[Collection of Promotional Ephemera for Movie Book Publishers]

Mostly New York, NY; also Oklahoma City, OK and Chicago, IL, 1931. Good. 11½” x 9” string-tied commercial album, faux leather over boards, embossed “Treasures” to front. 48 leaves with 90 items of ephemera adhesive mounted both sides + one 8” x 10” B&W photograph and 18 items of ephemera laid in. Good: front cover detached with moderate loss; covers and leaves with light chipping. Contents generally very good or better, most items folded with light (to occasionally moderate) edge wear and toning; a few items loose from adhesive but present in original locations.

This is a fantastic collection of promotional ephemera, mainly documenting the Jacobsen Publishing Company (JPC) of New York City. It consists of posters, form letters, flyers and pamphlets that promote the company's “movie novels/photoplays” and other books, as well as their noted “Fiction League” book of the month club.

Rudolph Charles Jacobsen may have been born in England and lived in Chicago in the early part of the 20th century. He founded the JPC by 1908, publishing trade journals on hide and leather. A 1914 newspaper article noted that he “started the shoe and leather market fair movement in America” inspired by similar fairs held in London, and “conducted six successful fairs in this country, four in Chicago and two in Boston.” Another account lauded Jacobsen as “a man of recognized ability” both as a publisher and an “expert . . . trade exposition promoter and manager.” By the mid 1920s, JPC was headquartered in New York City. Also known as the Jacobsen-Hodgkinson Corporation, the business published dozens of “photoplays,” movie tie-in books of the silent film and early sound era. These were typically reprints of novels illustrated with scenes from the production of the film. The latest item found here was from 1931; JPC seems to have gone out of business around that time.

This album consists predominantly of promotional ephemera for JPC, whose offerings included “Popular Reprint Novels,” “Popular Play and Screen Novels,” “Screen Hit Novels” and “Movie Star Portraits.” Earlier advertising also promoted a “Horoscope – Dream Book,” “Magic Book,” dictionaries and the complete works of Shakespeare. Beautiful brochures, direct mail form letters, posters and handbills were marketed towards wholesale distributors such as cigar, dime and drug stores, promising “Quick Sales at your Counters” and “Quick Profits for YOU,” with testimonials of happy dealers, book cover illustrations, portraits of film stars and cartoons of customers lined up to buy the books. In 1930 JPC started their Fiction League (FL) program, documented in several of the items here, and immediately made waves. One pamphlet, featuring a giant portrait of the author, shared: “When Tiffany Thayer, author of Thirteen Men, wrote The Illustrious Corpse, he didn't realize he had started The Greatest Literary Battle of the Year!”:

“A Scoop for the Fiction League: Our alert editors rescued this novel from the deadly indifference and delay of one of the biggest publishing houses in the land. Both the Appelate [sic] Division and the Supreme Court upheld the right of an author to have his book published when and how he chose. This is only the first blow in our campaign to furnish readers with gripping new fiction by the foremost writers of our country, at prices never before met in publishing history. A $2.00 book every month for only 50c.”

Another pamphlet promoted FL's release of The Death Kiss by Madelon St. Dennis. With a stunning image of the vibrantly illustrated cover, it extolled the “bizarre, living, vibrating, almost fantastic mystery involving a chain of beautiful gay adventuresses, and a group of the worst criminals in Gotham.” The story went on to be filmed in 1932, marking Edwin L. Marin's debut as director, and starring three actors from the 1931 Dracula, including Bela Lugosi. Both pamphlets also described the FL program in detail, complete with a list of titles and blank order form.

The scrapbook also contains advertising for similar movie books and novel reprints by a handful of other New York companies as well as publishers in Chicago and Oklahoma City. A laid-in 8” x 10” photograph reveals a 1926 store window display in Oklahoma City; notes on its verso describe its “lobby portraits of MGM stars.” There were three newspaper clippings with reviews of FL publications, as well as an ad for JPC's “Red Ribbon Novels” clipped from the American News Trade Journal.

Several JPC publications were found in auction histories, in OCLC and currently in the trade, but we found no evidence of promotional materials anywhere. A stunning collection documenting movie book marketing during the silent era and a rich resource for publishing history. A detailed inventory is available.