ERDNASE

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Bill Mullins
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Bill Mullins » July 25th, 2015, 11:17 pm

lybrary wrote:Regarding Gallaway being the typesetter this should clear it up:

Marty Demarest wrote:This is interesting considering that Whaley, Gardner and Busby, in The Man Who was Erdnase, state: "This [first edition] copy of The Expert, bearing Gallaway's bookplate [Edward Gallaway--typesetter for James McKinney and Company], still rests in Chicago in the collection of Jay Marshall..."


Marty is only quoting TMWWE here (p. 57), from a section that is, at best, loosely sourced (letters from Gardner to Marshall, third hand reports of phone conversations with people who may not have accurately known details, undated work notes, etc.) Note that this same page says that McKinney provided binding services.

Is there any evidence, independent of TMWWE, that Edward Gallaway was a typesetter?

Jay Marshall wrote in a 1958 memo (reproduced in the 2007 catalog of the auction of his estate) that he thought Gallaway was a binder.

TMWWE is a great place to start research, but there is much in it that should only be trusted as far as you can independently verify it.

Consider: on p. 57, it says that Gallaway, presumably the typesetter, wrote two books of his own and had a large collection of gambling and magic books. On p. 65, however, it refers to him as "semi-literate".

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Tom Sawyer » July 26th, 2015, 1:02 am

Chris Wasshuber has said that McKinney's had 32 employees. I'm not sure exactly when this was, but it seems to me that it is unlikely that Gallaway was in any way involved with the typesetting of the book -- even if he was a "typesetter."

To me, by far the most interesting fact regarding Edward Gallaway is that there exists a copy of the book with his bookplate. Just what this implies, though, I don't know.

But I doubt that it has anything to do with him having typeset the book.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Zenner » July 26th, 2015, 6:50 am

Marty Demarest wrote:I just want whatever Gallaway was washing with!

A professional lifetime handling type and fresh print in the ink-stained trenches, and not a mark on them. And no trace of scrubbing or solvents either. As M. D. Smith said--some of the softest hands he'd ever held.


But Chris has dismissed everything that Smith said. He must think that he was totally senile to ramble on at Gardner and for it ALL to be wrong.

Bill Mullins quoted from the Chicago Tribune in a much earlier posting on here - back in August, 2012. He said that Gallaway was 67 when he died in May, 1930. He wasn't; he was 61 when the Census was taken the month before. That would make him 32 when Erdnase met Smith, far nearer to Smith's own age, 29. Don't you think that Smith would have realised that?

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 26th, 2015, 7:12 am

Bill Mullins wrote:Note that this same page says that McKinney provided binding services.


Providing binding services and doing the work in-house are two entirely different things. Of course they offered binding services to their clients who needed them to have their books produced. But they outsourced bindery work to companies specializing in it as was the norm.

(Bill, you should also give us a clearer picture about your feelings of TMWWE. In one post you say that what is written in TMWWE is not to be trusted, and in your next post you cite it as evidence against other conclusions. It is a bit confusing. Perhaps you can clarify what you trust in TMWWE and why, and what you do not trust and why.)
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 26th, 2015, 9:28 am

Bill Mullins wrote:
lybrary wrote:Regarding Gallaway being the typesetter this should clear it up:

Marty Demarest wrote:This is interesting considering that Whaley, Gardner and Busby, in The Man Who was Erdnase, state: "This [first edition] copy of The Expert, bearing Gallaway's bookplate [Edward Gallaway--typesetter for James McKinney and Company], still rests in Chicago in the collection of Jay Marshall..."


Marty is only quoting TMWWE here (p. 57), from a section that is, at best, loosely sourced (letters from Gardner to Marshall, third hand reports of phone conversations with people who may not have accurately known details, undated work notes, etc.)


Marty stated in an earlier post on this forum that he did inspect this first edition. Perhaps he can speak to what was written on the bookplate. From the quote from TMWWE one could conclude that the bookplate reads; "Edward Gallaway--typesetter for James McKinney and Company". If that is true then that would conclusively prove that he was a typesetter at least during some period of his 47 years in the print industry.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Bill Mullins » July 26th, 2015, 3:13 pm

Zenner wrote:Bill Mullins quoted from the Chicago Tribune in a much earlier posting on here - back in August, 2012. He said that Gallaway was 67 when he died in May, 1930. He wasn't; he was 61 when the Census was taken the month before.


Note: I didn't say that Gallaway was 67. The obit said it, and I was only quoting it.

And for whatever it is worth, the Illinois Death Index gives Ed's DOB as 1 July 1869. Unless a better date comes along, I'll take that as definitive.

While I don't particularly think Gallaway is Erdnase, he got married on 26 Jun 1901 -- as good a reason as any to "need the money".

lybrary wrote:(Bill, you should also give us a clearer picture about your feelings of TMWWE. In one post you say that what is written in TMWWE is not to be trusted, and in your next post you cite it as evidence against other conclusions. It is a bit confusing. Perhaps you can clarify what you trust in TMWWE and why, and what you do not trust and why.)


