Title
1897 Catalogue of Novels, Song and Hand Books, Serial Publications, Books and Libraries
Coverage
Baltimore
Publisher
I. & M. Ottenheimer
Date
1897
Description
Isaac and Moses Ottenheimer were just 19 and 14 years old when they went into business as book jobbers and publishers in 1890—surely the youngest pirateers represented on my shelves. Parlaying a love of jokes picked up from vaudeville shows (they were kids, after all) into a vast list of joke books made their business a huge success. The firm’s motto in this 32-page stapled catalogue for the trade was “good and cheap.” The latter claim was certainly true; its discounts were as high as 86 percent. The lowest price to the trade in this catalogue is 3½¢ per copy for books originally priced at 25¢. Among the titles is The Sign of the Four.
Format
In original printed wrappers