Today the wife and I took a brief excursion to the Contoocook Flea Market. I was hoping for some fantastic finds, be it books, collectibles or what not. My wife got a printers type drawer (to mount and put small niknaks in) but I didn’t end up with much. A copy of Ben Bova’s Mars (haven’t read it yet and a 50c copy in virtually new condition was a steal) and a copy of the Excelsior Library’s Popular Handbook series # 29, the Dec 1st 1893 edition.
The title is Burdett’s Patriotic Recitations and Readings. The title page identifies it thusly: “Edited and Arranged by the Talented Elocutionist James S. Burdett”
Interestingly, the TOC is arranged alphabetically by title – lots of snippets, poetry and political commentary, all on the theme of patriotism and much of it obviously related to the Civil War.
I’m finding various Burdett/Popular Handbooks of different titles and numbers on ebay for anywhere from $30 to $500, so this may turn out to be an interesting find.
On the other hand, James S. Burdett the famous elocutionist does not have a Wikipedia entry, so maybe he doesn’t really exist…
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