This is as clear a statement as I know how to make regarding my feelings about TMWWE:
"TMWWE is a great place to start research, but there is much in it that should only be trusted as far as you can independently verify it."

I've quoted TMWWE several times lately, so I don't know specifically what you mean. But several of the recent quotes were meant to show that TMWWE is not internally self-consistent, so they should be taken as commentary on TMWWE, and not meant to support the idea that Gallaway was or was not a typesetter, or that he was or was not literate.

If you are talking about McKinney providing binding services, I was subtly trying to point out that if you trust TMWWE when it says that Gallaway was a typesetter, why is it not also trustworthy when it says McKinney did binding? (I don't know specifically what Gallaway did in the printing industry ca. 1902 -- but the evidence that he was a typesetter isn't ironclad, in my opinion. I don't know whether or not McKinney did binding in house or jobbed it out. It may have been that they did both, depending on the job, the requirements and their capabilities, etc.)

lybrary wrote:
lybrary wrote:Regarding Gallaway being the typesetter this should clear it up:

Marty Demarest wrote:This is interesting considering that Whaley, Gardner and Busby, in The Man Who was Erdnase, state: "This [first edition] copy of The Expert, bearing Gallaway's bookplate [Edward Gallaway--typesetter for James McKinney and Company], still rests in Chicago in the collection of Jay Marshall..."




Marty stated in an earlier post on this forum that he did inspect this first edition. Perhaps he can speak to what was written on the bookplate. From the quote from TMWWE one could conclude that the bookplate reads; "Edward Gallaway--typesetter for James McKinney and Company". If that is true then that would conclusively prove that he was a typesetter at least during some period of his 47 years in the print industry.


The quote from TMWWE doesn't say that Gallaway is a typesetter. That particular fact is in square brackets in Marty's quote, indicating he added afterwards (probably based on other statements found elsewhere in TMWWE). If you go back to TMWWE (p. 390), you can see that they do not mention any details about Gallaway as being on the bookplate. [and I have edited the nesting quotes above somewhat -- apparently the GF software only lets you nest them three deep]

Here is a bookplate of Gallaway's from another book. It doesn't give any personal info about him. Who knows if the one in Erdnase is the same bookplate?

And finally, whether or not Gallaway was a typesetter, or the typesetter of EATCT, may not be all that important. Clearly he worked for McKinney at the time in question, and he owned a 1st edition copy. Those are the salient facts.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 26th, 2015, 3:34 pm

It is quite interesting to see in which book the Gallaway bookplate was found (the one Bill is linking to, which is a resource Richard Hatch found and pointed out to me a few days ago). The book is a magazine from 1700 which is a compilation of book reviews. The title is "The History of the Works of the Learned".

Details here http://blog.mysentimentallibrary.com/20 ... chive.html (scroll down to the third image).

Imagine, Gallaway had this book, which was 200 years old back in 1900, in his collection. That reveals a book lover. Also the bookplate itself with the quote from Milton makes clear that he loves books.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Richard Kaufman » July 26th, 2015, 3:37 pm

I don't know why the fact that Gallaway worked at the publisher and had a copy of the Expert at the Card Table is any indication that he was the author.

I use a book printer in the midwest. I know that if someone working there happens to be interested in magic, they're going to pick up one of my books at the factory. And isn't that most of what you can say about Gallaway: he was working at the printer (who cares in what capacity) and either had an interest in magic, or just found the subject of this book interesting for whatever reason and picked one out of a box.

Chris, having an old book among your possessions doesn't point to anything other than having an old book. Someone might have given it to him. He might have picked it up off the street. Who knows? It doesn't mean anything.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 26th, 2015, 3:51 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:Chris, having an old book among your possessions doesn't point to anything other than having an old book. Someone might have given it to him. He might have picked it up off the street. Who knows? It doesn't mean anything.


Richard, have you read what is written on his bookplate? I will type it up here:

"As good almost kill a Man as kill a good Book. Many a Man lives a burden to the Earth; but a good Book is the precious Lifeblood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose, to a life beyond life. - Milton"

Who else but a book lover would use such a quote? Also the fact that he pasted bookplates in his books suggests somebody quite fond of them. I might add that he chose to become a printer with 14 even though nobody in his immediate family worked in the print industry. That also suggests somebody who likes books. I am not saying this is cold hard proof of it, but the evidence pretty much suggests this to be the case.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Bill Mullins » July 26th, 2015, 4:24 pm

Okay, so he was a book lover. But does that mean he wrote EATCT? There is nothing about the text of that book that refers directly to earlier works. If Erdnase were a book lover, isn't it more likely that he would have referred directly to Hoffmann, Sachs, Roterberg, rather than just using material found there?

Wouldn't there be evidence in EATCT of his bibliophilia?

