[Colorado:] The Homes of Our Favorite Poets

[America. c.1880s]. [1] text leaf and [12] leaves of chromolithographic plates. Booklet. Approx. 4¾ x 6½ inches. Embossed and gilt card stock upper cover and printed card stock lower cover; cord-tied. Printed on rectos only. Some creasing at "joint" of upper cover; very good.

Advertising booklet for Pueblo, Colorado dry goods merchants Wilson & Barnard. While the booklet touts the Wilson and Barnard's new building and their store's amenities, its appeal as a keepsake rests wholly upon its 12 chromolithographic plates depicting the homes of celebrated American and British poets.

Each plate leaf shows the author's home, a facsimile of his autograph, and selected verses of poetry. The American poets are Emerson, Longfellow, O.W. Holmes, Hawthorne, Whittier, and W.C. Bryant. The British poets are: Robert Burns, Walter Scott, Tennyson, Byron, Shakespeare, and Thomas Moore.

The dry goods store of Wilson & Barnard was located on Santa Fe Avenue in Pueblo. There they built a new store with modern amenities. Substituting for a proper title page is a leaf of advertising copy which precedes the chromolithographic plates:

"Their new building, 44 x 120 feet, is three stories high, with a basement, and is without a doubt one of the finest Dry Goods Buildings in the West. It is fitted up with every modern convenience, including steam heat, passenger elevator, etc. A well of light, 9 x 16 feet in the center, will insure an abundance of light in every part of the store. A Ladies' Waiting Room with Lavitory [sic] and Closet connected, where all are welcome whether they come to buy goods or not, is an attractive feature of their store. (f[1])"

The back cover shows the front elevation of the store with its plate glass display windows. On the inside back cover is a directory of the two-story mercantile establishment.

A beautiful chromolithographic literary keepsake, emblematic of the civilizing of the American West; high culture in the high Rockies.

Eight copies under various accession numbers in OCLC.