Page 40 - Journal of Antiques and Collectibles Januray 2020
P. 40
And Even More Words! Words!! Words!!!
W hile these book related entries are based on Robert Hendrickson’s Mother Goose was almost certainly not a real person, the tales are classic
Perrault is credited with virtually inventing the fairy tale, and while his
The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins,
Checkmark Books; I have rewritten and enlarged some of them. ones like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood. His fairy
tales were not intended to entertain, but to keep children out of danger.
Italic type was invented about 1500 by the Italian printer Aldus
Italic type: Little Red Riding Hood was written as a warning about men (i.e. wolves)
Manutius and it is assumed that the slanting type was modeled after cursive preying on young women walking alone through the forest and ends with
style handwriting. It was the first type that was not upright and the name a warning not to trust the tame wolves as they are the most dangerous of all.
“Italics” means Italian or italic. Italic type is used now to emphasize words This is obviously not in the Disney version.
or for titles and foreign words. Except in the
King James Bible, where words were printed in Jabberwocky: Lewis Carrol’s famous nonsense
italic to show the words that didn’t exist in the poem published in Through the Looking Glass, the
original text but were added later to make the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, is loaded with
meaning clearer. nonsense words that he invented. In fact, the
seven stanza poem has 29 nonce words in it, not
Make My Day: We remember “make my day” counting 11 which are repeated. At least four
from the movie Sudden Impact when Clint have made it into dictionaries. “Jabberwocky”
Eastwood’s character Dirty Harry used it. But itself means nonsense, “Bandersnatch” an imagi-
the phrase has its origins in the 1909 novel The nary fierce animal or person that is a nuisance,
Rosary by Florence Barclay – “I knew I wanted “galumph” (combining gallop and triumphant)
her, knew her presence made my day …” means to move clumsily, and “chortle” (joining
Grolier Binding: A Grolier binding refers to any chuckle and snort) means to utter with glee.
book that has been bound in an elaborate and Other words “frabjous,” “fumious,” and “slithy”
ornate gold tooled leather binding. Jean Grolier haven’t achieved dictionary-hood yet. Strangely
(1479-1565) was a rich and well known biblio- enough you can get the sense of what they all
phile (i.e. someone who loves books, who had mean, even if you can’t look them up.
one of the finest libraries in France, and had all the books in his library beau - Nabokov’s Pug: The Russian-born novelist Vladimir Nabokov (1899-
tifully bound in ornate gilt tooled leather and stamped “Io. Growlier et 1977) is best known for his novel Lolita. You might assume that Nabokov’s
Amicorum” for Grolier and Friends.) His library was broken up and sold in “Pug” was his dog, but actually it is one of his butterfly discoveries as most
the 1600s and the books are now prized collector items. The Grolier Club people don’t realize that Nabokov was an accomplished lepidopterist who
was founded in New York in 1884 “for the study and promotion of the arts discovered eight new butterflies named for him, “Pug” being one of them.
pertaining to the production of books.” It is a private club and is the oldest On another note: Ian Fleming was a Naval Intelligence officer in WWII.
bibliographic club in North America. It still exists and often has exhibitions But while this inspired him to write the famous James Bond novels which
of book art and prints catalogs. inspired the movies, the name James Bond came from an American friend
Ledger: In medieval days in ol’ England, churches had heavy prayer books of his who was an ornithologist. While the real James Bond was an expert
that lay in one place because they were too big to carry around. The Old on birds of the Caribbean, the fictional James Bond was an expert on birds
English for “to lie” was liggen. By the 16th century, the word was applied of a different sort (birds being English slang for beautiful women). So, let us
to any large record books that were too heavy to carry around and finally never underestimate lepidopterists or ornithologists.
