Thanks for reading today. I like to think of these writings as a ‘show and tell’ with items in my library. Some books are old, some really old, and some not at old at all. But all of them get to be talked about. That is the purpose of Librarytomes. Only a tiny amount of my books are very large or heavy, as the word tomes may insinuate, but all are important. There are stories behind each book. That is why I am grateful to expound on them.
Today is March 6th, National Alamo Day. After a long siege, Santa Anna overran the Alamo killing everyone. I have several books that each have a little part of the story. First are three books from Landmark Book series for young adults. I read these when in School at Westfield. Landmark books were baby boomer favorites in the school library. I collect them only with the dust jackets, because they are such an important part of the book. The action scenes help draw prospective readers to open the book.
First is “Davy Crockett” by Stewart H Holbrook. This is a wonderful book about the life of Davy Crockett written for young teens. He was quite an American, raised in the frontier, and every time people started settling close, he would move further west. He also was a “Coonskin Congressman”. His fateful life ended when he joined Tennessee volunteers to help fight against Santa Anna. He wanted to move to the Texas.
“Remember the Alamo” by Robert Penn Warren, is all about leading up to, and the consequences of the Battle of the Alamo. It explains the history of the church, and the back and forth fighting between Mexico and Mexican Texans, and tells why even though Santa Anna won that battle, it was an expensive win.
The third book was “Sam Houston” by William Johnson. This is his story of how he helped Texas to become part of the United States. Houston was on his way to help at the Battle of the Alamo, and ended up halting when he heard it had been lost. Instead of giving up, he recruited more volunteers, and soon met up with Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. Even though out-numbered, the battle cries “Remember the Alamo” spurred the Texans to victory. Houston went on to be Governor, and then Senator for Texas.
Some more background history would be from the book “The Story of Mexico” by Charles Morris 1914. I will get to another battle in a moment. But first, there are two copies of the Book in this photo. Then in the next picture, are two books of “The Story of the Panama Canal.
The reason is one I have discussed before, but this specific book has an added twist. These are more Salesman Dummy books, with the actual book next to it. As the program works, a book salesman would go door to door selling the book, using the salesman dummy as an incentive and visual aid. He would state the book is still being printed, and get in now for a wonderful deal. There would be one price for cloth binding, and another for leather binding. What makes this set remarkable, is that the salesman dummy book is the same for both books. You can use one side for “The Story of Mexico”, and then flip it around, and describe “the Story of the Panama Canal” This is the only example I have seen of a two sided salesman’s dummy book. The books published right when the Panama Canal was being finished; Book dealers wanting to capitalize on that event in 1914.
So now a few last notes about Mexico, and Santa Anna. He was exiled from Mexico after losing to Houston, which helped domino events for Texas becoming free from Mexico. Later, Santa Anna would be re-instated as president of Mexico. Several years later in battle with the French, Santa Anna lost his leg. He had a prosthetic one made. Few years after that, during the Mexican-American war, during the Battle of Cerro Gordo, Santa Anna was a ambushed by Illinois Infantry soldiers. While Santa Anna quickly made his escape, his leg was captured (left behind), along with two cooked chickens, and a small chest of gold. The leg is still in Illinois, on display at the Illinois State Military Museum, in Springfield. There is a nice full size diorama, with two fake cooked chickens, a chest of fake gold, and the real, fake leg.
When Paul Reubens passed away on July 30th, 2023, The Alamo posted the following on social media:
“Since 1985, not a day has passed without visitors consistently inquiring about the location of the basement at the Alamo. This tradition owes its origins to the comedic acting of Mr. Paul Reubens from the movie “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” We are immensely grateful for his unforgettable contribution to Alamo pop culture. However, we can confirm that while there is not a basement in the Alamo Church, there is one next door, under our gift shop!
May he rest in peace.”
Who knows what you will see or learn about in my library. Please keep reading.
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