HOW-TO BOOKS

How-to (aka self-help) books continue to be a perennial Christmas gift choice.  Did you know there are several of books in this category in the Bullis collection? Here's a partial list:

How To Write Letters. 

(Formerly The Book of Letters)

A complete guide to correct business and personal correspondence

Author: Mary Owens Crowder

Publisher: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., Garden City, NY, 1922

How To Read Character;

A new illustrated hand-book of phrenology and physiognomy, 

for students and examiners: with a descriptive chart.

Author: Samuel R. Wells

Publisher: Fowler & Wells Co., New York, c 1808

Flying Machines:

Construction and operation; a practical book which shows,

in illustrations, working plans and text, 

how to build and navigate the modern airship.

Author: William James Jackman

Publisher: The Charles C. Thompson Co., Chicago, 1910

So ... if you're looking for an almost-last-minute gift for that special someone (who may have an interest in how to write correct business and personal correspondence, how to read character, or how to construct and operate a flying machine), here's what we suggest. Stop by MPL and ask someone to help you access these books. Take your time looking over each one, and if you decide on one or more of them as a gift, you can purchase them online.  

There are also Kindle editions available. Two of the books have customer review ratings of 4-out-of-5 stars, indicating that books can continue to inform and entertain for more than 200 Christmases. Now, that's a gift that lasts.

FLYING MACHINES

In between visitors to the Bullis Room’s open house last Saturday, we  pulled this book off the shelves for a quick scan-through:

Flying Machines: Construction and Operation. A Practical Book Which Shows, In Illustrations, Working Plans and Text, How To Build and Navigate The Modern Airship.

Since this book was published in 1910, radical changes and advances have occurred in this field (to say the least). And so we were interested and amused by some of the comments of authors William James Jackman and Thomas H. Russell. For example, under the title “Limits of the Flying Machine,” they write:

            In the opinion of the competent experts it is idle to look for a

            commercial future for the flying machine. There is, and always

            will be, a limit to its carrying capacity, which will prohibit its

            employment for passenger or freight purposes in a wholesale

            or general way.

However, they do acknowledge some practical uses for this invention in the fields of:

            Sports – flying machine races

            Science - exploration of otherwise inaccessible regions such as

            deserts, mountain tops

            War – reconnoitering in time of war to spy out the enemy’s encampment

            and ascertain its defenses

This book’s quaint illustrations showing basic principles of flight and early flying machines make it a fun look-through. We recommend you stop by the Bullis Room sometime and let us show it to you.