Category: Scan

Emerson Safety Bicycle Shoe (scan)

Vintage Advertisement - text below

This is an ad from McClure’s Magazine, from about 1900? I can’t find anything about Emerson bicycle shoes, but the Butler Boys were professional cyclists in 1890-1910. Only Nat has a reasonable sized Wikipedia article (Tom has a stub and Frank has nothing at all). While born in Halifax, Canada, they grew up in Cambridge Massachusetts and raced in America and Europe.

I’m guessing the ‘safety’ part of it meant that the laces weren’t long enough to get caught in the chain. Pratt Fasteners are a way to secure the laces without tying – it looks like they’re kind of like keychain rings? You seem to slide the lace between two metal rings. The best image I can find is at Getty Images (I had to turn off my ad-block to see the image) Pratt Fasteners were apparently popular for a while – a google image search finds a good number of ads mentioning them.

Transcription:

The Butler Boys prefer the Emerson Safety Bicycle Shoe

Elastic Gores.

Pratt Fasteners. No knots to tie or untie – Always Sure.

Fast Color Eyelets and Hooks. Never get brassy.

Best on Earth.

The safest, easiest and best bicycle shoe ever made. Strong, light, best of stock and workmanship. The very flexible shank, elastic gores and Pratt Fasteners are essential elements of ease, comfort and safety.

Sold only in our 27 Emerson Stores ore by mail. Send for “Mail” Catalogue. R.B. Grover & Co., Brockton, Mass.

$3.50 or $3.75 if sent by mail.

Please mention McClure’s when you write to advertisers.

(end of Transcription)

Enjoy this post? Support me on Patreon or Ko-fi

Her Hand (poem scan)

This is the back of the previous scan. I like the art on the other one better. It appears that every page had the same artwork on the front and back, if the two pages I have are an indication.


scan of a poem - transcription below

Her Hand

It is so very white and small
One cannot understand at all
How it could be so great a prize
As truly it is in my eyes,
Nor how, and with such cunning art,
Relentlessly it holds my heart.

Enjoy this post? Support me on Patreon or Ko-fi

In The Spot Light (poem scan)

I couldn’t find the author for this. It’s apparently out of a poetry book or magazine. I have a couple of pages from it. Every page has the same art on the front and back. There are the initials “E.L” in the bottom left corner – I’m assuming it’s the artist. My other page is framed and I don’t want to open it up to check.

I suspect this is a specific type of poem, but I’m not a poetry expert, so feel free to tell me what it is.

Read more

Enjoy this post? Support me on Patreon or Ko-fi