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Richard Hatch » July 26th, 2015, 4:35 pm

I also don't think the quotes on the bookplate give us great insights into the owner of the books. A google doc search indicates that the uncredited poem was pretty standard on bookplates of the period and I suspect the Milton quote was as well. In fact, it appears to me that a generic bookplate was taken and "Library of Edward Gallaway" and the cherubic image was printed in the relevant blank space. Possibly this bookplate was one of McKinney's printing products?
Now, if we could find Gallaway bookplates on copies of Roterberg, Hilliar, Hoffman, Sachs, etc., as well as the gambling books we know influenced him, then a strong case would begin to take shape. And if it turns out that his own published books sound like the writer of The Expert, even better...
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 26th, 2015, 4:36 pm

Bill, in case you haven't understood my argument from my initial post about the main points of evidence for Erdnase I will repeat my point in more detail:

Erdnase is quite an interesting author, writes very well and eloquently. So we are looking for a guy who is capable of doing this. In the past many suggested that he must have had higher education, gone to college, or must have written extensively before or during his regular job. My explanation of why Gallaway was capable of writing EATCT is different. I suggest that Gallaway loved to read and loved books. Perhaps one of those kids who just read and read. With 14 when it is time for him to find a full-time job he chooses to become a printer because that way he is close to the books he loves. He will also have access to plenty of free reading material to satisfy his thirst for reading and knowledge.

So my argument is that even though Gallaway did not go to high-school let alone college, and even though it does not look like he wrote any other books before EATCT or immediately after, he was perfectly capable to write it the way EATCT is written. He had acquired a huge vocabulary through reading and his job as typesetter and printer.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Richard Hatch » July 26th, 2015, 4:45 pm

Chris, lots of leaps here: we don't know why he started to work in the printing industry at 14, rather than choosing some other profession. To assume he chose it because he loved to read is rather presumptuous. Not every 14 year old print shop worker is a book lover. It does seem likely from what we know about his library that he collected a variety of books. That does not mean he read them! I know from my own experience and that of others that many book collectors with large libraries don't read all that much! Loving and collecting books and reading them are different things. But let's assume that he was widely read. That alone does not make him a good writer. Lots of well read folks are not particularly interesting writers. I think the key to your argument at this point will hinge of whether you can convince us that the unique voice in The Expert in 1902 is the same unique voice expressed in his later publications. The circumstantial case takes many leaps (we have no indication at this point that he had the knowledge expressed in the book or the ability to write it).

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Edward Finck » July 26th, 2015, 4:48 pm

I also think that it shouldn't be overlooked that Gallaway does not match the description of Erdnase that Garnder got from Smith nor does he match internal evidence from The Book. Apologies if I've duplicated other recently made points.

Gallaway was born in Ohio, Smith thought Erdnase was from the East Coast.
Gallaway was a tradesman and although this does not disqualify him from having received a good education it strongly implies otherwise. If Gallaway indeed became a printer at 14 he wouldn't have had time for a proper education. It also must be considered that Erdnase probably came from a wealthy family ("unlicked cub with a fairly fat bankroll...") and wealthy families don't often spawn 14 year old printers.
As Mr. Demarest points out, a press worker (or binder, or typesetter) might not end up with the most beautiful hands.
Gallaway is about 10 years younger than Erdnase had appeared to Smith.

My money is not on Gallaway as author but Gallaway is interesting nonetheless.

E.F.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 26th, 2015, 5:15 pm

Richard, Edward, all fair points. A couple of counter arguments you may want to consider:

- The suggestion that he became a printer with 14 because of his love for books comes from the certified genealogist I am working with. She has researched many families from that region. That was here comment. I found it quite plausible. But I am well aware of the fact that plausible is not proof. But I am also not looking for proof. I am simply showing that it is plausible for Gallaway to write the way Erdnase wrote. Once you will have the opportunity to read Gallaway's other books it will become quite obvious.

- Typesetters were some of the most educated folks. (I am using educated not in the sense of going to school for many years but in the sense of informed, well read, eloquent, etc.) This is from a typesetter and printer I have spoken with. He has told me a lot about the world of typesetters, their work in detail, how a print shop is organized, the importance of printing guilds back then, etc. Think about it, as a typesetter you typically read the portions you typeset 3 times during the course of setting it. Quite a lot of on the job reading.

- I have given my detailed reasoning why I don't believe the Smith recollections, particularly when it comes to age, before.

- A typesetter develops very nimble fingers due to the constant handling of movable type. It is actually quite beneficial for a card shark to be a typesetter. This was an observation a typesetter shared with me. The dexterity of typesetters is no surprise.

