Store Interior April 2017

Posted by & filed under Information.

As of this Friday, April 21st, Copperfield’s brick and mortar store will have had its door open to the public in Downtown Ventura for five years. So much has happened, so many great people have come and gone, and so many good (and not so good) ideas, too, it’s been a dizzying experience. My family and I have been so pleased to connect with you, all the wonderful people who love and support our store.

Even though, five years later, I still have a hard time describing what our store is, you get it—there are certain people who come in to our weird little shop and immediately click with our vibe. It’s so much fun to do something so different and off-beat in our lovely hometown of Ventura, California, and our awesome customers and patrons are the ones who keep us going. Thank you for all the support.

As the general manager of the store, I’ve been in the middle of it all from the beginning. We actually began our business in November of 2011, but it wasn’t until April 2012 that we felt ready to open to the public. From the very beginning, our goal has been to bring to Ventura a taste for the finely-made—both old and new—as well as objects obscure, bizarre, or just of interest. It’s been a pleasure to delight and astound those who walk through our doors.

During these five years, we’ve all experienced a lot of changes, along with the store itself. Some things are gone from the store, like coffee beans (huh?), and some things are still here, like bugs and highwheel bicycles. I got married in 2014, and we had a beautiful little girl shortly thereafter (that’s been crazy). We’ve had several wonderful employees come and go, and many still stop in to say hi, and a couple still come and help us out with the Wine Walk every December (thanks guys!). This store has definitely become a special part of my life, for sure.

In the spirit of reminiscing, here are some photos I’ve pulled, mostly from our Facebook posts, from over the last five years. Please check them out, and please continue your support for our little shop—I can’t tell you how important each little purchase is for a small independent store. May there be many more anniversaries to come!

—Drew

04-19-2012. My dog, Ripley, helping out as we get the store ready to open. Isn't he cute?

04-19-2012. My dog, Ripley, helping out as we get the store ready to open. Isn’t he cute?

04-20-2012. My little niece, Ellie, showing off a cool Ventura postcard. She's huge now!

04-20-2012. My little niece, Ellie, showing off a cool Ventura postcard. She’s huge now!

04-19-2012. My dad, John, was the one who had the idea to sell Pheromone's mounted insects, along with a lot of the other ultra-cool things we sell. He's awesome.

04-19-2012. My dad, John, was the one who had the idea to sell the insects, along with a lot of the other ultra-cool things we sell. He’s awesome.

04-25-2012. Me (on the right), with some of our OG employees who went on to do cool things.

04-25-2012. Me (on the right), with some of our OG employees who went on to do cool things.

05-31-2012. My dad standing with Allen R. Quigg, the talented artist who built our sidewalk sign.

05-31-2012. My dad standing with Allen R. Quigg, the talented artist who built our sidewalk sign.

11-01-2012. My mom and my lovely wife-to-be!

11-01-2012. My mom and my lovely wife-to-be!

11-27-2012. Our first Christmas window display. We have fun with our giant vintage Santa. My mom is usually the genius behind these displays.

11-27-2012. Our first Christmas window display. We have fun with our giant vintage Santa. My mom is usually the genius behind these displays.

06-30-2014. A shot of my new little girl! She gets cuter and cuter every day.

06-30-2014. A shot of my new little girl! She gets cuter and cuter every day.

10-25-2014. The Marinas, all dressed up for the annual Downtown Trick-or-Treat event. Fun!

10-25-2014. The Marinas, all dressed up for the annual Downtown Trick-or-Treat event. Fun!

12-03-2014. Another Christmas window. Awesome job, mom!

12-03-2014. Another Christmas window. Awesome job, mom!

04-25-2015. Shot of a 4-leaf clover I found in an old bible I was getting ready to receive. I was stoked!

04-25-2015. Shot of a 4-leaf clover I found in an old bible I was getting ready to receive. I was stoked!

