LOUISE NACKE
I have a small mystery with the Louise Nacke series. The name of the publisher isn't printed anywhere in the copy of this booklet that I have. I assumed it had to be E.C. Spuehler since it is advertised on the back of many of the E.C. Spuehler publications that I've collected, and the fact that it did have St. Louis, Missouri printed on the cover, which is where E.C. Spuehler's publishing house was located. But then I found a copy of Louise Nacke's fifth book of her series, "Bags of all Kinds in Crochet", and it had a copyright date printed in it of 1916. It was copyrighted by the Jacob Frank Mercantile Company, and printed by the Stewart Scott Printing Company. That booklet was printed by a different publisher than E.C. Spuehler, and it also advertised her earlier booklets. Both the 3rd and the 5th books that I have copies of are larger dimensionally than any of the other E.C. Spuehler publications - so I'm guessing that this booklet was also first published by the Jacob Frank Mercantile Company, and not E.C. Spuehler. My educated guess is that E.C. Spuehler reissued Ms. Nacke's five books under its own imprint later in the decade. All of this is supposition. As I find more of the series, I hope to piece together more than this string of guess work - but isn't it interesting what is slowly getting revealed by putting together a catalog of these books? It's a criminal shame that the Library of Congress can't be concerned with women's hobbies - we'd know exactly when the books got published simply by looking up when the Library of Congress received and processed them into its collection...
I've found copies of the other three Nacke books! Huzzah!!! The bad news is - none of the other books have the publisher or a copyright date in them. The instructions for her designs are sketchy to nonexistant. While many of the designs are attractive - women simply don't make their own night gowns any more. I'm betting some of them could be adapted to lovely blouses, though, and I really love the portiere(fancy window dressing) on the cover of Book 2.
If you have any information on this designer, I would love to hear from you.
Pix
LOUISE NACKE BOOK CATALOG
Crocheted Yokes, Book No. 1,
by Louise Nacke (TPB:1915)
Notes: ?? pages; Country: USA; Publisher: Jacob Frank Mercantile Co./E.C. Spuehler, St. Louis, MO; ISBN: None;
...
Miscellaneous Crochet, Book No. 2,
by Louise Nacke (TPB:1915ish)
Notes: ?? pages; Country: USA; Publisher: Jacob Frank Mercantile Co./E.C. Spuehler, St. Louis, MO; ISBN: None;
...
Crocheted Edgings and Insertions, Book No. 3,
by Louise Nacke (TPB:1916)
Notes: 12 pages; Country: USA; Publisher: Jacob Frank Mercantile Co./E.C. Spuehler, St. Louis, MO; ISBN: None;
...
Crocheted Yokes for Corset Covers and Night Gowns, Book No. 4,
by Louise Nacke (TPB:1915ish)
Notes: ?? pages; Country: USA; Publisher: Jacob Frank Mercantile Co./E.C. Spuehler, St. Louis, MO; ISBN: None;
...
Bags of All Kinds in Crochet, Book No. 5,
by Louise Nacke (TPB:1916)
Notes: ?? pages; Country: USA; Publisher: Jacob Frank Mercantile Co./E.C. Spuehler, St. Louis, MO; ISBN: None;
The 1916 copyright notice says this book was copyrighted by the Jacob Frank Mercantile Company...
