[College Yearbook] The Eccentric '95. Mechanic Arts Department of the Drexel Institute Philadelphia
![[College Yearbook] The Eccentric '95. Mechanic Art](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/992/869/1715869992.0.x.jpg)
- SIGNED Cloth. Blind and Gilt Stamped
- Philadelphia: Class of '95, Drexel, 1895
Philadelphia: Class of '95, Drexel, 1895. Cloth. Blind and Gilt Stamped. Very Good Plus. Scarce college yearbook, the first of three issues of "The Eccentric", which was the yearbook at Drexel in 1895, 1896 and 1897. The school, known to this day for engineering and applied science, was founded only a few years earlier, in 1891, so this was surely the first yearbook of any kind to be produced at the school The only institutions which show up as holding this yearbook are Drexel and its neighboring university, U. of P. The Smithsonian has the second and third year, but not this year. 8vo. 22 by 18 cm. iv, 132 pp. A comparatively modest sized yearbook, but not one that appears to have been done on the cheap. The leaves are of a glossy, reasonably high quality stock, and the yearbook abounds in appealing small ornamental decoration that relate to what is being covered. There are relatively few photos -- there are only a few individual student or faculty headshots, for example. (The students singly photographed were staff members of "The Eccentric".) There are several photos of the university's building -- the school did not yet have much of a campus -- and these photos are rather sharp and well-done. For sports, there are single group photos for basketball and football, both of which were hyphenated then. And the activities covered are few, but fourteen members of the Banjo Club are shown. The smaller Guitar and Mandolin Club isn't honored with a photo. And as befitting the name of the yearbook, there are stabs at levity, with one page of expressions associated with individual professors, and a poem entitled "Modern Machine-Shop Practice". Indeed, twenty pages or so -- a significant chunk of the yearbook -- are intended as light-hearted fare. As typical, there are advertisements too, here, both the first four pages and then eight pages in the back. The cover has moderate wear. The interior is quite clean.