to any blank book used for recording business transactions which were Moon Hoax: Just in time for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Moon
now called ledgers. You can still buy ledger books, but not many people landing is the news that an article in the New York Sun by Richard Adams
use them these days. I must be about the last. Locke in 1835 claimed that British astronomer Sir Richard Herschel, using
Know Like a Book: To know something like a book is said to date from his big new telescope, had seen 15 species of animals on the moon includ-
the days when books were scarce, so if you were lucky enough to have a few ing a race of winged men. Locke’s source was the Edinburgh Journal of
books, like the Bible, you might read them over and over. I can also add Science (which was actually defunct at that time, but who was going to
that to know someone like a book could mean that they were as easy to check?). The story was such a sensation that the New York Suns circulation
read as if their mannerisms, speech, and facial expressions were in print. went from 2,500 copies to 20,000. It also inspired a ladies club to raise
money to send missionaries to the moon. Locke also wrote a book about it
Mother Goose: The famous book of nursery rhymes was first published as which sold over 60,000 copies. Locke admitted the hoax the next year, call-
Mother Goose’s Melodies in Boston in 1719 by Thomas Fleet. It is said the ing it a satire on scientific speculation that had gotten out of hand.
stories came from his mother-in-law Mrs. Elizabeth Goose (1665-1757).
Mrs. Goose acquired 10 stepchildren when she married Isaac Goose, and Ghoti: Do you know how to spell the word fish? According to Bernard
then had six children of her own – she doubtless had much story telling Shaw, it is “ghoti”: “gh” from laugh, “o” from women, and “ti” from
experience putting numbers of children and grandchildren to bed. nation. No one ever said English spelling was logical!
The problem with that is that while Mrs. Elizabeth Goose did exist, she Gibberish: is thought to have come from Geber ibn Hazyan, an
was probably not the original Mother Goose, as Charles Perrault (1628- eighth-century alchemist who wrote in such an unintelligible style that
1703) published a collection of fairy tales in France in 1695 titled Tales and nonsense words were named for him, i.e. to giber or jibber, I suppose.
Stories of the Past with Morals of which the subtitle was Tales of My Mother
Goose. These tales were translated into English and printed in the U.S. in James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe, MD since
1975, when he decided it would be more fun to buy and sell old books and maps than to
1729. But while Mrs. Elizabeth Goose may not have been the first Mother get a “real” job. For this born collector, having a shop just might be another excuse to buy
Goose, she was in fact a real mother Goose who told bed time stories to more books. He has about 30,000 second hand and rare books on the shelves, and just
her many children and grandchildren. about all subjects are represented. Reach him at P.O. Box 154; Trappe, MD 21673; 410-
476-3838; unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; www.unicornbookshop.com
Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
38
W hile these book related entries are based on Robert Hendrickson’s Mother Goose was almost certainly not a real person, the tales are classic
Perrault is credited with virtually inventing the fairy tale, and while his
The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins,
Checkmark Books; I have rewritten and enlarged some of them. ones like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood. His fairy
tales were not intended to entertain, but to keep children out of danger.
Italic type was invented about 1500 by the Italian printer Aldus
Italic type: Little Red Riding Hood was written as a warning about men (i.e. wolves)
Manutius and it is assumed that the slanting type was modeled after cursive preying on young women walking alone through the forest and ends with
style handwriting. It was the first type that was not upright and the name a warning not to trust the tame wolves as they are the most dangerous of all.
“Italics” means Italian or italic. Italic type is used now to emphasize words This is obviously not in the Disney version.
or for titles and foreign words. Except in the
King James Bible, where words were printed in Jabberwocky: Lewis Carrol’s famous nonsense
italic to show the words that didn’t exist in the poem published in Through the Looking Glass, the
original text but were added later to make the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, is loaded with
meaning clearer. nonsense words that he invented. In fact, the
seven stanza poem has 29 nonce words in it, not
Make My Day: We remember “make my day” counting 11 which are repeated. At least four
from the movie Sudden Impact when Clint have made it into dictionaries. “Jabberwocky”
Eastwood’s character Dirty Harry used it. But itself means nonsense, “Bandersnatch” an imagi-
the phrase has its origins in the 1909 novel The nary fierce animal or person that is a nuisance,
Rosary by Florence Barclay – “I knew I wanted “galumph” (combining gallop and triumphant)
her, knew her presence made my day …” means to move clumsily, and “chortle” (joining
Grolier Binding: A Grolier binding refers to any chuckle and snort) means to utter with glee.
book that has been bound in an elaborate and Other words “frabjous,” “fumious,” and “slithy”
ornate gold tooled leather binding. Jean Grolier haven’t achieved dictionary-hood yet. Strangely
(1479-1565) was a rich and well known biblio- enough you can get the sense of what they all
phile (i.e. someone who loves books, who had mean, even if you can’t look them up.
