical tableware of the mid 19th century. |
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Gutta Percha Match Safe and Matches. I have seen more original examples of this style, which I refer to as a "picket fence" style, than I have of individual matches. Both styles were around however, so it would be incorrect to say this is the only authentic type. |
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Playing cards. These cards actually date to the late 1860's. The company that manufactured them, Samuel Hart, put the street address of their company on the ace of spaces until just after the war. So 51 of these cards are correct as Civil War era cards. But the ace determines the date of the deck. |
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Pencils - These pencils date from 1840-48. Those are the years the B. Ball Pencil Company was in business. Here's our reproduction of this bundle. |
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Note the construction of the pencils in this detail photograph. Each pencil is made of 2 pieces of wood. One piece has a channel cut into it and the graphite clay is laid in the channel. Then the other piece of wood is glued on and the whole assembly is rounded. The seam on this pencil runs from about "10 o'clock" to "2 o'clock". |
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Toothbrush, made in London. This toothbrush is made with a bone handle and pig bristles. |
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| Labels and Paper items | |
| We don't have a large amount of labels, and it is difficult to date the ones we have, but here are some. | |
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Original tobacco label. Date unknown, but it "looks" like it very well could be a mid-19th century label. Note the Pictogram, which was very popular during the Civil War years, and the lack of any Trademark notification. |
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Tobacco pack. This package of tobacco came from Minnesota. The white spots in the photograph are actually reflections from the camera flash on the plastic wrap. |
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Package of Dr. Strong's Vegetable Stomach Pills. I've never gotten these analyzed to find out what their made of. I've always wanted to, though. It's a tiny box, about the size of a modern match box. |
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Typical Ceramic inkwell. Photo courtesy of Julio Zangroniz. See our Reproduction. |
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An express receipt from the American Express Company. American Express, Adams Express, Southern Express, and Harndon's Express, among others, were all package delivery companies of the Civil War era. After the war, Mr. Wells and Mr. Fargo left American Express to form their own company (note their names on the side). |
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Marriage License from Indiana. I really like this document, mainly because of the beautiful picture at the top of it. It has a revenue stamp on it, which helps date it even when you can't read the date of 1864. |
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| Money and Banking | |
| Here are some original examples of currency used by both North and South, including a couple of checks. | |
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Postage currency. When coins ran short, the government was forced to print paper money in values less than one dollar. At first, old stamp dies were used for this purpose. This is a piece of this Postage Currency. It is not just a bunch of stamps glued together, but a single piece of paper with a perforated edge. |
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Finally, the government came up with specific designs for this small-value currency in 1862. These pieces were called Fractional Currency. These are the original issue pieces, 5, 10, 25, and 50 cent pieces. |
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A well worn 5-cent Fractional Currency piece. Third series, issued from 1864 to 1869. |
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A well worn 15-cent Fractional Currency piece. Fourth series, issued from 1869-1875. |
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A 25-cent Fractional Currency piece in good shape. Fourth series, issued from 1869-1875. The front, or obverse side. |
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The same 25-cent piece showing the back, or reverse side. |
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This is a state bank note from Louisiana. Note that it is printed in English and French. Supposedly, one of the origins for the word "Dixie" came from bills like this. Ten-dollar Louisiana notes had the French word "Dix", meaning Ten, on them as well as the word "Ten", and supposedly the 10-dollar notes were referred to as "Dixies". I can't verify this story, I'm just passing it along. |
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Bank Check - A blank check for the Bank of North America. |
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Bank Check - A cancelled check drawn on the Penn National Bank in the amount of $1,460.60. Note the revenue stamp. |
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A Confederate check - A check for $5,000 drawn from the Bank of Selma. |
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Confederate currency - A $10 note. |
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Confederate currency - A $20 note. |
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| In 1859, Irwin and Erastus Beadle moved from Buffalo to New York City and opened a shop at 141 William Street. During the Civil War, they became one of the largest publishing houses in the United States, capitalizing on a concept that has now become part of the language: the Dime Novel. They produced not only novels, but also sports books, personal enrichment books, song books, biographies, and more. The house of the Beadle brothers, and later Beadle and Adams, published over 125 titles during the war years. Shown below are some that we have acquired for our personal collection | |
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Dime Novel No. 1 - Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter, published June 9, 1860. This is an 1864 printing of the first Dime Novel ever published. The earlier edition had a cover style similar to the one shown immediately below. By 1862, Beadle and Company had adopted this style of cover for their novels. The scene of the story is in and around New York City and the Catskills in early Colonial days. It deals with the tribulations of the Indian wife of a hunter and their son. |
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Dime Novel No. 20 - Florida, or The Iron Will. First published on April 1, 1861. The edition shown was printed in 1864. A story set in Connecticut and New York about a clairvoyant girl. Florida gets her man. |
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Dime Novel No. 22 - The Maid of Esopus, published May 1, 1861. See our Reproduction. General Clinton in New York in 1777, Battle of Monmouth, Burgoyne's campaign in New Jersey, etc. |
