tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post7465417072841171775..comments2024-03-26T16:11:44.515-04:00Comments on All Things Ruffnerian, a Design Blog and More: Victorian SoapsMark D. Ruffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09241533547309049140noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-16729300762519059862013-06-13T14:47:07.960-04:002013-06-13T14:47:07.960-04:00Dear Yvette,
I've always guessed that the Vic...Dear Yvette,<br /><br />I've always guessed that the Victorians accepted "artistic" nudity in children as a group release from all their other hang-ups. But I could be wrong. That's why we need to get a big fat grant and answer the question once and ofr all.<br /><br />There are some people who have likened my house to a museum, and I'm okay with that. Actually, of late I've been culling the relics and lightening the load. Mark D. Ruffnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09241533547309049140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-88653987632883562062013-06-12T19:11:03.862-04:002013-06-12T19:11:03.862-04:00What was it with those mad Victorians and naked ch...What was it with those mad Victorians and naked children? Maybe I should rephrase that. What was it with those mad Victorians and unclothed children? You are so right, Mark. A thesis should be written and probably has. I immediately think of Lewis Carroll and his Alice obsession.<br /><br />But you know, it wasn't just the Victorians. Early magazine covers from Edwardian years until, I'd say, maybe the thirties, often show unclothed kids and adults. i.e. the gorgeous art of J.C. Leyendecker and others. Were they simply more sophisticated then? Or maybe they were just more innocent about nudity in public. Maybe they saw it as art, pure and simple?<br /><br />Thanks for another interesting post. I'll bet you could easily turn your house into a very personal museum. Wait. Now that I think on it, this blog is probably serving as your museum. :)Yvettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08919246184376538331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-9552185919173609022013-06-09T08:03:53.159-04:002013-06-09T08:03:53.159-04:00Dear Mark, No doubt about it. You came across a t...Dear Mark, No doubt about it. You came across a treasure at an early age and you remember how you felt at the time. <br />Wishing you a happy Sunday. Ginahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03429484235583035595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-59056936250325783642013-06-08T16:32:34.449-04:002013-06-08T16:32:34.449-04:00I am so intrigued by your description! It sounds v...I am so intrigued by your description! It sounds very visually exciting.<br /><br />The closest that I came to what you're describing was when I discovered, as a kid, a company that sold a huge inventory of original Victorian die cut scraps that had been found in a New England barn. It was was an ephemera collector's dream-come-true, and now that I think about it, those early purchases may have unconsciously started me on the path to collecting antique advertising.Mark D. Ruffnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09241533547309049140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-75043142767588955672013-06-08T15:26:41.075-04:002013-06-08T15:26:41.075-04:00Hello Mark, None of the above. They were differe...Hello Mark, None of the above. They were different kinds of things. I don't know what they are called. Some were shiny, glossy outfits for paper dolls, some were beautifully printed and glossy images of pretty ladies, flowers, children and sweet animals. we had books with pockets and each image fit into a pocket. I remember negotiating for some that I just had to have requiring to part with several of my paper images to close the deal. Some of the images were pricelss, in a world (East Germany right after the war)that was grey and ugly. Ginahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03429484235583035595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-19783958908404074162013-06-08T09:55:05.827-04:002013-06-08T09:55:05.827-04:00Hi, Gina - Were you collecting advertising or pack...Hi, Gina - Were you collecting advertising or packaging, or pictures from magazines — I'm curious to know?Mark D. Ruffnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09241533547309049140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-63012333786037578092013-06-08T08:40:57.669-04:002013-06-08T08:40:57.669-04:00Dear Mark, Sweet images, the kind we treasured as ...Dear Mark, Sweet images, the kind we treasured as children. One of our favorite pastimes was collecting and exchanging similar images. Our portfolios were forever changing. Ginahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03429484235583035595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-27203391124696728952013-06-07T12:34:48.381-04:002013-06-07T12:34:48.381-04:00While you were leaving your comment here, I was lo...While you were leaving your comment here, I was looking at your blog and googling the name "Steve" because I had never known it meant crown. So I learned several things from you today.<br /><br />That's very interesting about the company-sponsored housing originating so near you. It must have been a very progressive idea at the time.<br /><br />The observation of Victorian advertising employing half-naked children is notable also because they so often have very coy expressions.Mark D. Ruffnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09241533547309049140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-38963017471931943262013-06-07T11:51:58.913-04:002013-06-07T11:51:58.913-04:00Hello, Jim,
