The encyclopedia of ephemera: a guide to the fragmentary documents of everyday life for the collector, curator, and historian

Abstract

Ephemera is the plural form of the Greek word ephemeron, which comes from epi, meaning on, about or round, and hemeron, meaning day. Literally, it refers to something that lasts throughout the day, or, as Maurice Rickards proposed, the minor transient documents of everyday life, although not every item of ephemera can be regarded as transient or even minor. Collectively the many entries in this reference seek to provide a better definition of ephemera, since they include manuscript and printed matter (football programmes, envelopes, visiting cards, ballot papers), records of the past and present (newspapers, cigarette cards, seed packets, ration papers), items designed to be thrown away (bus tickets, paper bags, cheese labels, beer mats), and to be kept (bookmarks, share certificates, playing cards, board games). The volume is intended for social historians, reference librarians, students of printing and graphic design and for collectors of ephemera who take a broader view than their own specialist field.

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