Trade Cards
Trade cards are a great source of information for scholars, historians,
and students, because they provide examples of the material
culture and
business practices of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries.
Most trade cards provide the name and address of the proprietor
and the
variety of services available, sometimes with vignettes to
describe items
sold or the place of business. Although there is no concrete
definition
of a trade card, it is generally a printed notice of goods for
sale or
services available for the public.
Copper plate engravings were used almost exclusively for early
commercial
printing and later chromolithographs gave color to the trade
card. Although
many may think that these trade cards were printed on the large
printing
press, like newspapers, a small hand press or
"card" presses
made the job faster and cheaper. This made the trade card
affordable to
not only the prosperous business owner but also to the small
business
owner. One of the earliest job printers was Samuel Dickinson who
is best
known for his printing of the Boston Almanac. The visual
composition of
the decorative lettering and diminuative illustrations made trade
cards
a great investment for rising businesses.
The rise of type foundries in the 1860s, created the availability
of
specimen books. This brought variety and convenience to business
owners
by introducing them to the variety of typefaces and wood
engravings. Many
designs on trade cards were non-pictorial, presenting only the
message
of the proprietor in ornamental lettering. If there was an
engraving on
the card, the engraver's name or initials were usually presented
in
the
lower right hand corner or below the center of the card.
The collection at AAS includes many examples of early trade cards
from
Paul Revere, James Turner, and Nathaniel Dearborn; but also some
from
less well-known names such as D.L. Glover and W.G. Mason. Because
the
collection is not catalogued, a list has been produced for
improved access
to the collection. Arranged alphabetically by business name; the
list
provides addresses, materials advertised, and descriptions of any
pictorial
vignettes, followed by some information on the engraving or
sculpture
from which the picture was taken.
Some sources on ephemera cover the history as well as provide
reproduction
examples of trade cards. Early American Trade Cards,
written by
Bella
C. Landauer (William Edwin Rudge, 1927) gives a short history of
the trade
card and also illustrates some of the author's own trade cards. An
earlier
history of the trade card can be ascertained from London
Tradesmen's Cards:
An Account of Their Origins and Use by Ambrose Heal
(B.T. Batsford
Ltd.,
1925). With a range of historical significance and descriptions of
development
and curiosities, this book takes a look at what prompted the start
of
the trade card era in this country. Lastly a great source that
deals with
all kinds of ephemera is the periodical Ephemera Journal,
published quarterly
by the Ephemera Society.
For more information on the collection, please contact the Graphic
Arts
department.
- Meg Bocian, AAS Cataloger
Ephemera Journal, 1987: Vol. 1
Rickards, Maurice, Michael Twyman ed. Encyclopedia of
Ephemera,
London:
The British Library, 2000.
Landauer, Bella C. Early American Trade Cards, New
York: W.E. Rudge, 1927.
Heal, Ambrose. London Tradesmen's Cards of the XVII Century: an
Account
of Their Origins and Use, London: B.T. Batsford, Ltd,
1925.
Jay, Robert. The Trade Card in Nineteenth-Century
America. Columbia: Univ.
of Missouri Press, 1987.
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Trade card for Copp & Pear, upholsterers at 387 Washington Street,
Boston
Advertising seaman's books for Samuel Larkin's bookstore in Portsmouth,
New Hampshire
For current information on the cataloging status of this and
other AAS collections, choose "Collection Access" below.
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