NONFICTION - Aug. 2, 1992

HAKE’S GUIDE TO PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN COLLECTIBLES by Ted Hake (Wallace-Homestead Book Co., Radnor, Pa.: $17.95, paper; 187 pp.). Thousands of collectors ferret out the buttons, ribbons, badges and the veritable cornucopia of items that explode on our senses during the election season. Ted Hake is their guru. His three-volume set, “The Encyclopedia of Political Buttons,” is widely recognized as a primary reference work in the field. Now, out of his York, Pa., shop, Hake has produced another stellar work, with publication timed, of course, to coincide with this year’s presidential race. Spanning 200 years of American politics, the guide organizes the collectibles into 50 categories, ranging in price from a $1 Johnson-Humphrey tin tab to a $50,000 Cox-Roosevelt jugate button. (“Jugate buttons picturing a party’s presidential and vice-presidential nominees are the overwhelming favorite of collectors,” Hake writes.) More than 1,700 collectible items are noted and illustrated, providing a snapshot history of our political process.