Excelsior Diary: Columbian Edition, 1893 [personal day planner]
Hardcover
1892 · [Chicago?]
[Chicago?], 1892. Hardcover. G+ (Moderate wear to spine & edges of cover; interior surfaces pristine once you pass the flyleaves; with some handwritten entries.). Brown flexible leather, gilt edges all around, 200+ pp., 24 BW illus. pp. A mostly blank pocket-sized day planner, evidently printed in honor of Chicago's World Columbian Exposition in 1893. Has the number "163" printed on the front flyleaf. The first section of 24 pages are printed with an 1893 calendar, monthly almanacs, basic U.S. facts, and summaries of the Exposition exhibits. Each of the pages in this section has an engraved border and carries an engraved illustration at the top: of U.S. sites or events, or of Exposition buildings. The remainder of the book is comprised of lined blank sheets for writing daily diary entries, addresses, memoranda, or personal accounts. The user of this book was literate and had a quirky bent to humorous stories and philosophy, but he/she was not an avid recorder. Only 19 pages include handwritten entries on them. Places mentioned in Pennsylvania: Oil City, Franklin, Emlenton, Foxburg, Pittsburgh. In West Virginia: Tyler County, Littleton, Mannington, Wheeling, Monongalia County, Bladesville. Also: Chicago; Washington D.C.; Jamestown, N.Y. ; Detroit; Wyandotte, Mich.; and in Europe, Antwerp, Bremen, and Brussels. People mentioned include: Jessie Ridgeway, Peter Dowd, George Shiras, John Logue, George Knox Jr., then-PA-Gov. [Robert] Pattison, Gen. Wiley of the 16th Regiment PA State Guard, Dr. A. W. Crawford, Frank Dale, D. S. Keffer, Mr. Mead (editor), S. Grover, Capt. J. B. Ford, NY-Gov. Reuben E. Fenton, Dennis Fox, and Denny Tearault. (Inventory #: 141610)