#bobbs merrill company

[uwmspeccoll]

Milestone Monday

July 1, 1881, marks the world’s first international telephone call made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada and Calais, Maine, United States. Residents on either end of the Ferry Point International Bridge were able to call each other thanks to recent Bell Telephone lines putting them on the crest of quickly growing telephone communications.  

In honor of the day, we’re sharing the children's book Telephone originally written by Kornei Chukovsky (1882-1969) in Russian, translated and adapted by Marguerita Rudolph, and illustrated by Susan Perl (d. 1983). Chukovsky is Russia’s most popular children’s poet, with his witty rhythms and rhymes he has often been compared to Dr. Seuss. This is apparent in Telephone as he tells the tale of mischievous animals incessantly calling the author on the phone begging for snacks, galoshes, medicine, and a helping hand. The story is buoyed by Perl’s pen and ink line drawings of moonfaced children and anthropomorphized animals.  

Special Collections holds the first American printing of Telephone published in 1971 by The Bobbs-Merrill Company of Indianapolis. The book features both Russian and English text on alternating pages. Telephone is another book from our extensive Historical Curriculum Collection that can be explored online here.

Read other Milestone Monday posts here 

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[garadinervi]

Black Nationalism in America, Edited by John H. Bracey, Jr., August Meier and Elliott Rudwick, «The American Heritage», The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, IN and New York, NY, 1970. Cover design by Andrew Kner

[fitsofgloom]

Would You Paint A Pumpkin Smile On My Face, And Call Me A Happy Disgrace?: I still love this Halloween special with its unclaimed Jack-o'-Lantern weeping forlorn tear-seeds atop the hill overlooking town, the kindly trio of rag dolls taking it upon themselves to deliver him from his plight and into the hands of an equally-despondent boy. This arrived two years after the dolls' wonderfully trippy musical feature film, debuting in prime time on Halloween night of 1979 and airing regularly thereafter into the early '90s, the special and the film having since descended into the video vortex, The Raggedies becoming more akin to collectible antiques than popular toys.

[lepetitdragonvert]

The Surprising Adventures of the Magical Monarch of Mo by L. Frank Baum

The Bobbs-Merrill Company

Indianapolis

1913

Artist : Frank Verbeck

[balladofsallyrose]

Dennis Hopper's collection of owned and gifted books (a few are listed under the cut)

Islands in the Stream (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970)

Magic (Delacorte Press, 1976)

Sneaky People (Simon and Schuster, 1975)

Strange Peaches (Harper's Magazine Press, 1972)

I Didn't Know I Would Live So Long (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973)

Baby Breakdown (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1970)

37 (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970)

Presences: A Text for Marisol (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970)

Little Prayers for Little Lips, The Book of Tao, The Bhagavadgita or The Song Divine, and Gems and Their Occult Power.

Lolita (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1955)

The Dramas of Kansas (John F. Higgins, 1915)

Joy of Cooking (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1974) 

The Neurotic: His Inner and Outer Worlds (First edition, Citadel Press, 1954)

Out of My Mind: An Autobiography (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1997)

The Savage Mind (University of Chicago Press, 1966)

Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors (J.B. Lippincott Company, 1974)

The Documents of 20th Century Art: Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp (Viking Press, 1971)

The Portable Dorothy Parker, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, I Ching, and How to Make Love to a Man.

John Steinbeck's East of Eden (Bantam, 1962)

James Dean: The Mutant King (Straight Arrow Books, 1974) by David Dalton

The Moviegoer (The Noonday Press, 1971)

 Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness (City Light Books, 1974)

Narcotics Nature's Dangerous Gifts (A Delta Book, 1973)

The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Dover Publications, 1967)

Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines (Oxford University Press, 1969)

Junky (Penguin Books, 1977) by William S. Burroughs

Weed: Adventures of a Dope Smuggler (Harper & Row, 1974)

Alcoholics Anonymous (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1976)

Skrebneski Portraits - A Matter of Record, Sketchbooks of Paolo Soleri, and High Tide.

