Album Gaslight Style from Alan Mays

C. W. Miller's Omnibus and Baggage Express Pass, Buffalo, N.Y., 1892 (Back)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 21:34:02 +0000

The back of a Victorian-era pass for omnibus travel and baggage delivery. See also the front of the pass.

Not Transferable.

Good in Omnibus only between Hotel and Depot and transfer of Baggage in City.

C. W. Miller's Omnibus and Baggage Express Pass, Buffalo, N.Y., 1892

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 21:34:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Charles Wright MIller (1837-1921) "revolutionized passenger and baggage transportation" in Buffalo, New York, in the nineteenth century, according to Susan J. Eck in her article, Charlie Miller's Livery Business, which she posted on her Western New York History blog.

"A traveler could purchase a ticket and in a single transaction arrange to be picked up at home or a hotel, transported to the respective train station, and have baggage processed through to the traveler's final destination," Eck explained. "No other company in the U.S. had observed the need for such coordination of travel arrangements, and it was immediately successful."

This pass allowed "M. O. Adams and Family" to travel during the year 1892 using the services of Miller's horse-drawn omnibuses and baggage delivery. The design of the pass reflects the Victorian-era Gaslight Style that used layering to produce a three-dimensional effect. The shadowing under the letters, for instance, gives them a raised appearance, and the superimposition of the curved lines of text -- "C. W. Miller's" over "Omnibus" over "Baggage Express" -- also provides a feeling of depth. A hanging baggage tag behind the text along with a cloud-like background adds to the multi-layered effect.

See also the other side of the pass.

C. W. Miller's Omnibus and Baggage Express, Buffalo, N.Y.

Pass M.O. Adams and Family
In Omnibus until Dec. 31st

No. 2622. 1892.

C. W. Miller.
Proprietor

Printed on the other side:

Not Transferable.

Good in Omnibus only between Hotel and Depot and transfer of Baggage in City.

Huntoon and Gorham 45 Label, Providence, Rhode Island

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 11 May 2020 04:09:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A late nineteenth-century label by Huntoon & Gorham, a cigar manufacturer. Note the Gaslight Style characteristics, with elaborate typefaces, curved text, drop shadows, and the rays of the sun shining out from behind the clouds.

Huntoon & Gorham

45

Providence, R.I.

Huntoon & Gorham

Order of Railroad Telegraphers Membership Card, 1900

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 07:33:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A membership card for the Order of Railroad Telegraphers (ORT). As Wikipedia explains, "telegraphers would be stationed in individual depots along the railroad line in order to receive train orders from a centrally located dispatcher and report back on train movements; telegraphed train orders would be written out on paper and 'handed up' to the crews of passing trains."

See also a 1915 version of the ORT membership card.

The Order of Railroad Telegraphers

Issued to L. W. Ricker.

Good until June 30th 1900 unless revoked.

W. V. Powell, president. H. B. Perham, secretary and treasurer.

The Order of Railroad Telegraphers, Grand Division.

Girl with Toys in Snow—Christmas Trade Card for Edward Ridley & Sons, 1880

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 16:45:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

This is the front of a Victorian-era trade card advertising a New York store (for the other side, see Christmas Greeting, Edward Ridley & Sons Department Store, New York City, 1880).

I'm not sure why this wide-eyed little girl is taking all those toys with her out into the snow. She's dressed for the winter weather, however, and is even holding her hands—and her doll—in a muff to keep them warm.

Christmas Greeting, Edward Ridley & Sons Department Store, New York City, 1880

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 16:45:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Edward Ridley & Sons, a New York City department store, printed this trade card for customers during the holiday season in 1880, and the store also took out newspaper ads to offer its "annual greeting."

The other side of the trade card is a wintertime illustration of a little girl holding some toys as she stands in the snow. This side (above) features the store's Christmas greeting:

32nd Annual Greeting

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Toys, Dolls, and Holiday Presents.

Edw. Ridley & Sons

309, 311, 311½ Grand St.
59 Orchard St.
58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70 Allen St.

New York

The following excerpt from the store's advertisement in the New York Herald on December 5, 1880, provides additional details about its holiday sales:

Thirty-second Annual Greeting

Santa Claus' New Building. Opening Monday, December 6.

First Floor—Endless variety toys, dolls, hobby horses. Also china, glass ware, &c.

Second Floor--Work boxes, writing desks, Japanese varieties, &c., &c.

Tuesday, December 7. Third Floor—Dolls, dolls, dolls. And everything belonging to a doll.

Fourth Floor—Wednesday, December 8. Will contain toys of the very finest description….

