Without doumented evidence, but based upon memory of lectures, I recall several items as having "been said" to have been popular, because they were commonly carried and sold at many general stores:
- complete bibles
- new testaments, esp pocket sizes
- McGufy's Readers
- Dictionaries
- any of the "Penny Dreadfuls" and "Dime Novels"
- local newspapers, carried, read, re-read, and later put to "other" good use
- papers from major cities that carried important speeches, politics, serialized articles or novels
- any of some of the "common classical plays" by authors such as Shakespear, Faust, etc
(btw such plays and light operas are well documented as being incredibly popular all over the country, including the Great
West as seen by playhouse and opera houses built in such varied towns as Tombstone, AZ; Alubuquerque & Santa Fe, NM;
Cripple Creek, Co; Deadwood, SD; and even the tiny town of Cerrios, NM )
- writings of Mark Twain and his contemporaries
- writings of Poets of the Era such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
Professor Marvel plans to have a few reproductions of McGufy's, a few Dime Novels, Postcards and a facsimile of a newspaper in his peddlars cart, (along with some dry goods, coffee, percussion caps, colt's patent paper cartridges, etc)
Those with specific interests and passions such as the Temperance Movement or Abolitionist Movement would be likely to be carrying pamphlets and publications from movement leaders such as the Grimke sisters (American abolitionists and leaders in the Women's Sufferage Movements).
Altho not likely to be carried by itinerant travelers due to weight consideration, those who have settled with specific skills such as advanced blacksmithing, furniture making, etc, would be likely to have at least one handbook of esoterics peculiar to their trade; professionals such as watchmakers, engineers, doctors, lawyers, dentist, undertakers, etc would likely have a small trunkfull !
Other specific titles would most certainly depend upon the individual, their past, their travels, and their interests -
Obviously a traveler with a literary interest might collect, carry, and share or resell tomes of interest; further, anyone with access to a railhead and a telegraph office could order out nearly any book from publishers in larger cities, starting with the publishers catalog. Thus books that one might normally consider the purview of New York or San Francisco could easily end up in
nearly any town. Such collections might be established at a towns Teacher, Preacher, Doctor, Lawyer, Judge, or learned layman such as the fictional Cartwright Clan (ie Bonanza )
Free Public Libraries, of course, were nearly unheard of until the Andrew Carnegie began his Carnegie Library Foundation with the first establishment in 1889 in Braddock, Pennsylvania, home to one of the Carnegie Steel Company's mills.
Also Sheet music was EXTREMELY Popular, anyone that had a piano, or any instrument for that matter, would certainly be collecting sheet music, and often the "latest tunes" would be delivered by mail.
Hymnals, BTW were in short supply - both because few were published (compared to popular fiction) , but also due to costs involved. As a result a church might be established by a preacher who had one or "a few" hymnals, and songs were mainly memorized. This led to an intruiguing movement, close to my heart, called "Shape Note Singing" or "The Sacred Harp".
from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_note"Shape notes are a music notation designed to facilitate congregational and community singing. The notation, introduced in 1801, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the note heads in written music to help singers find pitches within major and minor scales without the use of more complex information found in key signatures on the staff."
at the wiki link one can hear a snip of the basic "fa-so-la" method of teaching the song "Star of the East"
"Shape Note" singing is a unique and marvelous sound providing a haunting harmony that is oft associated with Appalachian Music - these links can provide more info:
http://fasola.org/http://www.paperlesshymnal.com/shapnote/shaped.htmhttp://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/harp.htmland some playable song snips:
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/sounds/yhs
prof marvel
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