You are right that a HUGE part of 19t...Hello, Jim,<br /><br />You are right that a HUGE part of 19th century advertising had to do with premiums, and that was true right up to the Great Depression, when china and glass were given away at movie theaters.<br /><br />I would say that my impulse to collect ephemera stems from three incentives — a glimpse into another era, beautiful or strange designs, and as you mention, high quality. You'd be surprised how much advertising I have that's literally gilded.Mark D. Ruffnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09241533547309049140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-7797641917645941062013-06-07T11:45:13.544-04:002013-06-07T11:45:13.544-04:00My neighborhood was filled with soap factories in ...My neighborhood was filled with soap factories in the mid-19th Century and many of the small homes are referred to as soapworker's cottages; in fact, if you google soapworker's cottages, you'll find the two houses across the street from me that are on the National Historic Register as being the first examples of company-sponsored housing. So there are quite a few soap trade cards that crop up on ebay in my saved search for Cambridgeport and, you're right, they often show very cherubic, half-naked children. But none are as nice as the examples you've shown. An Urban Cottagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08666212353075804092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-78511928486737790002013-06-07T11:43:05.273-04:002013-06-07T11:43:05.273-04:00Hi, Stefan,
I think part of that equation is that...Hi, Stefan,<br /><br />I think part of that equation is that today we're so over-inundated with information of all types. The Victorians, on the other hand, were used to printed material that was primarily in black and white, so when these lithographed cards came along, they were really treasured.<br /><br />In the course of collecting these, I occasionally come across cards with pin holes, and I am touched to realize that somebody decorated their wall by pinning a little ad to it.Mark D. Ruffnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09241533547309049140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-28445348281494448802013-06-07T11:35:20.775-04:002013-06-07T11:35:20.775-04:00Hi, Karen,
I don't think the computer screen ...Hi, Karen,<br /><br />I don't think the computer screen can do justice to the vivid colors that were used in 19th century printing. I have a lithograph of a red bird in my kitchen, which is quite startling (the lithograph, not the kitchen)!Mark D. Ruffnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09241533547309049140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-24957434095879653682013-06-07T11:31:52.324-04:002013-06-07T11:31:52.324-04:00Hi, Scott,
No, they would not necessarily have us...Hi, Scott,<br /><br />No, they would not necessarily have used magenta and maroon together. The Victorians were working outside the 4-color process, so the inks used on the first image would have been completely different than the inks used on the second image. The inks used would be particular to a design, and I've seen old cigar labels that had as many as 15 plates.<br /><br />That book on mauve sounds fascinating! I know little about the mauve, except that it was Czarina Alexandra's favorite color.Mark D. Ruffnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09241533547309049140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-13456599216944484872013-06-07T11:24:01.626-04:002013-06-07T11:24:01.626-04:00Hi, Loi,
At the time these cards were produced, t...Hi, Loi,<br /><br />At the time these cards were produced, there wasn't a strong sense of corporate identity (sometimes no sense of it), and it would have been just as likely for the image to have been of a vase of flowers or perhaps a rearing horse.<br /><br />I get into the evolution of corporate identity on my blog's side bar.Mark D. Ruffnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09241533547309049140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-18374943953736175362013-06-07T11:02:21.284-04:002013-06-07T11:02:21.284-04:00Hello Mark, Even with the cheap labor of the 19th...Hello Mark, Even with the cheap labor of the 19th century, it's amazing that they could give away these miniature lithographed works of art with bars of soap--let alone a towel! Additionally, the boxes and wrappers of that period were often of an equally high quality.Parnassushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08958901307538141468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-36902061884579504642013-06-07T10:50:41.883-04:002013-06-07T10:50:41.883-04:00i wish our adds today were 1/2 as interesting, let...i wish our adds today were 1/2 as interesting, let alone collectible. Can you imagine someone keeping a scrapbook of todays ads?ArchitectDesign™https://www.blogger.com/profile/01481754380363676771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-80193066346880834942013-06-07T10:14:28.716-04:002013-06-07T10:14:28.716-04:00Very interesting Mark...great point on the colors ...Very interesting Mark...great point on the colors in printing in the Victorian era, that Maroon looks like you can reach out and touch the velvet!<br /><br />2013 Designers Series<br />xoxo<br />Karena<br />Art by Karena<br /><br />Karenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05206642885608991170noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-74193631049549606902013-06-07T10:09:30.781-04:002013-06-07T10:09:30.781-04:00So there was magenta and maroon? I'm intereste...So there was magenta and maroon? I'm interested to know and reminded of a book I once read -Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World, and wonder how that might figure into the mix. I read the book so long ago that much of it is lost but I recall the invention of mauve was a big deal.Scott Watermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05811055807138445326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148647148793397155.post-21264284513108262392013-06-07T09:11:04.517-04:002013-06-07T09:11:04.517-04:00These are charming, Mark. Interesting so many of ...These are charming, Mark. Interesting so many of them feature children. Do they symbolize purity and cleanliness? Not always!Woodside Parkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13981644571968878448noreply@blogger.com