04-29-2015. Speaking of books, here's my little Pippa already helping out at the shop!

04-29-2015. Speaking of books, here’s my little Pippa already helping out at the shop!

10-24-2015. Another trick-or-treat event, this time with Kayla and Alexa!

10-24-2015. Another trick-or-treat event, this time with Kayla and Alexa!

11-28-2015. Another picture of some awesome employees, Alexa and Jazmine.

11-28-2015. Another picture of some awesome employees, Alexa and Jazmine.

12-11-2015. Pippa found what she wanted for Christmas and took off!

12-11-2015. Pippa found what she wanted for Christmas and took off!

10-29-2016. Okay, one more trick-or-treat picture, this time with Princess Pippa!

10-29-2016. Okay, one more trick-or-treat picture, this time with Princess Pippa!

04-20-2017. Here's a shot of our store today. Come in if you haven't visited in awhile!

04-20-2017. Here’s a shot of our store today. Come in if you haven’t visited in awhile!

Posted by & filed under Featured, Stationery.

A quirky, cheeky, and bright line of letterpress cards headed up by Eunice and Sabrina in San Francisco, Hello!Lucky boast several designs in our top faves at Copperfield’s. Eunice and Sabrina started out on a hand-cranked press 13 years ago, and today produce a line of cards characterized by humor and wit, with a dash of neon ink and a foil highlight or two.

We offer several occasional cards from Hello!Lucky, including Birthday, Congratulations, and Consolation, as well as Thank You and Love cards.

If you love letterpress cards, but you’ve got a sense of humor and an appreciation for contemporary design, Hello!Lucky has got something for you!

Popular Hello!Lucky Cards

Posted by & filed under Rarities.

The Blickensderfer Company started in 1892 with hopes of going up against Remington, introducing an innovative “typewheel,” which replaced the typical myriad of hammers for individual letters. Blickensderfers became known for their portability, and were dubbed “The Five-Pound Secretary.” Model No.8 hit the market in 1907, and was Blickensderfer’s most successful typewriter to date. Apparently, the biggest wow-factor of the No.8 was its ability to backspace. Production ended at the outbreak of World War I, when Blickensderfer joined the cause and temporarily converted to munitions manufacturing for the United States.

Our Blickensderfer No.8 features a “universal” (QWERTY) key configuration and comes with its original oak case. This particular typewriter does not have a tabulator. While the typing mechanism remains in excellent shape, our typewriter has a few condition issues: a small hole in the top of the case about the size of a dime, no handle on the case, and the bell spring needs to be replaced.

Due to its age, we wouldn’t recommend using this typewriter as a workhorse, but rather for its uniqueness and collectibility.

Photos

Blickensderfer No.8Blickensderfer No.8 KeyboardBlickensderfer No.8 case lid.Hole in Blickensderfer No.8 lidBack corner of Blickensderfer No.8 case lid

Posted by & filed under Rarities.

L’Heure Bleue, the Blue Hour—that magical time of day when the sun has gone down and the sky takes on a brilliant sapphire hue. Long a treasured inspiration for artists, it is also the inspiration behind the iconic fragrance from Guerlain, first produced in 1912.

Our vintage bottle, originally designed by the famous glass artist Georges Chevalier of Baccarat, evokes the luxury, style, and romance of Parisian nightlife in the early twentieth century. The hollow heart-shaped stopper was a feat of craftsmanship in its day. The lovely label on the front was clearly printed in a time when those kinds of things were still done beautifully, and the small metal “G” seal is an exquisite touch.

Lovers of perfume, luxury design, or glass objects will all find this bottle an intriguing artifact to contemplate.

Images

Vintage Perfume BottleBlog_L'HeureBleuBottleLinkToPast_004Blog_L'HeureBleuBottleLinkToPast_005

Posted by & filed under Books, Featured.

