Skandinaven's Book Department

John Anderson and his family made the journey from Voss, Norway to Chicago in 1844, when John was eight years old. His two brothers died on the trip, and his father died during a cholera epidemic in 1848. In order to make ends meet for his mother and infant sister, 12-year-old John sold apples and newspapers. His job as a newspaper boy led to additional newspaper jobs until finally he was working on layout for the Chicago Tribune.

In 1866, Anderson started publishing a Norwegian-language newspaper called the Skandinaven. It became America's leading Norwegian newspaper. Eventually, Anderson added a book store and a mail-order book department. Some of the longer works were published in installments. I wondered if that's what Hanna Jacobson of Astoria, Oregon had ordered. She received this card in 1904, acknowledging receipt of $13.50. I assumed that inst. stood for installment, but as the comments below reveal, it stands for instant, meaning this month.

Thirteen dollars was a lot of money in 1904.  I can hardly imagine what she must have been buying,  since Skandinaven's 1915-16 catalog offered books with gold lettering and engraved illustrations for a dollar a piece.

You can read lots more about John Anderson at the Norwegian-American Historical Association website in an article written by Jean Skogerboe Hansen.