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Dime Novel No. 33 - Maum Guinea, published December 10, 1861. This double-sized volume originally sold for 20 cents. This novel is about Louisiana plantation life among the slaves before the Civil War. Many Lincoln biographers claim that this was one of his favorite novels. |
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Dime Novel No. 35 - East and West, published February 1, 1862. Locales: New York and near Council Bluffs, Iowa. Trouble over a mill pond between the miller and the townsmen— city and country cousins and a New York artist—floods— dreams come true. |
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Dime Novel No. 45 - Esther, Maid of the Oregon Trail, published October 10, 1862. Mormon emigrants traveling overland from Nauvoo to Salt Lake. |
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Dime Novel No. 59 - Kent the Ranger, published September 1, 1863. Along the Ohio River in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky. Frontier life in early Indian days. |
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Dime Biographies No. 4 - Major-General Anthony Wayne, published 1861. |
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Dime Biographies No. 9 - John Paul Jones, published 1861. |
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Dime Biographies No. 10 - Marquis de LaFayette, published 1861. |
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The first publication in the handbook series, published sometime in 1859. What we like about our original is that, like all well-used cook books, there are food stains along the bottom of the book, indicating at least one spill of ingredients during the use of this book. |
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The second book of the handbook series, published sometime in 1859. This book must have been confused with the cookbook even in 1859, because it plainly states on the cover, " Companion to the Dime Cook Book." Here's a picture of the cover. And here's our Reproduction. |
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Dime Book of Etiquette, published 1861. The third in the handbook series. See our Reproduction. |
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Dime Letter Writer, the fourth in the handbook series. Originally published 1861, there was a revised edition published 1863. This is the 1863 edition. See our Reproduction. |
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Dime Guide to Swimming, published 1861. The fifth in the handbook series. See our Reproduction. |
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Dime Ball-Room Companion, originally published in 1861, and printed again in 1866 and 1868. The eighth in the handbook series. See our Reproduction. |
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Dime Chess Instructor, the tenth in the handbook series. Originally published 1861 and revised in 1863. This is the 1863 edition. Here's our Reproduction. |
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Dime Family Physician. Originally published in February of 1861. This particular edition is a later printing, done after all the covers and book sizes were changed in 1863. See our Reproduction. |
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Dime Book of Croquet, published 1866. The fourteenth book in the handbook series. See our Reproduction. |
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Dime Melodist, published 1861. See our Reproduction. |
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Song Book Number 1. Not only is this the
first in the Beadles Dime Song Book Series, it is the first Dime Book.
According to Albert Johannsen, the author of the definitive work on the
Beadle and Adams publishing house, "It is a small booklet, 5 7/8 by 3 3/4
inches in size, trimmed, with buff wrappers, and contains 71 pages and one
or more pages of advertisements. It was deposited for copyright April 19,
1859, and was apparently the first of all the dime booklets which, later,
were to make the name of Beadle famous." Note that this cover page doesn't include a number. Later editions of this work were published after more song books came out, so the number one was added to the cover. For a look at a later edition of this same work, click here. |
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Dime Song Book No. 5 (cover missing). This book was offered for sale on March 30, 1860. See our Reproduction. |
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Dime Song Book No. 6. This book came out the same day as Song Book 5, March 30, 1860. |
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Pittsburgh Landing and the Siege of Corinth - From the Series entitled Beadle's American Battles. This series was perhaps the first history series on the Civil War. The battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburgh Landing, was fought April 6-7, 1862. This book was offered for sale in June of 1862. |
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Dime Speaker Series No. 1 - American Speaker. |
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Dime Speaker Series No. 2 - National Speaker. |
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Dime Speaker Series No. 3 - Patriotic Speaker. |
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Dime Speaker Series No. 4 - Comic Speaker. |
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Dime Speaker No. 5 - Elocutionist, published 1865. |
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Dime Dialogues No. 7, published circa. 1880. Note that this book is markedly different in construction than the earlier books. The paper inside is wood fiber, and therefore is not in as good condition as the earlier books. Also, this book is put together with staples. Note the two iron staples along the side of the book. |
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| Other Small Books of the Civil War Era | |
| Beadle's was not the only publisher of books of the period. Shown below are some examples of other books of the period. | |
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Another chess instruction book, published in 1859. |
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Old Farmers Almanac, 1861. |
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Gentleman's Letter Writer, publication date unknown. |
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Dime Novel - The Hunters, or Life on the Mountain and Prairie, published by Irwin Beadle when he briefly partnered with George Munro in 1863. See our Reproduction. |
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Dime Novel - Turkey Foot, or the Chief's Revenge, published in 1866 by George Munro (after Irwin dissolved the partnership in 1863). |
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The Story of Joseph, a children's book, published around 1848. These tiny books were called "Toy Books". |
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Infant Hymns, another children's toy book, published around 1848. |
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The Vacation, or The Four Cousins, another children's toy book, published around 1848. |
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Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to travel and see many collections in many places. These documents have come from:
Some folks who have helped me locate documents and have lent kind assistance to this gathering of information include:
| Back to Galleries |
