Diggings from Many Ampersandhogs, title page  ©1937 The Typophiles

The Ticknor Society of Boston is dedicated to the enjoyment, promotion, and support of books and book culture. The Society’s name honors George Ticknor (1791-1871), a prominent Boston scholar, collector, and library supporter, and his daughter Anna Eliot Ticknor (1823-1896), an early member of the Massachusetts Library Commission (founded 1890).

The Ticknor Society’s annual Show & Tell evening features six members who present and describe items from their collections. December 10, 2019, the cast of presenters included Nancy Upper, who showed and described pages from the rare book Diggings from Many Ampersandhogs edited by Paul A. Bennett (1897-1966), New York: The Typophiles, ©1937.

Diggings froom Many Ampersandhogs consists of 35 “calligraphic, typographic, and bibliographic rambles” in the realm of the ampersand, each contributed by a Typophile. Editor Bennett asked contributors to provide copy “serious or not too serious,” articles of four, eight, or more pages, and to submit their material to him “during November, 1936, for distribution of this keepsake on Christmas Day [1936].”

In the book’s introduction Bennett wrote, “The latter request was blithely ignored by several — one reason why we are late in delivery.” The Diggings copyright date is 1937.

Upper showed and described 16 pages from Diggings, mostly humorous, to keep the audience laughing during this popular event.