THE NOTEBOOK OF ELBERT HUBBARD

New York: William H. Wise & Company, 1927. Original Paper Wraps. Good Plus to Very Good/Good To Good Plus. Elbert Hubbard was a reporter, writer, philosopher, publisher and artist as well as a successful businessman at the end of the 19th-beginning of the 20th century. He is most often remembered today as the founder of the Roycroft artisan community in western New York. The Roycroft campus in East Aurora, NY, has been restored and is now a national historic site. One of Hubbard's lifelong habits was jotting notes to himself about anything he read, saw or heard that picqued his interest. After he died in 1915 when the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine, the Roycrofters, led by his son, Elbert II, gathered and edited many of his notes and published them in scrapbook form in two volumes. The first, in 1923, was titled the "Scrapbook" and this volume, the second, the "Notebook," was issued in 1927. First edition (no indication of which printing). About 8 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches, 213 pages including index. The book includes a frontispiece b&w photo of Hubbard on the telephone and between pages 12 and 13 there is a 2-page-foldout photo showing a small selection of Hubbard's notes. The book, printed and bound by the Roycrofters is on handmade paper and bound with heavy ribbon threaded through holes punched in the margin. The title on the front cover is in red letters and the triangular graphic design under the title is red and black. The binding is reinforced with an inch-wide green backstrip on both covers. The covers are worn, particularly at the edges and lightly soiled and age-stained without losing any of the graphics. The text edges are slightly soiled and the previous owner's name is neatly written on the front end page. The text is lightly age-toned but o/w clean, complete and unmarked. The binding has slighlty loosened over 90 years but is still tightly-knotted with no loose pages. Hubbard often described himself as an anarchist and socialist with strong beliefs in artistic and political freedom. His widely-known essay, "A Message To Garcia," was the basis for two movies, in 1916 shortly after his death, and in 1936 as the second world war was about to start in Europe.