Regular readers of this blog know that one of my passions is collecting 19th century advertising. I thought today I'd share some of my Victorian die-cut advertising. Sometimes the subject matter of the die cuts was appropriate for what was being sold, and sometimes, like the stove trade card above, there was no relationship whatsoever between the image and the product.
I'm not sure whether this was a real cigar brand but I love the imaginative design. Of course this would have been either a very large box or a very small cat!
China Hall, at 15 East King Street
These are the cards of E. C. Davis,
Penman & Card Writer
7 Weybasset Street, Providence
C. E. Poston School Books
Nelsonville, Ohio
This 1889 jelly roll actually advertised the "Happy Thought" Range. "You will make no mistake if you buy the 'Happy Thought'."
I feature this O.N.T. spool of thread in my short history of trade cards, found in the side bar or
here.
This ad for china and glass is embossed to look and feel like a real saucer.
He-No Tea, a real life preserver!
H. J. Heinz took an active interest in all his promotions. I wouldn't be surprised if had personally approved this die-cut pickle.
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| from A Victorian Scrapbook | Cynthia Hart, John Grossman and Priscilla Dunhill |
Die-cut advertising is not to be confused with the popular die cuts that were called "scraps." They came in sheets like the sample above, and could be separated into individual die cuts.
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Hello Mark, The appeal of these is immense. Another elaborate type was the mechanical card, which had some moving lever or other mechanism to make the card change--I am sure you have some of those.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that most of these are stock designs, with the name of the company stamped on, a sign of how expensive these were to produce, even back then. A company like Heinz would give enough away and care enough about its image so that it would go for custom work.
Hard to pick a favorite--maybe the teacup?
--Road to Parnassus
Hello, Parnassus -
DeleteYou are right about the mechanical cards, and that reminds me that I should add at least one to my side-bar history of trade cards. My favorites were the cards that had windows through which images on a paper wheel appeared. I'm fortunate to have a couple, as they are getting much harder to find.
Another type of advertising was the metamorphic card. It was folded, and when it was opened, the image revealed an altered view. I'll do future posts on both genres, so thanks for the suggestion!
just beautiful -and not a boring 'celebrity' in sight!
ReplyDeleteYou'll notice that the big draws (no pun intended) in Victorian advertising were cats, dogs and children.
DeleteA very interesting and informative post Mark. I wonder where the heads (so much larger than the bodies) came from in the last image.
ReplyDeleteHi, Gina - You make an interesting observation. This style of caricature was a common Victorian conceit, and is seen often in depicting children, cherubs and sometimes even adults. Today, of course, we see it more often in political drawings.
DeleteHi Mark, I especially love the life preserver and the pickle...Hmmm, that sounds like a book title.
ReplyDeleteSo, I'm waiting to see if you find Pinterest to your liking, Mark. I should think you will. It is what you make of it. But I think for visual people, it's a more than just a mindless hoot.
Hi, Yvette - I haven't spent too much time in Pinterest, in part because these days I have a couple of home projects in the works simultaneously, along with blogging.
DeleteWhile Pinterest could be a great resource tool, and certainly great inspiration, it does bother me that almost no one gives credit to the original sources. For that reason, I would never use images from Pinterest for this blog.
I love the teacup...and the spool...but the pickle was very unexpected! They were very elaborate.
ReplyDeleteHello, Theresa - For sheer charm, my favorite is probably the spool. They were indeed elaborate, and as a commercial artist who made the transition from drawing on the board to using a computer, I especially appreciate that those artists had different deadlines than I would today!
DeleteI love the teacup and pickle. The shadows are really successful in making it look 3-dimensional.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the town that had a Heinz factory -- my aunt lived right across the street -- so that's very nostalgic for me, although I'm not quite old enough to be considered a Victorian.
Hi, Steve - Would that town have been Pittsburgh? I spent 11 years there, mostly in the 1970s.
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