Background

Perhaps the preeminent specimen of modernist literature, James Joyce’s Ulysses is also one of the most iconic and well-known literary works of the twentieth century. Using the structure of Homer’s Odyssey (Ulysses is the Latin form of Odysseus), as well as its character archetypes, Joyce chronicles a day in the life of Leopold Bloom in early twentieth-century Dublin (on June 16, 1904, to be exact). The realistic portrayal of the minutiae of everyday life and the mix-and-match of various genres of writing to portray various episodes have the effect of drawing the reader into the Dublin of the 1900s in a compelling way, making the book a classic example of literature as time travel. Everyday details of the lives of average Dubliners are so intimately and realistically portrayed in Ulysses, that it was frequently the target of censors in both Britain and the United States, making it one of the most well-known of the “banned books.”

In 1904, the same year in which Ulysses is set, James Joyce left his beloved Dublin and lived in self-imposed exile in Europe, primarily in Trieste, Paris, and then Zurich, where he died in 1941. It was in Paris that his monumental work, Ulysses, was published, under the auspices of Sylvia Beach and her bookstore-cum-publishing house Shakespeare and Company. This English-language bookstore in the heart of Paris attracted many expatriate geniuses from the English-speaking literary world besides James Joyce, such as Ezra Pound and Ernest Hemingway.

The first printing of the first edition of Ulysses was published by Shakespeare and Company in 1922, but there were numerous errors, errata which were catalogued at the back of subsequent printings, in addition to other “corrections” and modifications that Joyce continued to make as he revisited his work. The subsequent early printings also list the printing history, including a catalog of seizures and destructions by censorship authorities.

 

Copperfield’s Copy

The copy of Ulysses on display at Copperfield’s is the first edition in its seventh printing, which also happens to be the last printing from the original typeset manuscript, with all corrections and modifications listed at the back. Ulysses was originally published in paper wraps, but our copy has been re-bound in a hardcover format.

The book came to us with its text block in poor condition—it had detached from the cover, and there was a major split in the binding right about the middle of the book so that it was in two halves, but for a single thread connecting them. We have glued the book back together, so that it is perfectly readable, but a serious collector will likely want to consider having the book re-bound. As far as we can ascertain, all pages are present, except for the flyleaf, which appears to have been torn out. There is minor light pencil sporadically throughout the text, and the pages exhibit typical toning and some foxing. Pages toward the front and back also have some chipping, creases, and open tears. The first edition of this book in any of its printings is relatively scarce, so in spite of condition issues, this book is a real treasure.

Any fan of Joyce or modernist literature in general will thrill at the chance to examine this copy of Ulysses, published by Shakespeare & Co. in 1925.

 

Details

NOTE: This item has sold.

Title: Ulysses

Edition/Printing: First/Seventh

Pages: 736

Size: 8vo

Condition: Fair/Poor

Issues of Note: Detached from cover front/spine, text block split, book re-glued/in readable condition; flyleaf appears to be missing; pages moderately toned; some chipping, dampstains, closed and open tears, etc.

 

Photos

Ulysses title page.Ulysses copyright page.Ulysses publication history.First page of Ulysses.First page of 'Additional Corrections.'Last page of UlyssesFront cover of Copperfield's copy of Ulysses,Photo of Copperfield's Ulysses spine.

 

Posted by & filed under Information.

Welcome to our blog and website! One of the perennial challenges we have faced as we have assembled, curated, and displayed our little shop of curiosities is that we have accumulated more information about each item than we could possibly communicate to our customers in-store (this is especially true of all of our wonderful books). Then it occurred to us that our website and its blog could help us out with this problem.

We will be posting to this blog on an ongoing basis, sharing fun and interesting info with you as we come across it. We will also be utilizing our blog as a repository of information on featured items in our brick-and-mortar store, so that customers can learn more about them than we can fit on a little sign.

As always, keep in mind that any featured item you come across here on our site may have already sold, so be sure to contact us beforehand, and confirm that it is still available!