[Item #4686] Flower Arranging- A Fascinating Hobby with: Volume 2 with: Homes and Flowers: Refreshing Arrangements Volume 3. Laura Lee Burroughs.
Flower Arranging- A Fascinating Hobby with: Volume 2 with: Homes and Flowers: Refreshing Arrangements Volume 3
Flower Arranging- A Fascinating Hobby with: Volume 2 with: Homes and Flowers: Refreshing Arrangements Volume 3
Flower Arranging- A Fascinating Hobby with: Volume 2 with: Homes and Flowers: Refreshing Arrangements Volume 3
Flower Arranging- A Fascinating Hobby with: Volume 2 with: Homes and Flowers: Refreshing Arrangements Volume 3
Flower Arranging- A Fascinating Hobby with: Volume 2 with: Homes and Flowers: Refreshing Arrangements Volume 3
Flower Arranging- A Fascinating Hobby with: Volume 2 with: Homes and Flowers: Refreshing Arrangements Volume 3
Flower Arranging- A Fascinating Hobby with: Volume 2 with: Homes and Flowers: Refreshing Arrangements Volume 3

Flower Arranging- A Fascinating Hobby with: Volume 2 with: Homes and Flowers: Refreshing Arrangements Volume 3

Atlanta, GA: The Coca-Cola Company, 1940; 1941; 1942. First Printings. Stapled Wrappers. "Remember, flowers are gay and beautiful. Arranging them should be pleasant. Don't take it so seriously that you cannot enjoy doing it. Study and read about it by all means, but not for fixed rules. Read to learn fundamentals of design, to get suggestions about plants, and, above all, for inspiration. Then with your flowers as material, your vase as a canvas, and your house as background, create your own picture." (from foreword to Vol.1, pg. 4) Here they are, presented for the first time on Third Mind Books: All three volumes of flower-arranging booklets by Laura Lee Burroughs (1888-1970), the mother of William S. Burroughs, Founder's Founder of the Beat Generation & the Patron Saint-Demon of our enterprise. Published by the Coca-Cola Company during 1940-1942, popular & successful when originally released, these volumes are exemplars of early-mid 20th century American WASP decorum & gentility, with a strong & frequent element of Coca-Cola promotion-propaganda in the grand commercial sponsorship tradition. With actually quite beautiful color images of flower arrangements & background-tableaus that tranquilly evoke the Art Deco-Moderne style of the period; & texts by Mrs. Burroughs that are oh-so-proper & conventional. For example, in the third volume, opposite image of an elegant & bountiful table & sideboard display with Coca-Cola bottles on ice of course at its center flanked by her flower arrangements, is "A Coke Party": "All on a summer's day- a "Coke" party for the teen-age- refreshing and inexpensive, but with all the glamour the young enjoy. Shrimps in an ice block provide a sophisticated touch. Strips of raw carrots and cauliflower (with sauce, of course) provide Vitamin A, or is it C? There are sandwiches, nuts and olives and quantities of bottles of ice-cold "Coca-Cola". Clearly this young hostess will be a success socially." (pg. 40). Also in that volume is a frontispiece portrait of Mrs. B, seated most elegantly on a couch with a "Coke" in hand- the resemblance of her face to that of WSB is astoundingly similar (she was after all his mother...) Schottlaender, G11, pg. 130. Beyond mere irony, these volumes could not be more in contrast to the subversion & usurpation of traditional American culture- corporate, political, sexual, social & literary- that Mrs. B's younger offspring was already up to, & would blossom (pun intended?) into the nucleus of the Beat Generation just a year or two after the last of these booklets were published. But in his personal appearance & manner, WSB throughout his life threw a curve to his fans & foes alike by evoking the very reserved propriety & politeness that his mother's productions so strongly exemplify (as this writer can attest, having been in His Presence during WSB's last years). From the collection of Brian Schottlaender, author of "Anything But Routine," the most complete & up-to-date WSB bibliography now in its fourth ever-expanding online edition. We always consult our good friend Brian's ABR for all our WSB-related rarities, even as above. Among the most surreal, stranger-than-fiction collectibles ever published- when perused in context by knowledgeable Burroughsians, that is- with distinguished provenance. Vol. 1 in near-fine condition with mild rubbing, scratching & faint creasing to front, back covers & stapled spine; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same esp. spine-edges & corners; staples in process of rusting with miniscule interior bleeding; mild rubbing & browning to edges of text block. Interior very fine with only a hint of browning, occasional spotting mostly to blank margins of page leaves; tiny bumps at mostly upper corners of some of same. Vol. 2 relatively good-to-near-fine with mild rubbing, scratching & creasing to front, back covers & stapled spine; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same; one short, closed tear at lower spine-edge & corner; one somewhat pronounced, slightly angled vertical crease across length of back cover at blank red mid-left area; staples slightly rusting with miniscule interior bleeding; moderate rubbing & browning to edges of text block. Interior fine with only a hint of browning, rubbing & occasional spotting mostly to blank margins of page leaves; faint creases across lengths of a few of same (with no substantial effect on text or images); tiny bumps, faint creases at corners of some of same. Vol. 3 relatively good-to-near-fine with very slight rubbing to front, back covers & stapled spine; a bit of wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; staples in process of rusting with minimal interior bleeding. Interior good-to-near-fine with moderate spotting to some page leaves (not effecting images, hardly effecting texts); faint but sometimes somewhat profuse waving-wrinkling of some of same (again not substantially effecting images, hardly effecting texts); small, faint creases & tiny bumps at esp. upper corners of some of same. Good- Near Fine. [Item #4686]

Price: $120.00