[Encased Postage Stamps] Cowley, Charles. REMINISCENCES OF JAMES C. AYER AND THE TOWN OF AYER. Third edition. Lowell: Penhallow Printing Company, (1880). 8vo, original blindstamped black cloth; upper cover lettered in gilt. 156, (4) pages. Spine rubbed and hinges slightly cracked, but binding sound; very good. Of interest to collectors of encased postage stamps. Cowley writes that Ayer “loved to play jokes—some of them intensely practical.” When Ayer’s church desired a chime of bells, he and his brother made a present of the F bell. Ayer, in jest, proposed “that ‘Cherry Pectoral and Cathartic Pills’ should appear in the inscription upon the bell given by this firm.” To Ayer’s glee, the church committee “protested that these bells were to chime the praises of Almighty God, and not the merit of patent medicines.” Ex John J. Ford, Jr. Library (Kolbe Sale 106, lot 455); ex Wayne Homren Library.