Our new building gives 23,000 square feet. All devoted to toys. Come and see the toys and our methods.

Worsted embroideries, slipper patterns, brackets, &c. Photo and auto[graph] albums, in plush, Russia[n] leather and French calf bindings.

Handsome jewel and combination cases, pocketbooks, cigar cases, &c.

Prices below every other house—we warrant.

Woolen Suitings, Dress Fabrics, Housekeeping Goods! Spangler and Rich, Marietta, Pa.

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:39:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

For the front of this advertising trade card, see Spangler and Rich, Dry Goods and Groceries, Marietta, Pa.

Woolen Suitings, Dress Fabrics, Housekeeping Goods!

Choice styles. Satisfactory prices.

An early visit is respectfully solicited from yourself and friends.

Spangler & Rich.

Spangler and Rich, Dry Goods and Groceries, Marietta, Pa.

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:39:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Spangler & Rich, dry goods, groceries, Marietta, Pa. Marietta Times Print."

A nineteenth-century advertising trade card for Spangler & Rich's store in Marietta, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. For the other side of this card, see Woolen Suitings, Dress Fabrics, Housekeeping Goods! Spangler and Rich, Marietta, Pa.

For another card from the store, see Spangler and Rich, Dealers in Dry Goods, Marietta, Pennsylvania.

Holcomb and Caskey, Wholesale Lumber, New York, N.Y.

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 16:47:24 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Holcomb & Caskey. Wholesale lumber, white pine, North Carolina pine, hemlock & cypress lumber, white pine, cedar and cypress shingles. Office, 18 Broadway, New York. Brooks Bank Note Co., Boston."

Despite Holcomb & Caskey's impressive business card, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1911 after a little more than five years in business. A notice published in Hardwood Record, a lumber industry magazine, on May 25, 1911, p. 79, announced the demise of the company:

"The Holcomb & Caskey Lumber Company, 940 Broadway, has filed a petition in bankruptcy. The nominal assets are $12,559 and liabilities $40,712. The company was incorporated in December, 1905, with a capital of $50,000. Richard E. Holcomb is president and Clayton R. Caskey vice-president. Mr. Caskey has organized the Clayton R. Caskey Lumber Company, taking over the headquarters of the old concern and will in the future conduct a general wholesale business on his own account."

Dodge, Haley, and Company—Iron, Steel, Heavy Hardware, and Carriage Stock

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 23 Aug 2016 02:33:16 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Dodge, Haley & Co. Iron, steel, heavy hardware, and carriage stock. William H. Haley, Edwin L. Haley, Chas. H. Dodge, Hayward C. Dodge. 45 Oliver Street, Boston."

Petroleum Soaps, Rice and Robinson Soap Company, Titusville, Pennsylvania, 1892

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 05:11:36 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Rice & Robinson Soap Co., Petroleum Soaps. Presented by O. S. Rice. E. S. Rice, president. R. L. Rice, v, pres't & gen'l mgr. J. C. Robinson, sec'y. E. H. Beardsley, treas. Trademark. Drake. First oil well, 1859. Titusville, Pa. G. H. Dunston, Buffalo, N.Y. Over."

The Drake Well Museum near Titusville, Pennsylvania, includes a replica of the historic Drake Oil Well, which is featured in the illustration on this card.

Baltimore Steam Packet Company Pass, 1911

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 17:52:28 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Baltimore Steam Packet Co. Bay Line, 1911. Pass Mr. John F. Auch, Frt Traf. Mgr-–Philadelphia & Reading Rwy, until December 31st unless otherwise ordered. John R. Sherwood, president & general manager. No. 1726. Not valid unless countersigned by W. W. Erdman or myself. Florida."

According to Wikipedia, "The Baltimore Steam Packet Company, nicknamed the Old Bay Line, was an American steamship line from 1840 to 1962 that provided overnight steamboat service on the Chesapeake Bay, primarily between Baltimore, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia."

The steamer Florida, which is pictured on the pass, was a propeller-driven, steel-hulled vessel built by the Maryland Steel Company in 1907. For another illustration of the ship, see Steam Packets on the Chesapeake: A History of the Old Bay Line since 1840 (Centreville, Md.: Tidewater Publishers, 1961), by Alexander Crosby Brown, p. 82.

John F. Auch was a freight traffic manager for the Philadelphia and Reading Railway, which later changed its name to the Reading Railroad and was immortalized as one of the railroads featured on the Monopoly game board.

