What is Ephemera?

See ephemera on AbeBooks: https://www.abebooks.com/ephemera/

So what is ephemera? Well, you probably threw some away earlier today.

Ephemera are objects created to be used for a short time only, things deliberately designed to be temporary. A newspaper for instance is designed to be read on a single day. A luggage label is useful for a single journey. A poster for a single event.

The word is Greek in origin and the strictest definition refers to something that lasts for a just day but a calendar would also be considered as ephemera even though it is used for 12 months.

This book, the Encyclopedia of Ephemera, wonderfully describes ephemera as “the minor transient documents of everyday life."
So ephemera includes…
Adverts, bank checks, birthday cards, book marks, brochures, cinema lobby cards, invitations, luggage labels, magazines & periodicals, manuscripts from letters to movie scripts, maps, menus, newspapers, pamphlets, postcards, posters, programs, stock bonds, tickets, timetables, trade catalogs and at least another thousand objects.

Now ephemera is much more than just tomorrow’s garbage. It is precisely because it’s thrown away that surviving ephemeral objects become so interesting, and potentially collectible.

If something is scarce, perhaps even unique, or if it has historical or cultural significance, or if it is connected with a person of significance then a piece of ephemera becomes valuable.

A movie poster… for DW Griffith’s iconic Birth of a Nation from 1921 $6,000
A movie contract… signed by Marilyn Monroe $14,500
A postcard…. From Einstein $49,000
A letter…. Written by Karl Marx $285,000

So think twice before you throw something away next time.


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