Raw Notes (The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 2005)

Le Corbusier (Heidi Weber, 1965)

Henry Moore in America (Praeger Publishers, 1973)

Claes Oldenburg (MIT Press, 2012)

Notebooks 1959 1971 (MIT Press, 1972)

A Day in the Country (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1985)

Album Celine (Gallimard, 1977)

A Selection of Fifity Works From the Collection of Robert C. Scull (Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc. 1973)

Collage A Complete Guide for Artists (Watsun-Guptill Publications, 1970)

The Fifties Aspects of Painting in New York (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1980)

A Bottle of Notes and Some Voyages (Rizzoli International Publications, 1988)

All Color Book of Art Nouveau (Octopus Books, 1974)

A Colorslide Tour of The Louvre Paris (Panorama, 1960)

Dear Dead Days (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1959)

Woman (Aidan Ellis Publishing Limited, 1972)

The Arts and Man ( UNESCO, 1969)

Murals From the Han to the Tang (Foreign Languages Press, 1974)

A (Grove Press Inc., 1968)

Andy Warhol's Index Book (Random House, 1967)

Voices (A Big Table Book, 1969)

Another Country (A Dell Book, circa 1960s)

On The Road (Signet, circa 1980s) 

[weirdlookindog]

Gaston Leroux - The Phantom of the Opera (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1911).

Illustrated by Andre Castaigne.

[undergroundbillions]

Goodmorning everyone! Have I got a treat for you today:

Some Raggedy Ann licensing material! Post 1/2 (second half here) Source: ebay

Fig 1: Character Merchandise Directory & Letter from The Bobbs-Merrill Company Inc.  - Director of Character Licensing

Fig 2: Raggedy Ann & Andy a Musical Adventure lineart & Call Us promotional flyer

Fig 3: Raggedy Arthur & Raggedy Ann Black & White Licensing Slicks

Fig 4: Raggedy Ann & Andy Color Licensing Slicks

[what-raggedy-is-this]

Do you know what these dolls are?

They are most likely from the 70's, possibly early 80's, and likely unofficial.

At that time, the Raggedy Ann brand was experimenting with similar chibi ribbon-haired designs for the characters. The new style however was very easy for people to copy, so it's hard to tell licensed stuff from the unlicensed.

Look for any branding information, they would have "Bobbs-Merrill" printed on them if they're licensed. If not, they're most likely made by a different company, "knock-offs" seems a bit harsh but something along that line :,)

-🧸

[rhianna]

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70287

Bodley, R. V. C. (Ronald Victor Courtenay), 1892-1970

Photographer

Sampson, Julian

Title             Algeria from within

Original Publication   United States: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1927.

Credits   Galo Flordelis (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive and the HathiTrust Digital Library)

Language   English

Category   Text

EBook-No.70287

Release Date   Mar 14, 2023

Copyright Status    Public domain in the USA.

[twintailedsiren]

Picture this: it’s 2009, and you’re googling combos of “twin tailed mermaid,” “two tailed siren,” because you need to know where Starbucks got that twin-tailed mermaid from. You stumble across the phrase “twin tailed merman” in two different books, both connected to Ojibwa mythology in North America. A lead, maybe? An interesting story about twin tailed mermaid, that maybe gives a story for the Haida’s Tchimose?

Nope, it was nothing interesting. Seriously. Here’s a rabbit hole of research that I didn’t need to do.

In two different books, written in the 1940s and 50s, I found a reference for “twin tailed merman” on books.google.com. That’s the screenshot you see. Here’s the full quotes:

Nute, Grace Lee. (1944). Lake Superior. Indianapolis, New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company.

Chapter 15, Nanabazhoo and His Followers, page 332:

“Another powerful being was the Evil Spirit, Matchi Manito, who took the form of a great fish or two-tailed merman, the Great Lynx or something evil living in the lake.”

Gillard, Kathleen Isabel. (1955). Our Michigan Heritage. New York: Pageant Press, Inc.

Chapter 1, The Indian in Michigan History, page 33:

“He (Kitche Manito or Gitchie Manito) was not so powerful as Matchi Manito, the Evil Spirit, who took the form of a two-tailed merman and dwelt below the water.”

Where did they get their sources? Who knows, maybe they were copying each other. Because I lived in Michigan, I went to the library, dutifully looked these books up, photocopies the references, and looked for footnotes or other sources that explained where this story came from. The books had nothing.