None of these are hard facts, simply points to consider which in my eyes make him quite capable of being Erdnase.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Richard Kaufman » July 26th, 2015, 5:52 pm

It should be a fairly simple matter to use a computer program to compare the text of Expert with Gallaway's other authored works.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 26th, 2015, 6:03 pm

Richard, it is all in the works. Wait a bit and I will have a report by a forensic linguist who will compare the books. Here is a part from the beginning of the introduction to "Estimating for Printers"

"This is a practical book - it is not padded with ponderous editorial homilies, old newspaper clippings, interest tables or platitudinous dissertations on the uplift of the printing industry."

I would say quite an eloquent start for somebody without high-school or college education. Gallaway certainly was capable of writing EATCT.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Richard Hatch » July 26th, 2015, 6:27 pm

lybrary wrote: Here is a part from the beginning of the introduction to "Estimating for Printers"

"This is a practical book - it is not padded with ponderous editorial homilies, old newspaper clippings, interest tables or platitudinous dissertations on the uplift of the printing industry."


I agree with Chris that this does sound like it could have been written by the same author who wrote the "Professional Secrets" section of EATCT. But one sentence from one book is hardly enough evidence. I suppose it is like the monkeys at typewriters eventually writing Shakespeare: Given enough work to choose from, one can always find some parallel. The question is whether enough of it sounds enough like him to be convincing...

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 26th, 2015, 6:36 pm

Richard, I think the monkey argument does not apply to somebody who we know worked for McKinney. I haven't pulled Gallaway out of an otherwise unspecified collection of authors.

How many people would McKinney had business with in 1901? I would say perhaps a couple of hundred. How many of those had a first edition of EATCT which Erdnase certainly had, too? Out of these couple of hundred folks doing business with McKinney - perhaps 20? So from these ~20 how likely is it that one of them sounds similar to Erdnase? Not quite the monkey business you describe :-)

I think this sentence at least should deflate the argument that he was not good enough a writer to write EATCT. Or that he was not educated or endowed with enough funds or whatever argument one wants to make here. Gallaway was most certainly capable of writing very well.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Tom Sawyer » July 26th, 2015, 8:07 pm

Hi All,

I was quite interested in some of the views expressed above by Richard Kaufman, Richard Hatch, and Bill Mullins concerning the significance of the Edward Galloway bookplate in a copy of the first edition of Erdnase. My own views as to certain things said are pretty different. Here are a few observations:

1. It could be a stock bookplate, but it is a heavily "typographical" design, which to me implies that he might well have had it printed by one of the printers he worked for.

2. I do believe that bookplates are one of THE key ways in which some collectors like to say "This is who I am," or "Look how special I am for believing such cool things," or maybe be a little sententious. Nobody else really gives a rap what they include on their bookplates, but many collectors seem to. I think that the wording on the bookplate gives a good idea of "how Gallaway viewed Gallaway." That, I think, is one of the arguments against Gallaway having written the Erdnase book -- since that does not really describe Erdnase.

3. At least for the present, I do not think there has been much evidence supporting Gallaway as Erdnase. However, to me, in light of all of the basic surrounding facts and semi-facts, there are two primary reasons why Galloway would have owned a copy of the book. Either:

a. He was the author of the book, or
b. He acquired a copy because of his (apparent) interest in gambling. At least for the present, this seems like the probable reason.

4. I don't think he would have acquired a copy merely because he was the typesetter. I don't think he was the typesetter, but if he was, I don't think he would have felt the need to possess a copy. The theory that Gallaway had a copy because he typeset the book was I think the suggestion of The Man Who Was Erdnase. That would have made some sense if McKinney's was a small firm by today's standards -- but it obviously was not.

5. It was more or less shown (rather weakly) in The Man Who Was Erdnase that Gallaway was interested in gambling and owned books on the subject. It would seem, however, that the available information on this is quite slight.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 26th, 2015, 9:39 pm

I just realized something: S.W. Erdnase is an anagram for "Ed Answers". Ed is short for Edward. Edward Gallaway that is ;)
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby magicam » July 27th, 2015, 2:46 am

Chris,

You deserve much credit for hiring specialists in several fields to assist with your Erdnase research, which should (hopefully) yield more than uninformed speculation. And your even-keel demeanor in the face of others' vetting of your theory and arguments is also admirable. That said, I’m struggling with a number of your comments and interpretations.

lybrary wrote:The suggestion that he became a printer with 14 because of his love for books comes from the certified genealogist I am working with. She has researched many families from that region. That was here [sic] comment. I found it quite plausible.

Not sure why a certified genealogist’s speculation about Gallaway’s motivation to become a printer at age 14 is relevant. In any case, is this motivation within the realms of possibility? Okay. Plausible (in the positive connotation of that word)? I’m sceptical. What does sound plausible (again, in the positive connotation of that word) is EG was at an age where it was time to learn a trade.

lybrary wrote:…Typesetters were some of the most educated folks … This is from a typesetter and printer I have spoken with. He has told me a lot about the world of typesetters, their work in detail, how a print shop is organized, the importance of printing guilds back then, etc. Think about it, as a typesetter you typically read the portions you typeset 3 times during the course of setting it. Quite a lot of on the job reading. …

You alluded to this earlier when you wrote that “typesetters were typically the most widely read and thus informed folks in those days.” Is this what your typesetter/printer told you? I’d be curious to know his exact background. What exactly did he do? Did he work in a major publishing house? Was he an independent job printer? Did he work in a small or large printing firm? When was he in the trade? Etc.

