John C. Riker (d. c. 1859) (binder and seller)
Alphonse Brett, Philadelphia (lithograph printer)
Atlantic Cable Charm Album
Eugene Ely, New York: 1858
Atlantic Cable Specimen, Embossed black cloth covers, gilt decoration
8 x 6.5 inches
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.
Atlantic Cable Charm Album
Autograph Album with Cable Specimen, 1858
Autograph Album with Cable Specimen, 1858
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Rare autograph album with fine binding, featuring a small cross-section specimen of the Atlantic Cable inset in the center of the front cover, surrounded by a gilt lettered title in circular gilt cable decoration. The album contains various botanical bouquet color lithographs and autograph pages. Many pages contain typical sentimental manuscript autograph album poems and dedications of the period written by friends and relatives of the owner of the book, named Mary, from Saratoga Springs, New York.
A rectangular label securing the cable, on the inside of the front cover, specifies: "Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1858, by Eugene Ely, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-York. This Specimen of the Atlantic Cable guaranteed to be genuine by the Publisher. Eugene Ely, (Harper's Building,) 335 Pearl Street, N.Y."
Autograph albums with decorative covers and illustrated interiors were popular from the 1820s through the 1860s. They typically had an illustrated title page and other illustrations interspersed with blank pages upon which people kept autographs, drawings and notes. Some, like this one, also had fine hand bindings, often with embossed cloth covers and gilt decoration.
John C. Riker, the creator of this binding, was a New York publisher, bookbinder and bookseller active in New York from 1827 to 1859, and one of the more prolific 19th-century album producers. At the time the Atlantic Cable Charm Album was produced, late in his career, his business was located at 315 Broadway.
The American Antiquarian Society has another copy of the album in their collection. Indeed, Riker's imprint may be found in almost half of the albums in the American Antiquarian Society's collection. Albums were popular Christmas and New Year's gifts. Similarities among the papers, illustrations and bindings among some of Riker's albums have been noted, but all were handmade and no two are exactly identical. Some were obviously unique, custom-made items, others were probably made to order, and he may have kept some on hand for immediate sale. It has been conjectured that albums were a convenient way for publishers to use up colored papers and illustrated plates left over from other jobs.
Alphonse Brett was a lithographer in Philadelphia from 1848-1959, and in New York City in 1860.
References:
"About the Collection: Albums." American Antiquarian Society. 18 January 2002. http://www.americanantiquarian.org/albums.htm (5 June 2003).
"John C. Riker: Publisher of the Atlantic Cable Album." FTL Design. 10 January 2002. http://www.atlantic-cable.com/Album/riker.htm (5 June 2003).
"Recent Acquisitions: New to the Album Collection." American Antiquarian Society. 6 February 2001. http://www.atlantic-cable.com/Album/AAS/acquisitions.htm (5 June 2003).
Young, William, Ed. A Dictionary of American Artists, Sculptors and Engravers. Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Young and Co., 1968. p.64.