So, I went back to the internet, and found a reference to a being with a similar name in Longfellow’s “Song of Hiawatha,” an epic written in 1855. While Longfellow wanted to honor Native Americans, the work is also criticised for Americanizing Ojibwa culture and perpetuating Native stereotypes.

The Song Of Hiawatha by Henry W. Longfellow:

Mitche Manito the Mighty,

He the dreadful Spirit of Evil,

As a serpent was depicted,

As Kenabeek, the great serpent.

Very crafty, very cunning,

Is the creeping Spirit of Evil,

Was the meaning of this symbol.

This gives a different spelling — Mitche Manito and not Matchi Manito (or the variations Kitche Manito and Gitchie Manito). It also says Mitche Manito is a serpent, not a merman, twin-tailed or otherwise.

My next step was to a book written by a Christopher Vecsey, who specialises in Native American studies. In Traditional Ojibwa Religion and its Historical Changes, I found a reference to an “Underwater Manito:”

Page 74

“The Underwater Manito was not a single manito but rather a composite. It consisted of two main beings, the underwater lion and the horned serpent... The Underwater Mantito possessed great and dangerous powers... It was not totally evil, however.”

Page 82

“Christian influence is even more apparent in modern Ojibwa belief in an evil manito called Matchi Manito. Twentieth-century Protestant as well as seventeenth-century Catholic missionaries have taught the Ojibwas about the Christian Devil (Kellogg 1925: 106-107), sometimes associating it with the Underwater Manito, sometimes with the Windigo.”

Still a water being, but definitely not a twin-tailed merman. Which meant this research was turning into a wild goose chase, as I desperately tried to verify that twin-tailed Ojibwe mermen were a real thing.

Before I threw in the towel on this, I decided to look up what an actual Ojibwe person had written about this. Which led me to Basil Johnston, an Ojibwe writer and storyteller. In his 1995 book titled The Manitous : The Spiritual World of the Ojibway, he had a reference that almost matched, but not quite:

page xxi. “The Matchi-auwishuk, the Evil Ones... These were man-hunting manitous that preyed upon evil-doing humans as well as those who gave in to excess. The threat of the Weendigoes and Matchi-auwish was usually enough to bring about compliance with the perceived laws and customs.”

At this point, I figured that Longfellow and the other white authors didn’t have the most accurate info. Looking back at the references I had, it looks like a lot of authors were conflating ideas from different tribes and not working with actual Native myths to begin with. I abandoned trying to figure out where the reference to a “twin tailed merman” crept into Ojibwe folklore, and instead read several of Johnston’s books. From those, I learned the word for “mermaid” is roughly “nebaunaube” in Ojibwe.

If you’re looking for Ojibwe merfolk (nebaunaube) stories, I recommend checking out Chapter 9: Nebaunaubaewuk and Nebaunaubaequawuk in Johnston’s 1976 Ojibway Heritage.

References

Match manito as a twin tailed merman, Chapter 15, page 332: Nute, Grace Lee. Lake Superior. Edited by Milo M. Quaife, The American Lakes Series. Indianapolis, New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1944.

See also, Chapter 1, page 33: Gillard, Kahleen Isabel. Our Michigan Heritage. New York: Pageant Press, Inc., 1955.

Matchi-auwish definition, page 51: Johnston, Basil. "Anishinaubau Thesaurus." East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2007.

See also, Pages xx-xxi: Johnston, Basil. The Manitous: The Spiritual World of the Ojibway. New York: Harper Collins, 1995.

For another depiction of matchi manito/underwater manito, pages 74 and 82: Vecsey, Christopher. Traditional Ojibwa Religion and Its Historical Changes. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1983.

For discussion of manitos in general, see pages 22-31: Landes, Ruth. Ojibwa Religion and the Midéwiwin. First ed. Milwaukee: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1968.

For the preferred spelling of manidoo, see the Ojibwe People’s Dictionary: https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/

pages 133-149, Chapter 9: Nebaunaubaewuk and Nebaunaubaequawuk, in: Johnston, Basil. The Manitous: The Spiritual World of the Ojibway. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. 

Johnston, Basil. Ojibway Heritage. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976.

---. The Bear-Walker and Other Stories. Royal Ontario Museum. 