Compare this pass with an Adirondack Steamboat Company Pass, 1897:

Adirondack Steamboat Company Pass, 1897

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 22:40:46 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Adirondack Steamboat Co. Pass E. D. Bennett, G. Supt., Bennington & Rutland Railway, until December 31st, 1897, unless otherwise ordered. George Sweet, president. No. 1932. American Bank Note Co., N.Y."

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 31 May 2016 19:54:18 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. John 16.24."

Compare this with the advertising trade card for J. G. Lutkenhoff, Dealer in Dry Goods and Notions, Covington, Kentucky:

Charles E. Marsh, Centennial International Exhibition, Philadelphia, Pa., 1876

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 22:14:18 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Chas. E. Marsh, International Exhibition, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa., 1876. Copyright 1876 by L. Prang & Co. Main Building, Horticultural Hall, Agricultural Hall, Art Gallery, Machinery Hall."

Printed on the back: "Centennial Card. Retail price, 30 cts. per dozen." ("30" is crossed out, and "20" is written below it.)

Since Charles E. Marsh's name also appears on a card in the holdings of the American Antiquarian Society that identifies him as a printer ("Chas. E. Marsh, card & job printer, business and address cards a specialty, Greenville, N.H."), it's likely that this was a sample card used to solicit customers for Marsh's printing business. He would have purchased blank copies of this card from lithographer Louis Prang's firm and then printed individual names on them, as he did here with "Chas. E. Marsh."

Although commonly called the Centennial Exposition today, the exhibition's full name when it was held in 1876 was the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine. "Nearly 10 million visitors attended the exhibition and thirty-seven countries participated in it," Wikipedia reports.

The five major buildings at the exhibition—the Main Building, Horticultural Hall, Agricultural Hall, the Art Gallery (also known as Memorial Hall), and Machinery Hall—are depicted on this card.

Although Charles Marsh may have attended the exhibition, it's possible that he advertised these cards elsewhere and filled orders through the mail.

Hotel Langford, Susquehanna, Pa.

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 21:42:52 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Hotel Langford. Lighted by electricity. Heated by steam. Everything new. Sample room for traveling men. Near the passenger station. Baths--hot and cold. Rates, $2.00 per day. Susquehanna, Penn. F. F. Langford, propr."

This nineteenth-century business card indicates that the Hotel Langford catered to salesmen (called "commercial travelers" or "traveling men" at the time) by offering them "sample rooms" where they could display their wares for potential customers.

Van Duzer's Fruit Extracts Are the Best for Flavoring

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 19:33:00 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Van Duzer's Fruit Extracts. Perfectly pure! Van Duzer's Extracts are the best for flavoring ice cream, jellies, custard, pastry, &c. For sale by all first-class grocers."

J. G. Lutkenhoff, Dealer in Dry Goods and Notions, Covington, Kentucky

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 16:58:15 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"J. G. Lutkenhoff, dealer in dry goods & notions, No. 128 Pike Street, Covington, Ky."

See also Ask and Ye Shall Receive:

Spencerian Steel Pens Are the Best

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 20:10:46 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Spencerian Steel Pens are the best. Da locum melioribus."

Cover of a folded nib card, circa 1890s. Nib pens (or dip pens) were used for Spencerian Script and other writing styles. The metal tips, or nibs, of the pens were sold separately, and some came in small cardboard folders that had covers with elaborate designs like this.

The Globe Lawn Mower

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 14:30:08 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"The Globe Lawn Mower. The Henderson-Achert Co. Litho. Cin."

This is a good illustration of Dave Cheadle's observation regarding lawn mower trade cards: "To demonstrate the ease of operation, the mower is invariably shown being pushed by a remarkably overdressed girl, boy, or young woman." For additional information, see the "Lawn Mowers and Landscaping" section in Cheadle's Victorian Trade Cards: Historical Reference and Value Guide (Paducah, Ky.: Collector Books, 1996), pp. 150-51.

Richard D. Sheaff features his own copy of this Globe Lawn Mower trade card in the Gaslight Album section of his dazzling and inspiring Sheaff : ephemera site. As Sheaff explains, lithographers used Gaslight Style to create the illusion of depth: "Type, vignettes, products, and design elements are made to seem multi-layered through the use of shadows, superimposition, dimensional banners and ribbons, turned-up faux page corners, and choice of colors."

In this trade card, the shadowing and complexity of the letters in "The Globe," the flowing "Lawn Mower" banner that's superimposed over the G, and the elaborate border at the top all help to create the multi-layered effect that's characteristic of the Gaslight Style. The careful placement of the young woman and her lawn mower in the foreground, the bounding dog in the middle, and the tree in the background also contribute to the feeling of depth.