Interesting find in a new book

[Mick_VT]

this weekend on impulse I bought a very nice 1882 book "Our Homes And Their Adornments" by Almon C Varnewy at a local antiques place. It's a general household manual and covers all things from architecture through furnishings and everyday recipes for medicines, gardening tips etc.

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Perhaps even more interesting is what fell out of it. There was a single page from another book - it appears to be one of the frontispieces - an engraving of President Garfield, who was of course assassinated a year before this book came out. The engraving has his signature - which almost looks like it might be a real signature and not just a printing thereof, that might explain why it was pulled out and kept I suppose.

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[Vala]

Wow that's a really neat find and super cool! Now it makes me want to find this book too.

[Lily left the valley]

That is really neat! Nice find, especially the surprise inside. Better than a Cracker Jack Box.

[Gothichome]

Mick, what a great book. Nice Aesthetic movement binding and in great shape. You do know that mixing your own drugs is illegal now.
As far as the image, it looks to be a steel plate stipple print, you can see the indentation on the paper. With a good magnifying glass or loop you should be able to tell if it’s a printed autograph. To my eye it does look to be signed in lead pencil. Don’t test it with an eraser
If all is correct, it just might pay for your next home project.

[Manalto]

Mick, congratulations on your find, and the surprise inside. The book was good enough to merit a reprint; it's listed on Amazon.

Let us know what you think of its contents and if you find something (else) that's noteworthy!

[phil]

you might try some google searches for other lithographs by JP Rice in Philadelphia.. It's an interesting find. I guess it can pay to flip through old books and let stuff fall out. I bet some of those old librarians and book binders have found all sorts of things that way. Nice find Mick!

[Manalto]

In the late 1950s I put a $10 bill in our family encyclopedia (now long gone) at the entry for Alexander Hamilton. I wonder from time to time if anyone ever found it.

[nhguy]

Nice find. I'm sure there's a way to test to see if it's an authentic signature.
I bought a bible from 1815 30 years ago, it was filled with flowers and leaves someone was trying press.
It also had dozens of cut out recipes and poems from various time frames.
10 years ago I decided to look up the names first listed with birth and death dates.
The names all were from a town in RI. I contacted the historical society to see if they would want the book.
I spoke to the president of the Society, strangely, he just happened to be coming to my NH town for a conference the following week. He was thrilled to get the book. A year later they mailed me a dvd of a presentation a member did on the books history.

[1918ColonialRevival]

Period books are the best resources for how to appropriately do things in a restoration. Nice find!

As for the Garfield signature, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's a frontispiece from one of the several memorial biographies that was published in late 1881/early 1882. Salesman's samples were made of a few of them, which is likely where this one was pulled from. Still a neat find, though.

[Mick_VT]

Period books are the best resources for how to appropriately do things in a restoration. Nice find!

As for the Garfield signature, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's a frontispiece from one of the several memorial biographies that was published in late 1881/early 1882. Salesman's samples were made of a few of them, which is likely where this one was pulled from. Still a neat find, though.

I was / am highly doubtful it is anything other than you describe as the signature is too exactly placed and doesn't have some of the tell tale signs that it is writing ink. It's an extremely fine rendition though, it really does look like a real one - but then the engraving is of fine quality too. An internet search came up blank with respect to finding where this engraving was used. The only reference being a newspaper advert that announced that Rice was making an engraving of high quality, and that it would shortly be for sale. The same engraver also did a rendition of Garfield's wife - the library of congress has a copy of that, but not this one it seems