This listing is for the hardcover book “American Spoons: Souvenir Historical” by Dorothy T. Rainwater & Donna H. Felger and was published in 1990 by Schiffer Publishing. This 360-page book measures 9" x 11 1/4" and weighs 3.5 pounds. The text is visually enhanced by more than 800 illustrations, eight full-color plates and about sixty pages reproduced from old trade catalogs.

This book is in excellent condition and appears to have only been lightly read. Please see the many photos for more details on this book.

Quoted from the dust jacket: Spoons, whose origin is veiled in the mists of prehistory, are used by all mankind. First, by infants for their first semi-solid food, spoons are also tokens of remembrance on joyful occasions, administerers of medicine in times of illness, conveyors of delightful desserts in time of health and finally, in old age when man reverts to the semi-solid diet of infancy, spoons are still essential.

The spoons whose stories are told in this volume range from a diamond encrusted one-of-a-kind spoons given by a group of diamond cutters to the silverplated promotional items used to sell newspapers and breakfast cereals.

Perhaps the first spoons used by man were simply shells picked up on the beaches, or chips of wood called spon from which our word spoon is derived. American spoons as commemorative items began with the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Spoon patented by Myron H. Kinsley in 1881. Within a few years the popularity of commemorative spoons quickly spread as ideal mementoes for practically every conceivable event, personage, or natural wonder.

George and Martha Washington were the first people of note to appear on American spoons when their designs were trademarked by the Galt Company in 1890, but the spoons generally credited with launching the souvenir spoon craze were the Salem Witch spoons whose trademark was registered January 13, 1891 by the Daniel Low Company and used on countless small sterling silver articles.

These trademarked designs were followed by others but the greatest number of designs were patented. It is these patented designs which form the basis for this volume. They commemorate famous people, tell of the winning of the West, the days of the Forty Niners, world fairs, sports, holidays, commercial ventures and much more.