When would a typesetter proper in the early 20th century read text 3 times? Typesetters (better known as compositors in the trade) in that era were, by and large, specialists – that’s all they did, unless it was pretty much a one or two-man shop and the owner was also asked to edit the text. Typesetters, cold and hot metal alike, had their “head in the lead” -- composing text was not a leisurely job of reading and pondering the meaning of words. These guys worked fast (and in some cases still in the early 1900s, their wages strictly depended on it, because they were paid on a piece-work basis, which was the long-standing tradition), and in most cases, they didn’t care what the author wrote – their job was to set the words per the author’s text. Try this experiment: take any page of definitions out of the Oxford dictionary and then type it into your word processor as fast and accurately as you possibly can, while at the same time maintaining the exact wording, spelling, punctuation, bolding, font size changes, italics, etc. That approximates the job of a compositor (and my guess is you would not retain much of the substance of what you typed).

Perhaps more important, and as others have pointed out, has the fact that Gallaway was a compositor been clearly established?

lybrary wrote: … A typesetter develops very nimble fingers due to the constant handling of movable type. It is actually quite beneficial for a card shark to be a typesetter. This was an observation a typesetter shared with me. The dexterity of typesetters is no surprise. …

That seems a very large stretch. Moreover (and still assuming he was a compositor), it assumes that Gallaway was working with cold-metal type, but perhaps you’ve already established that possibility by inspection of the bankruptcy (“BK” for short) files. If McKinney primarily worked with cold-metal type, I would expect that he’d have a very large and varied stock of founts, in which case this important asset should be listed as an asset in his BK docs. If a stock of founts is not listed, do the BK docs state that McKinney had any linotype or monotype machines (the former being more likely if he had either), another high-value asset? In that case the nimbleness you refer to would have been typing on a lino or mono keyboard. If not, then it seems likely that McKinney outsourced the typesetting to a larger company (newspapers and larger printing houses often did composing work for smaller printing companies in that era), and if that’s the case, then it seems unlikely that Gallaway was a compositor of any real significance, at least at that time.

IMHO, the foregoing seem minor quibbles in comparison to the following: where did Galloway get such cheating knowledge – knowledge that many have claimed to be revolutionary and cutting-edge – and how did he find the time to do so? Chris, are you suggesting it was book-learned? I’m not at all an Erdnase student, but I have the vague recollection that Erdnase hints (or outright says it?) that his knowledge was gained over a period of years spent earning the trust of sophisticated cheats. (Hopefully the Erdnase cognoscenti can chime in!) In any event, it seems improbable that Gallaway – a man who worked in the printing trade since the age of 14 – was able to learn the “real work” in his off-hours.

Tom Sawyer wrote:… I was quite interested in some of the views expressed above by Richard Kaufman, Richard Hatch, and Bill Mullins concerning the significance of the Edward Galloway bookplate in a copy of the first edition of Erdnase. …

Do we know that the bookplate image kindly posted by Bill Mullins is the same as in Gallaway’s copy of TEATCT? Or maybe I’ve missed something here …

Tom Sawyer wrote:... It could be a stock bookplate, but it is a heavily "typographical" design, which to me implies that he might well have had it printed by one of the printers he worked for. …

The one posted by Bill is also very peculiar for a private bookplate. I’ve seen a few private bookplates over the years, and can’t recall seeing one looking so institutional, with the fields “Catalogue Page,” Shelf,” and “Volumes in Set” (though perhaps they exist).

Tom Sawyer wrote:... I do believe that bookplates are one of THE key ways in which some collectors like to say "This is who I am," or "Look how special I am for believing such cool things," or maybe be a little sententious. Nobody else really gives a rap what they include on their bookplates, but many collectors seem to. I think that the wording on the bookplate gives a good idea of "how Gallaway viewed Gallaway." …

Certainly agree with your first point, Tom, but how far can we press the point? After all, would we expect to see sentiments such as “You Can’t Learn a Damned Thing from a Book” or “Books are Worthless” on a bookplate? :)

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Zenner » July 27th, 2015, 5:26 am

Bill Mullins wrote:
Zenner wrote:Bill Mullins quoted from the Chicago Tribune in a much earlier posting on here - back in August, 2012. He said that Gallaway was 67 when he died in May, 1930. He wasn't; he was 61 when the Census was taken the month before.


Note: I didn't say that Gallaway was 67. The obit said it, and I was only quoting it.

And for whatever it is worth, the Illinois Death Index gives Ed's DOB as 1 July 1869. Unless a better date comes along, I'll take that as definitive.


