[Manuscript Diary & Daybook and Scrapbook of Orville Edward Reed, a Copy Writer Working for the Mergenthal Linotype Company]

New York & Sandusky, Oh, 1923. Very good.. Manuscript diary: 155pp. of manuscript entries, plus numerous clippings and letters tipped in. Octavo. Original full crimson leatherette, blindstamped title on front cover. Scrapbook: 36pp. of mounted items, plus numerous mockups, drafts, letterhead, and more laid in. Folio. Original gray cloth, personalized gilt titles on front cover reading, "Orville Edward Reed." Minor overall wear. A pair of interesting primary source volumes maintained by Orville Edward Reed (1901-1977) focusing on his work as a copywriter in the advertising department of the Mergenthaler Linotype Company in New York City and the Matthews Engineering Company of Sandusky, Ohio at the outset of the Roaring Twenties. Reed's work for the Mergenthaler Linotype Company is the most evocative here. He provides candid entries in his diary relating to the working drafts and mockups of advertising campaigns for the firm's prolific display type equipment, which was utilized mainly in newspaper production. A couple of early diary entries provide a flavor of Reed's work and his style:

January 20, 1922: "To the N.Y. Tribune this evening to arrange for the taking of a picture for my new display ad 'Don't Tie Up Your Display Type Equipment in the Forms.' Loafed around the composing room watching the Model 20 at work on heads."

January 31, 1922: "Things went beautifully all day until about two o'clock this afternoon. Denman killed my 'Time Switch' folder which I spent a whole day on. He re-wrote it. It hurt me. Submerged me. Made me feel as tho I was not 'keeping faith.' Made me feel like hell. The confidence I thot I had in myself went 'bang.' I don't possess it. From here on out I work always with the view to giving my best - putting everything I have into every task. And the capital 'I' has first preference in everything. To hell with the world. I'm going to look after 'I.' Take the cash and let the credit go.... I have turned out a lot of good stuff for Mergenthaler. There's more where that came from. And I'm going to air it."

Some of the most fascinating material here lies in the various mockups and drafts of advertisements Reed made for Mergenthaler, all of which are stored in his scrapbook. These include a couple of pencil mockups and a few drafts for a two-page ad for the company's "All-Linotype" services, and mockups and drafts for two other ads, including one that asks, "Is Your Composing Room Earning All It Should?" The scrapbook also includes numerous business letters by and to Reed, a couple of his business cards, two company photographs, and a healthy amount of business correspondence to Reed when he switched to Matthews Engineering in Sandusky. A unique assemblage of material from a year-in-the-work of an "ad man" working for a New York linotype company and then an engineering firm in Ohio.