Page 10 - Martin Downs Bulletin - May '21

Page 10, Martin Downs

Book Review

Souvenir Nation: Relics, Queen Elizabeth II’s handwritten note to President Eisenhower collection in photos

Keepsakes, And Curios From containing her recipe for drop scones; thoughts about love from and full explanatory
John Steinbeck to his son; a job application from Leonardo
texts in a double
The Smithsonian’s National da Vinci; a design brief from Mick Jagger to Andy Warhol spread for each.
The fact that
for an album cover; a 12-year-old Fidel Castro’s note to
Museum Of American History U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ... and so many more, these examples
almost every one of these reproduced visually in the original range so widely,
By Nils A. Shapiro handwriting – a truly handsome, sumptuously designed from the interesting
volume with a ribbon place marker. I discovered both this and to the bizarre, is what
My tip to book lovers: Wise Trees while shopping at different times with my wife, makes this book so
Never stop looking! Linda, in furniture stores (!), both books literally placed on much fun – and the
coffee tables for purposes of adding elegance to the display discussions it inspires
Regular readers of this settings. Intrigued by the subject matter, I convinced the so stimulating!
monthly column know by owners to let me purchase them at the cover prices, which in Here are just a few
now, this being my 186th the case of Letters of Note was $40. examples of the too-
such review, that I have At the other extreme was another book, Spoiled many-to-list-here, all of which are on display in the
a great love for books on Brats, a collection of short stories which I purchased at Smithsonian’s collection:
a wide range of subjects, a neighborhood Dollar Tree, and which turned out to be - The table-top desk on which Thomas Jefferson wrote
and that I take advantage one of the most hilarious reads ever – for just one dollar! the Declaration of Independence;
of every opportunity to add to the rather large collection in I confess I had never until then heard of its author, Simon - Towel used as a flag of truce. Half of the dish towel
my home office library. It is possible that I may never get Rich – widely considered to be one of America’s greatest that a Confederate horseman carried from General Robert E.
to read all of the volumes already on those shelves, but that humorists – but recommended it highly in this column and Lee to Union General Philip H. Sheridan asking him to halt
doesn’t stop me from fitting in more when I find new ones have since purchased one of his more recent books, Hits his advance so that Lee could surrender his troops to end the
that tempt me. and Misses, at full price, loved it just as much, and recently Civil War. He had no other flag.
Sometimes I come across such books in the most unexpected reviewed it here. - Napoleon’s napkin, embroidered with his initials,
places. Several have earned past reviews in this column, among Which brings me to this month’s title, and the point I want which he gave to wealthy American William Bayard, who
them two stunningly beautiful, lavish, oversized, photo-and- to make about why it pays to look for interesting books at was visiting him on the day Napoleon left exile on the island
text volumes that are referred to in the trade as coffee table every opportunity. of Elba on Feb. 26, 1815.
books because they are often displayed in homes to impress Once again, Souvenir Nation was one of those remarkable - Hair of persons of distinction and hair of the
guests as examples of one’s “aesthetic” taste. “finds” just staring me in the face as I walked the aisles of presidents. Several dozen locks of hair clipped from
One of these was Wise Trees, a world tour of more than a neighborhood Dollar Tree store browsing for toothpaste, presidents George Washington to Franklin Pierce, and from
50 trees that have historic importance, including the Magna shampoo, light bulbs and other odds and ends. A visually such distinguished Americans as Professor Samuel F.B.
Carta Yew near Windsor, England (between 2,000 and interesting design and the name – Smithsonian National Morse, Sculptor Clark Mills, Generals Winfield Scott and
2,500 years old) under whose branches in 1215 King John Museum of American History – on the cover was sufficient Sam Houston, Senators Henry Clay and Jefferson Davis,
signed the Magna Carta; and the Flower of Kent Apple in to attract my attention, and when I flipped through the pages and others.
Lincolnshire, England, which still grows in the orchard of and realized the nature of the contents I was hooked. This - Laura Keene’s bloodstained cuff, worn at Ford’s
the descendants of Sir Isaac Newton, and from which fell the much fun for $1? Theater. Laura Keene was an actress waiting in the wings,
apple that inspired in him the theory of universal gravity. But it wasn’t until several weeks later, when I took the ready to come onstage when John Wilkes Booth brushed past her
The other book was Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection time to actually look through the book and appreciate its after shooting President Lincoln and jumping from the balcony.
of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience. Arranged uniqueness (and its value at this 176-page hardcover’s Hearing that the president needed water, she ran to fill a glass
as what its compiler describes as “a museum of letters,” this original price of $24.95), that I decided to bring it to the and brought it to him, holding his head in her lap and getting
collection includes 125 private and often intimate writings: attention of this column’s readers. For this is a certain her dress bloodied in the process. Her cuff is in the collection.
“conversation starter,” a book you - Cake pieces from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Birthday
will want to share with friends at Ball. On Jan. 30, 1934, 6,000 birthday balls were held in
every get-together – one that offers 3,600 communities throughout the U.S. to celebrate the
the same kind of Ripley’s Believe-it- president’s birthday as part of a fundraising campaign for
or-Not appeal which for decades has charities. In Washington, D.C., Will Rogers hosted the main
fascinated millions. event. Eleanor Roosevelt cut the large, multicolored birthday
The author, William L. Bird, cake. Two boxes of the cake were taken home by the parents
Jr. is a historian and curator at the of Tillie N. Oberheim, who donated them to the museum,
National Museum of American where they are today on display in their original boxes.
History, Smithsonian Institution. - Photograph, Dewey-Truman necktie poll, Harvey’s
After a fascinating, comprehensive department store. We are all familiar with the photo of Harry
opening section about the history and S. Truman grinning broadly as he held up the newspaper with
background leading to the establishment the headline prematurely – and inaccurately – announcing
in 1850 of the extraordinary Dewey’s victory over him in the presidential election. The
organization we know today as “the Smithsonian collection includes another photograph, this one
Smithsonian” – which incredibly began of a Nashville, Tennessee clothing store window that showed
in the home of one man who decided the results of its own kind of election poll: Dewey neckties
to collect what he felt were important had sold out, while Truman ties were still available for half-
souvenirs of American life – the author price! It seems that Thomas E. Dewey won everyplace but
With nothing else available, half of a common dish towel was carried by a Confederate presents more than 50 of the most where it counted!
horseman as a flag of truce from General Robert E. Lee to Union General Philip H. astonishing historical relics, curios Whether for knowledge, reference, excitement or fun,
Sheridan, so that Lee could surrender to end the Civil War. and keepsakes from the museum’s vast look for books everywhere you go.

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