On this rainy spring day, I want to bring your attention to NYPL’s collection of American book posters from the turn of the century; the ones available online belonged to the collector Anna Palmer Draper and are dated between 1895 and 1911.

Literature instructors could use these posters to talk to students about the literary field of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The majority of the posters in this collection are advertising so-called popular books that are forgotten today. Looking at these posters in class could be a way to reflect on the differences between “serious” and “popular” literature, the legitimacy of these classifications, and how such distinctions continue to affect media today.

Another possible activity would be to have students go through this archive at home, choose a book poster, and write a short essay (no longer than a page or two) about their impression of it. What can they glean about the book from studying the advertisement? Who might be the intended audience? etc.

The full collection can be accessed here: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/posters-american-book-posters#/?tab=about&scroll=3.