one of the finest libraries in France, and had all the books in his library beau - Nabokov’s Pug: The Russian-born novelist Vladimir Nabokov (1899-
tifully bound in ornate gilt tooled leather and stamped “Io. Growlier et 1977) is best known for his novel Lolita. You might assume that Nabokov’s
Amicorum” for Grolier and Friends.) His library was broken up and sold in “Pug” was his dog, but actually it is one of his butterfly discoveries as most
the 1600s and the books are now prized collector items. The Grolier Club people don’t realize that Nabokov was an accomplished lepidopterist who
was founded in New York in 1884 “for the study and promotion of the arts discovered eight new butterflies named for him, “Pug” being one of them.
pertaining to the production of books.” It is a private club and is the oldest On another note: Ian Fleming was a Naval Intelligence officer in WWII.
bibliographic club in North America. It still exists and often has exhibitions But while this inspired him to write the famous James Bond novels which
of book art and prints catalogs. inspired the movies, the name James Bond came from an American friend
Ledger: In medieval days in ol’ England, churches had heavy prayer books of his who was an ornithologist. While the real James Bond was an expert
that lay in one place because they were too big to carry around. The Old on birds of the Caribbean, the fictional James Bond was an expert on birds
English for “to lie” was liggen. By the 16th century, the word was applied of a different sort (birds being English slang for beautiful women). So, let us
to any large record books that were too heavy to carry around and finally never underestimate lepidopterists or ornithologists.
to any blank book used for recording business transactions which were Moon Hoax: Just in time for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Moon
now called ledgers. You can still buy ledger books, but not many people landing is the news that an article in the New York Sun by Richard Adams
use them these days. I must be about the last. Locke in 1835 claimed that British astronomer Sir Richard Herschel, using
Know Like a Book: To know something like a book is said to date from his big new telescope, had seen 15 species of animals on the moon includ-
the days when books were scarce, so if you were lucky enough to have a few ing a race of winged men. Locke’s source was the Edinburgh Journal of
books, like the Bible, you might read them over and over. I can also add Science (which was actually defunct at that time, but who was going to
that to know someone like a book could mean that they were as easy to check?). The story was such a sensation that the New York Suns circulation
read as if their mannerisms, speech, and facial expressions were in print. went from 2,500 copies to 20,000. It also inspired a ladies club to raise
money to send missionaries to the moon. Locke also wrote a book about it
Mother Goose: The famous book of nursery rhymes was first published as which sold over 60,000 copies. Locke admitted the hoax the next year, call-
Mother Goose’s Melodies in Boston in 1719 by Thomas Fleet. It is said the ing it a satire on scientific speculation that had gotten out of hand.
stories came from his mother-in-law Mrs. Elizabeth Goose (1665-1757).
Mrs. Goose acquired 10 stepchildren when she married Isaac Goose, and Ghoti: Do you know how to spell the word fish? According to Bernard
then had six children of her own – she doubtless had much story telling Shaw, it is “ghoti”: “gh” from laugh, “o” from women, and “ti” from
experience putting numbers of children and grandchildren to bed. nation. No one ever said English spelling was logical!
The problem with that is that while Mrs. Elizabeth Goose did exist, she Gibberish: is thought to have come from Geber ibn Hazyan, an
was probably not the original Mother Goose, as Charles Perrault (1628- eighth-century alchemist who wrote in such an unintelligible style that
1703) published a collection of fairy tales in France in 1695 titled Tales and nonsense words were named for him, i.e. to giber or jibber, I suppose.
Stories of the Past with Morals of which the subtitle was Tales of My Mother
Goose. These tales were translated into English and printed in the U.S. in James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe, MD since
1975, when he decided it would be more fun to buy and sell old books and maps than to
1729. But while Mrs. Elizabeth Goose may not have been the first Mother get a “real” job. For this born collector, having a shop just might be another excuse to buy
Goose, she was in fact a real mother Goose who told bed time stories to more books. He has about 30,000 second hand and rare books on the shelves, and just
her many children and grandchildren. about all subjects are represented. Reach him at P.O. Box 154; Trappe, MD 21673; 410-
476-3838; unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; www.unicornbookshop.com
Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
38
