The diaries of James Cummings

Cummings, James

Published by various, 1952

About this Item

An unprecedented manuscript diary of 26,298 consecutive days without a single omission. Paragraphs are represented by a squiggle mark. Every word is produced by a real fountain pen and every word is penned in permanent blue black ink.The first 5 vols. are octavo in size, the next 23 are quarto and the final 44 are small folio. The first 56 vols. were kept in St. Paul and Stillwater Minnesota. The next 13 in western Wisconsin 50 miles from downtown St. Paul. The last 13 vols. were kept in Tennessee. Full boyhood details of attending public schools in Minnesota depicting curriculum. They tell of going to the YMCA 2 nights a week and the activities there. Also every Mon. and Thurs. after the Y experience a movie was attended and commented on. The residence was on the Mississippi River bluff a mile above the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers and a scant mile from Ft. Snelling. A best friend shared swimming in the river and diligent study and listing of bird species, collecting nests, finding agates and fossils. At age 15 the friend and I hitched hiked to St. Louis to see Stan Musial play baseball and then on to Chicago to go the zoo. During the Easter vacation of my sophomore and junior years I hitch hiked to and from Austin, Texas to visit a beloved Aunt. 3 journals independent of the diaries - were kept detailing natural history and travel data. At age 18 my parents moved to California and I enlisted in the army for 2 years not desiring to move from Mn. and the military draft was an obligation. A 19 I married and had two children in 1 years (another several years later). Being a company clerk at an atomic weapons base in New Mexico is detailed as was billing evenings at a trucking company in St. Paul. Immediately after getting out of the service I was hired by the remarkable antiquarian book dealer Harlow Ross in Mpls. I worked for him on Saturdays and as needed to buy and move libraries. A visit to Calif. resulted in being hired by a prestigious San Francisco antiquarian book dealer. A year later a move back to Minnesota resulted in eventually opening my own shop - the first of a half dozen successful stores. 64 years of travelling some 2 1/2 million miles on the spoor of books and also of amassing a private collection of 16,200 printed diaries. All this is meticulously detailed - the fullest recording of any life. Price represents a mere $10.00 a page. Attention: Yale University for you have the greatest collection of letters and thus you should consider the greatest diaries. Also Minnesota Historical Society note this remarkable regional attachment.

Seller Inventory # 0008622

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The diaries of James Cummings
• Publisher: various
• Publication Date: 1952
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: Manuscript diaries.
• Condition: Good