Oh Bill - I was careful to say that you were quoting from the Chicago Tribune. After checking with the actual source though, I realise that it was the Chicago Sunday Tribune!

Regarding the date of birth; the Illinois Death Index is wrong. Check the Censuses - he was 41 in April, 1910; 51 in January, 1920, and 61 in April, 1930. His birthday was after those dates, i.e., on July 1. So he was 42 on July 1, 1910, etc., making his year of birth 1868.

For more information about Peter Edward Gallaway and his family, check
http://www.adkins9.net/individual.php?pid=I2654

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 27th, 2015, 5:50 am

Zenner wrote:Regarding the date of birth; the Illinois Death Index is wrong. Check the Censuses - he was 41 in April, 1910; 51 in January, 1920, and 61 in April, 1930. His birthday was after those dates, i.e., on July 1. So he was 42 on July 1, 1910, etc., making his year of birth 1868.


Well done Sherlock. I have Gallaway's baptism records. He was born 7/1/1868 and baptized a month later together with one of his brothers.

If you are into family stuff then you might like to know that Edward had 3 other brothers and two younger sisters. One of the brothers died before he even received a name or perhaps it was a still birth. One of is older brothers also died in childhood leaving him with one older brother who was 7 years older than him and two younger sisters. One of the sisters moved to Chicago. Her mother joined her after her husband died in 1900.

As was mentioned before, Gallaway married in 1901. His wife had a daughter from a prior marriage. I think these are good reasons to both go straight and give up card sharking, as well as motivation for 'needing the money', if you suddenly have a family to care for. His son was born 1903.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 27th, 2015, 6:11 am

magicam wrote:If McKinney primarily worked with cold-metal type, I would expect that he’d have a very large and varied stock of founts, in which case this important asset should be listed as an asset in his BK docs. If a stock of founts is not listed, do the BK docs state that McKinney had any linotype or monotype machines (the former being more likely if he had either), another high-value asset?


There is an entire page in the bankruptcy files dedicated to the metal type McKinney had. So yes, he had quite a bit of it. There is no indication of a linotype machine. But he did outsource work to other typesetting companies. My reading of this is that whatever he couldn't handle in-house with the 20-25 typesetters he probably had, he outsourced to other companies.

As to the typesetter and printer I am consulting with, he is in his seventies and did start his career as typesetter and printer. He worked in a fairly large print shop where they also had Miele printing machines. Of course, he worked about 70-80 years after Gallaway, which means that the industry wasn't exactly the same anymore. But the work as a typesetter working with movable type did not change that much until one actually used linotype or later computers to set type. My consultant later moved into other functions of the print industry similar to what we already know Gallaway did, too. So for me this guy is the closest living proxy I have to somebody like Gallaway.

Regarding the genealogist who offered the suggestion that Gallaway probably took up the printing trade for his love of books: Just as any expert who works for years in their field one develops a certain instinct and gut feeling. She has researched hundreds of families from that time and location. She has researched the entire family tree of the Gallaway family for me. I think that her gut feeling is as good as any other suggestion I have read here. In asking her flat out why she thinks that, she said that one indication for this is that neither Edward's father nor grandfather worked in the printing industry. Also none of his older brothers did. I guess back then a good portion of 14 year old boys seeking full time employment would take up a trade already represented in their family. Of course that didn't happen every time. But the fact that this was not the case with Edward we have to ask why the printing trade? There can be many other reasons for it than a love of books. But taken together with the facts surrounding his bookplates I say a very reasonable assumption we can make.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Marty Demarest » July 27th, 2015, 11:37 am

It really should be asked how we know James McKinney & Co. printed The Expert.

The Expert's LoC copyright application lists "c/o James McKinney & Co." as Erdnase's contact address and residence, but the company is not named as the book's printer.

The LoC registration of the submission of the title page, interestingly, lists Erdnase as being "of" Chicago, and records that "he" is "author and proprietor." They probably assumed his address from the copyright application. But how did they determined his gender? And why did they change the clear, singular designation of "Author" on the application to "Author and Proprietor" on the registration?

The LoC's card catalogue of copyrights also has a piece of paper pasted at the top of The Expert's card that names "J. McKinney & co., printers." How they determined that I don't know.

We could also link The Expert to James McKinney & Co. via Adrian Plate's first edition copy (also in the LoC), which is inscribed in pencil at the bottom of the title page as "sold by James McKinney & Co. / 73 & 75 Plymouth Court / Chicago Ill." (That's pretty specific.)

Finally, there is Edward Gallaway's first edition copy at the Conjuring Arts Research Center. It has the same bookplate that has been depicted elsewhere, pasted--somewhat askew and off-center--on the front cover endsheet.

So in summary:

McKINNEY & CO. and S. W. ERDNASE/THE EXPERT AT THE CARD TABLE
EVIDENCE SOURCE


PRIMARY SOURCES:
--The copyright application at the Library of Congress (filled out presumably by either McKinney & Co., Erdnase, or one of their agents.)

