Vintage Lackawanna items found on eBay

Excerpt from The Roustabout Issue #37  Published by the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Historical Society, Inc.    Spring 2020

Recently there have been some interesting advertisements from the 1900 to 1910 timeframe offered on eBay.  There was one that sparked my interest for further investigation which was for a book that was written by Will Bogert Hunter titled Ghost of the Glacier and Other Tales published in 1900 and issued by the Lackawanna Railroad.  The cost was 10 cents.  Today a reprint from Amazon in hardback costs about $24 when found and an original on eBay or rare book store can range from $115 up.  This book is a brief light story on the creation of the north Jersey region starting as the meeting of the cold winds and the clouds to the falling snow and the forming and movement of the glaciers and then their receding and the topography left behind.  Then there are other stores of the major interesting points along the route from NYC to Buffalo including short write-ups of the interesting points and resort areas along the route.

The reprints are probably printed on demand and well bound.  The original is stitched with marbled binding sheets and gold edged pages.

Below is the original 1900 advertisement for the book.

(Fred W. Heilich III collection)

Following are the frontispiece and back piece from an original copy of the book.

It was an interesting read with the writing of the story in the typical turn of the century manner.  The copy I got from Amazon was scanned and reproduced from a copy in the Library of Congress.  There are several imperfections on the tables at the rear as there appeared to be something on the page of the original otherwise it was well copied.

More Lackawanna Advertisements from 1900 to 1905

There were two additional less than full page size advertisements for the Lackawanna that were purchased recently on eBay. One advertises the Lackawanna Railroad “Superb Dining Car Service” and menus whilst the second advertisement plays up the five New York and Buffalo trains in each direction daily and the three Chicago trains via the Lackawanna Railroad.

(Fred W. Heilich III collection)

(Fred W. Heilich III collection)