---. Honour Earth Mother. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

[nana-clodo]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Learn Quick And Easy Speedwriting with These Books 3 books. Approx 5 lbs.

[christospiperis]

THE BLIGHT OF ASIA(Η Μάστιγα τής Ασίας)

An Account of the Systematic Extermination of Christian Populations by Mohammedans and of the Culpability of Certain Great Powers; with the True Story of the Burning of Smyrna For Thirty Years Consul and Consul-General of the By GEORGE HORTON United States in the Near East PUBLISHERS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY, INDIANAPOLIS With a Foreword by JAMES W. GERARD-Former Ambassador to…

[karenlacorte]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Last Of The Bad Men The Legend Of Tom Horn.

[redcurlzs]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Vintage 80s Joy of Cooking Circa 1983 Over 900 Pages of Recipes and Menu Ideas.

[mctyndall-blog]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: The Joy of Cooking by Rombauer & Becker, 22nd Printing, April 1981.

[undergroundbillions]

I SEEN YOUR POST,,, AND I CAME!! i have a couple of questions abt some history with merchandise and whatever (unless you guys made a post abt the hallmark raggedies alread) ! :)

1. So do you guys have any history or insight of the Hallmark raggedies? If so id like to hear, im a big fan of the hallmark branch of the raggedies!!!

2. Do you guys have any fun hcs? If so what are they!

My example of one is: i hc Ann making dresses and skirts for her friends!! Or even Henny hating bugs but he collects them for his bug collection lol

3. Why do you guys even care about Rag Dolly in the first place? What made you guys want to find it AND want to revive it? Was it a personal project or better yet a fan project put up together by fans (aka the mods aka aka you guys, i think unless im wrong lol)

You guys are cool and im excited to hear any other updates on the revival of Rag Dolly, yall are so cool and talented,, can't wait to see what you guys do in the future!!! Keep it up guyss!

Ok! Here we go!

We don't know much specifically about Hallmark. At that point, Bobbs-Merrill was in charge of the licensing of Raggedy Ann images and books, while the family was still in charge of the dolls. Hallmark licensing began in 1969 and continued throughout the 70's. They published the cardbooks, which came with tiny dolls (which for licensing purposes don't actually count as dolls, but rather as other toys). And the pop-up-book records, stationary, and lots of random little things. Big company buys lucrative licensing and puts it on everything for a few years, that's the story!

Oh man when I ask for hc questions I mostly mean ones *about* headcanons, I'm bad at open ended questions like that lol. But here's a few I've been thinking about recently: I think Marcella has regular fainting spells when she gets exhausted. This doesn't really transfer to the dream but it happens in real life. Ann and Andy's seams and faces are all wobbly because Poppa's too often drunk to sew straight lines. This isn't a hc because technically it's canon to Gibson's writing but Poppa made Marcella a little toy boat from wood scraps and that's where the inspiration for the boat in her dreams comes from.

What got most of us interested in the musical was the video by CollinLooksBack going over what little was known about the show at that time (2019). At that point, we knew about the movie already. If you want to know more about the little details of the time before RARE specifically was founded, I've written up a timeline on our website! (And I plan on expanding it) Idk what the difference is between a personal project and a fan project in this case? We thought the show was interesting, and liked the music, so we decided to start looking for it! The organizers are all theater people, the majority of us went to school for theater and plan on working in it. We knew we had the background and resources to make an actual revival happen. Specifically the founder, Gwyn, who has certain legal and industry connections that are making things go a lot smoother. But really, we never thought we'd get this far, we weren't thinking this deeply about it. It was 2021, we all needed something to do and people to talk to. None of the organizers knew each other, though a few early members were mutuals from the 1977 movie and other fandoms. It just slowly got more serious and we continue to take it more and more seriously the farther we get. Most importantly, all of the main founders have deep personal connections to the story. We have all suffered illness and loss of loved ones. I mean I literally discovered the show like two months after my mom died I don't think you can get much more fated than that. We like the show, it means something to us, and we think it deserves a second chance in it's actual intended form and not as a huge broadway spectacle. It's literally still popular in Russia, why shouldn't it be popular here?

-𝕸𝖔𝖉 𝕲𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖗𝖆𝖑 𝕯.