SECONDARY SOURCES:
--Adrian Plate's first edition of the book, indicating that it was sold by James McKinney & Co., and giving the firm's address (presumably written by Plate)
--The card catalogue of copyrights at the Library of Congress (filled out by LoC staff)
--The registration of title copyright and receipt of deposit copies at the Library of Congress (filled out by LoC staff)

CIRCUMSTANTIAL SOURCES:
--Bookplate in Edward Gallaway's first edition of The Expert (Gallaway was an employee of McKinney & Co.)


McKINNEY & CO. and S. W. ERDNASE/THE EXPERT AT THE CARD TABLE
INFORMATION

S. W. ERDNASE'S NAME:
--Primary Source: copyright application (S. W. Erdnase)
--Secondary Source: card catalogue of copyrights (S. W. Erdnase)
--Secondary Source: registration of copyright (S. W. Erdnase)

S. W. ERDNASE'S ADDRESS:
--Primary Source: copyright application ("73 Plymouth Place, Chicago, Ill."--pp. 1, 2)
--Primary Source: copyright application ("c/o Jas. McKinney & Co. / 73 Plymouth Place / Chicago, Ill."--p. 2)
--Secondary Source: registration of copyright ("73 Plymouth Place, Chicago, Ill.")

S. W. ERDNASE'S BUSINESS ROLE WITH THE BOOK
--Primary Source: copyright application ("Author")
--Secondary Source: registration of copyright ("Author and proprietor")

JAMES MCKINNEY & CO. AS PRINTERS OF THE BOOK:
--Secondary Source: card catalogue of copyrighs ("Chicago, J. McKinney & Co., printers, 1902")
--Circumstantial Source: Edward Gallaway's bookplate in first edition

JAMES MCKINNEY & CO. AS BINDERS OF THE BOOK:
--NO EVIDENCE

JAMES MCKINNEY & CO. AS SELLERS OF THE BOOK:
--Secondary Source: Adrian Plate's first edition copy ("sold by James McKinney & Co. / 73 & 75 Plymouth Court / Chicago Ill.")

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Richard Hatch » July 27th, 2015, 11:49 am

Here's a more direct link to Edward Gallaway's genealogy and major life events (thanks, Peter!). Note that his parents spelled the last name Galloway, so confusion on that is understandable:
http://www.adkins.ws/individual.php?pid ... Adkins.GED

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 27th, 2015, 12:23 pm

Richard Hatch wrote:Here's a more direct link to Edward Gallaway's genealogy and major life events (thanks, Peter!). Note that his parents spelled the last name Galloway, so confusion on that is understandable:
http://www.adkins.ws/individual.php?pid ... Adkins.GED


I would like to add that a good part of the information on the Adkins website comes from research my genealogist did and which we contributed to Adkins website. There was a big error that mixed up two different families which we sorted out.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Bill Mullins » July 27th, 2015, 12:29 pm

An interesting magical pseudonym:
William Brisbane Dick wrote as "Leger D. Mayne".

He was a partner in Dick and Fitzgerald, which published magic and gambling books in the 19th century, and wrote a number of books himself.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 27th, 2015, 12:48 pm

lybrary wrote:I just realized something: S.W. Erdnase is an anagram for "Ed Answers". Ed is short for Edward. Edward Gallaway that is ;)


Or perhaps: "Edw. Sans Re" which I translate as "Edward Without Reference".
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 27th, 2015, 1:17 pm

The bankruptcy files are now available for anybody who is interested to read them: http://www.lybrary.com/the-james-mckinney-co-bankruptcy-files-p-741390.html

They include the 1899 James McKinney bankruptcy and the more interesting 1902 James McKinney & Co bankruptcy. In an introduction I am describing how I found them.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Leo Garet » July 27th, 2015, 1:32 pm

lybrary wrote:
lybrary wrote:I just realized something: S.W. Erdnase is an anagram for "Ed Answers". Ed is short for Edward. Edward Gallaway that is ;)


Or perhaps: "Edw. Sans Re" which I translate as "Edward Without Reference".

Or possibly Ned SWEars. ;)

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 27th, 2015, 1:39 pm

Or "Wand Seers" quite fitting for somebody writing on magic, don't you think?
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Roger M. » July 27th, 2015, 2:08 pm

Simple question.

How did Gallaway, if he began a career as a print-setter at the age of 14, accumulate the many thousands of hours that would have been required to come up with the hitherto unseen, and extremely revolutionary material we see in the book?

Also, Erdnase's brilliant thinking that would lead to the development of the material in the book could hardly have occurred in a vacuum, so again, if he was a career printer at 14, when did he spend the years that would have been required to expose him to the state of the art cheating and hustling of his day ... such that he would build upon what he had learned to create his original creations in EATCT?

