Finding an Old Book

[stiltzkin]

So, I've been building a small collection of Pinelands and other Jersey-related books. In the process I've been fortunate enough to find and buy several rare/out-of-print works, but there's one book I'm looking for right now which I can find no copies of for sale anywhere.

The book is Sign Posts: Place Names In History of Burlington County, N.J. by Henry H. Bisbee (Alexia Press, 1971). It's been discussed and referenced a few times on these forums. Although quite dated at this point, it's an awesome compendium of research on the origin of many place names across the county. It also includes a lot of maps and drawings.

I've been able to access it and read it, as fortunately the Burlington County Library System has some copies, and I've checked it out. I also found one other copy in a private collection earlier this year, but it's not for sale. Etymology fascinates me and I would love to have permanent access to this book as a reference; I don't know of any other work that covers the same material in this depth other than the author's 1955 Place Names in Burlington County, which is essentially a draft of this book.

I thought I might ask if anyone on these forums owns a copy they would want to sell (maybe a long shot, as if you own this, chances are you probably want to keep it!), or if anyone knows where else I might purchase it. Thanks!

 

[bobpbx]

I have what must be an earlier version of that book, signed by the author. I see you mentioned it above.

 

[bobpbx]

More on the one I have. Someone pasted these articles in the back, probably Robert Blanchard himself, since Bisbee thanked him, and Blanchard wrote the newspaper praise.

 

[bobpbx]

And one more article. The man himself.

 

[stiltzkin]

Fascinating! That's something to treasure. It does indeed look like you have Robert Blanchard's copy, and with a message and signature from the author, that's really something special. Thank you for posting the article snippets as well. I love the history and context.

 

[Teegate]

I have digital copies of Sign Posts which has the complete book in it.

 

[stiltzkin]

I have digital copies of Sign Posts which has the complete book in it.

Interesting, where did you find a digital copy? The Open Library (Archive.org) has a digital copy of the 1955 book mentioned above, but not Sign Posts.

 

[Teegate]

I acquired it in an email sent to me. It is in docx format. Here is a sample opening it in "Pages" on my Mac. Notice Early's Crossing is mentioned and that is where Jessica and I was last weekend. I have to assume Bisbee did not know that Thomas Early owned that property there.

 

[stiltzkin]

I acquired it in an email sent to me. It is in docx format. Here is a sample opening it in "Pages" on my Mac. Notice Early's Crossing is mentioned and that is where Jessica and I was last weekend. I have to assume Bisbee did not know that Thomas Early owned that property there.

View attachment 17156

Hahaha. How intriguingly vague. I assume someone either used OCR to scan the book into text, or maybe just typed it out by hand into a document.

Still hoping for a physical copy somewhere out there, personally. I submitted a request to a local independent bookstore with a large NJ collection that might be able to help.

 

[rc911]

I don't know if that book is available but there is a used book store on Route 537 within 1 mile west of the intersection with Rt. 539 named The Book Garden. They have shelves categorized by county, state, regional, historical, first editions and many others. Prices are very reasonable. Plan to spend a lot of time browsing. I think they are closed Monday, Tuesday and possibly Wednesday.

 

[stiltzkin]

I don't know if that book is available but there is a used book store on Route 537 within 1 mile west of the intersection with Rt. 539 named The Book Garden. They have shelves categorized by county, state, regional, historical, first editions and many others. Prices are very reasonable. Plan to spend a lot of time browsing. I think they are closed Monday, Tuesday and possibly Wednesday.

Added to list of places to check out, thanks!

 

[TommyP]

I would call or email Second Time Books in Mount Laurel and ask them to watch for it. They carry Jerseyana but I didn’t see this in their online shop. But they may have it in stock. secondtimebooksales@gmail.com.r

 

[stiltzkin]

I checked out The Book Garden yesterday on the way back from Cars and Coffee up in Millstone.

Unfortunately, they did not have a copy of Sign Posts, but it was still a great place to check out. The couple who owns the store were very friendly; one of them knew exactly what I was talking about and remembered having the book in stock years ago. They have a really great Jersey selection; three floor-to-ceiling bookshelves stuffed full. There are several copies of Bisbee's book The Jersey Business there. I picked up New Jersey's Lost Piney Culture for what I would characterize as far too cheap.

I would absolutely recommend the store to anyone here looking to expand their collection; I could have spent the rest of the day browsing.

 

[bobpbx]

Speaking of books, this 2017 book I borrowed from Barnegat library is mesmerizing. From design/build, to flight, to death, it's 178 pages of fantastic history.

 

[harlequinhawk]

And one more article. The man himself.

View attachment 17144

Bob, Could you email me that image and give me permission to use it as I see fit? Great talk about our common vernacular changing. Same as Piney names for plants like Catspaws and Buttons.

 

[Ben Ruset]

I hate to be the wet blanket here, but posting photos of newspaper articles (without permission from the copyright owner) that are still under copyright can, and once did, get me sued.

I'm not a copyright attorney and they may have been okay under Fair Use, but right now I'm not in a position where I feel comfortable exposing myself to that risk.

That said, as a workaround you probably could upload the images to an image hosting site like imgur.com and paste the link to the image, which would be hosted on their server, here.

 

[bobpbx]

Boyd, did you rat me out to Ben? You could have just told me yourself.

The Zeppelin shot is simply a page from a book borrowed from the library to give a hint on what's inside. Okay, what if I had just showed the book, as I did in the first photo?

Regarding the news paper article, it's not from any source per se, somebody just pasted it in the back of the book. Okay, my mistake.

 

[bobpbx]

Bob, Could you email me that image and give me permission to use it as I see fit? Great talk about our common vernacular changing. Same as Piney names for plants like Catspaws and Buttons.

No, I have no authority to do that Joe.

 

[Boyd]

Boyd, did you rat me out to Ben? You could have just told me yourself.

Well, since you have chosen to discuss this in public.... Ben has asked me to pay special attention when there could be copyright issues with any user content. I simply asked him what he thought about the scanned newspaper article that you posted. I didn't even mention the Zeppelin photos, just the newspaper article because another member had asked your permission to use it himself. Ben decided to take action himself instead of providing guidance to me as he often does.

 

[bobpbx]

Well, since you have chosen to discuss this in public....

Boyd, you become angry at a lot of us in public, so don't feel miffed about it.