Their big closing sale starts today and goes until Sunday, with 25 - 50%.
The shop is packed with ephemera--things made of paper that come and then go. They have fantastic movie posters, magazines, strange catalogs (for products like antique anal stimulators), and tons of photographs.
They've even got a collection of Jewish wine labels, including several from the Lower East Side's own Schapiro's--the wine “so thick you can almost cut it with a knife."
Browsing here, time goes by without notice. I ended up getting lost in a book of very old receipts from New York City businesses, and bought a few of them, which I have scanned here.
Each receipt is beautifully decorated. They come with handwritten details and notes. Eggebrecht & Bernhardt, importers of kid gloves, "regret being out of size 9."
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWrQfPH2PfVk7xYkNENIjB6KqpFSVh2D5kNoqiJiKWR0oTVQjLMbn8DluHe01EVYTthfvCBAWthOgqAXTFyKLQ1Ht7NziH1Fs1uIgOd-JoiYpowX78WLFf9SV9S1F-cvhUry81qpkeJc0p/s320/sc0003f40d.jpg)
Goodyear's India Rubber Glove company, manufacturers of rubber goods of every description, also had a store in town. The New York Times of 1865 recommended shopping there for Christmas gifts, including "a fine assortment of vulcanite jewelry, bracelets, brooches, ear-rings, sleeve-buttons, chains, chatelaines, charms, pencils, etc. Also, India rubber toys, balls and fancy articles of every description."
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8U5iiYAfW7wndGcPtKBR38cRsa98o4z4LdAZtuv9B7DMOsoJQ5lD6rYT-AwKS34fEcDwRPQct6odcWp_dh9oB2BLiMyPhxlsVV4NUefhsa8CkkRAWHbr8OqTpq2me7mmX45CPb5m3wGR0/s320/sc0003fddf.jpg)
And then there's Rody Peters, the practical horse shoer, where horses were "shod up to nature and according to art." You don't see many of them around today.
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After Main Street Ephemera closes, they will still be selling their wares online (visit their website here), but there's nothing like sifting through the many boxes, bins, and three-ring binders, to immerse yourself in the pleasure of paper, the smell and look and feel of it. So go soon. They may be gone before March.
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