As one investigates various candidates, the sheer brilliance of the material in the book, and the diverse experience Erdnase himself must have already had in order to develop that material can't simply be overlooked.
Somehow, one must explain the how, what, where, and when that would have exposed Erdnase to "the life" prior to writing the book, and further, detail the subsequent years it would have taken him to develop his original work.

A man who began his career at age 14 as a typesetter, and died a typesetter after a life long career as a typesetter doesn't seem to have had the decade (or more) of gaming experience required to actually develop and create the original work we see in EATCT.

The material in the book remains the best evidence we have of Erdnase's true mindset, and that evidence points to a man who had a deep and fundamental understanding of cheating at cards for money.
As has been said many times before here, putting a deck of cards into the hands of the candidate is critical.
And that deck of cards has to be representative of what he wrote in the book ... it has to show he had the deep understanding of cheating at cards that Erdnase so brilliantly demonstrates he indeed has.

Although I didn't agree with his candidate, Martin Gardners description of the EATCT author as "that fabulous gambler responsible for a masterpiece" is something I agree with completely.

Is Gardners "fabulous gambler" anywhere in the recently proposed list of candidates?
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 27th, 2015, 2:29 pm

Roger, so basically what you are saying is that one can't have a regular job and also learn how to manipulate the cards to the degree Erdnase must have.

I completely disagree with that notion. I will give you a counter example from my life. I was a serious athlete with ambitions to become a professional athlete. In my world of sports in Austria, which was a mix of amateurs and pros, there were many who held a full time job as well as played the sport on the highest level in Austria. They spent every week dozens of hours to perfect their game and train their body. By all measures some of them achieved expert level. I think it is actually easier to do that with cards, because you can practice your moves and sleights almost anywhere. Having full time work does not mean you have no other time for anything else.

We also do not know if Gallaway was continuously employed. With all the bankruptcies McKinney alone had there could be significant stretches of unemployment which would allow even more time for practice and gambling.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Roger M. » July 27th, 2015, 2:43 pm

It's important to recall that (for the large part) Erdnase didn't just "manipulate" cards, he created, from scratch a revolutionary new way of looking at hustling and cheating at cards.

As compared to your athlete analogy, this would be comparable to an athlete coming up with an entirely new sport from scratch, and then having that sport accepted into the Olympics.

One of my points above was that a person doesn't create something as substantial as EATCT while sitting on the edge of their bed.
They have to be out in the gritty world of hustling and cheating at cards, such that they can build up a substantial enough understanding of the craft that they can subsequently turn that entire craft on its head and forever change how it's viewed and practiced.

I haven't yet seen a deck of cards in Gallaway's hands.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Richard Hatch » July 27th, 2015, 3:08 pm

Chris, thanks for making the bankruptcy files available. As you pointed out to me a few weeks ago, McKinney's 1903 bankruptcy in several places shows indebtedness to one "E. C. Andrews" or "E. B. Andrews" of Chicago, clearly the same person being indicated, though with some question as to his middle initial. In the one place where this is handwritten, the middle initial is illegible, though it appears in that case to be a B overwritten by a C to me. It seems McKinney owed this person $3 for sales of goods delivered. We know from the Adrian Plate copy that McKinney was selling copies of the book, though we don't know if it was at retail ($2) or wholesale or both. The $3 could easily be explained as the author's share of sales of his book (anywhere from 3 to 12 copies, I would guess) by McKinney prior to the imposition of receivership on December 23, 1902. No proof of this that I can see in the files, but it is certainly intriguing that one of the people owed money has a "name of interest"!
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Conjuring Arts » July 27th, 2015, 3:26 pm

Conjuring Arts has also had the McKinney Bankruptcy papers for some time and have decided to release them to all, free of charge. The files are now available to search and view via Ask Alexander to all account holders (even at the free level) and are in the S. W. Erdnase directory located here:

Erdnase

Please note that this will also allow users to post links to interesting pages.
Want to reach us or have questions? Send us a PM or email us at: questions@conjuringarts.org
Official Account of the Conjuring Arts Research Center

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby lybrary » July 27th, 2015, 3:35 pm

No surprise here that unethical Kalush tries to steal my historic discovery. He already infringes my copyrights. Must be very proud of himself.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Brad Jeffers » July 27th, 2015, 7:06 pm

Marty Demarest wrote:JAMES MCKINNEY & CO. AS BINDERS OF THE BOOK:
--NO EVIDENCE


Perhaps this one line could be amended to read ...

JAMES MCKINNEY & CO. AS BINDERS OF THE BOOK:
--Circumstantial source: Jay Marshall's note concerning Edward Gallaway's first edition copy of The Expert.

A copy of that note can be seen HERE, 23rd page, item 101.

The resolution is not very good, but I can make out that Marshall believed Gallaway to be the binder, McKinney to be the printer, and Milton Franklin Andrews to be the author.

If someone could provide a complete transcript of this note, it would be appreciated, as there are parts that I cannot clearly make out.


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