Four Leaves from the Guest Book of The Abbey Inn, now the site of The Cloisters, with additional material

Price: $3,000.00

Unbound. Four quarto leaves (making eight pages). A bit soiled and with a horizontal fold that is a little separated at the edges, but still sound and about very good. The Abbey Inn was at 198th Street and Fort Washington Avenue in northern Manhattan, overlooking the Hudson. It flourished in the late 19th and early 20th Century. Eventually it was bought by John D. Rockefeller and the ground on which it stood was converted at great cost into The Cloisters. Apparently these leaves were compiled by a waitress at the Inn, Amalia Radicek (the leaves are accompanied by a cabinet photograph of the woman dated in 1916, and a business card from the Inn). Among the notables who have Signed the sheets are Ella Wheeler Wilcox, who has contributed a five-line poem dated in 1908; American sculptor George Grey Barnard, whose collection of medieval relics eventually formed the core of the collection at The Cloisters; American artist Ida Fischer who has added: "Votes for Women!"; Leigh Mitchell Hodges, journalist and wag, one of the people responsible for creating Christmas Seals, and the inventor of the "Optimism" (a cocktail whose ingredients included both clam and prune juice) has added: "To help your brain & make you brawny, Just try some Abbey Inn Mulligatawny! Leigh Mitchell Hodges. November 21, 1916." Additionally there are several other inscriptions, in English, French, Chinese, and Japanese that we have not yet identified, some of which include bars of music. However, most impressive to us is a large drawing of a band of Kewpies by Rose O'Neill, Inscribed by her: "Kewpie Band. To The Abbey Inn. The favorite place on this side of the world of Rose O'Neill." A nice collection of sentiments from notables.

Item #448905

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Item #448905 Four Leaves from the Guest Book of The Abbey Inn, now the site of The Cloisters, with additional material. Rose O'NEILL, Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
Four Leaves from the Guest Book of The Abbey Inn, now the site of The Cloisters, with additional material
Four Leaves from the Guest Book of The Abbey Inn, now the site of The Cloisters, with additional material
Four Leaves from the Guest Book of The Abbey Inn, now the site of The Cloisters, with additional material
Four Leaves from the Guest Book of The Abbey Inn, now the site of The Cloisters, with additional material
Four Leaves from the Guest Book of The Abbey Inn, now the site of The Cloisters, with additional material
Four Leaves from the Guest Book of The Abbey Inn, now the site of The Cloisters, with additional material