Business History
The 101 Girls,Stage and Vaudeville Acts,Celebrities in Marketing,Modern Celebrity,Late Vaudeville Era
Buffalo, New York: Gardiner Mfg. Co., 1931. A booklet promoting the "101 Girls", a late vaudeville stage duo comprised of Adele and Isabelle Szumlinski. Usually performing for businessmen or in adverts, they acted as mascots for the Gardiner Mfg. Company's fabric stain removal product "101". This booklet shows the lengths.....
Price: $300.00
Shawl Pins, Sail Needles, Victorian Fashion and Clothing, Made in America
New York, New York: American & Howe Pin Cos. 1882. A collection of one hundred nineteen (119) Victorian shawl pins, housed in their original box. Each set of twelve pins is displayed on a sheet of printed paper with brand information at the head, measuring approx. 8.5" by 3". Enclosed.....
Price: $150.00
Library Cards,Mercantile Library Association,Merchants,Mercantile History,private Libraries
New York, New York: Mercantile Library Association, 1836. Printed library membership card finished in ink, admitting "Capt. Lathrop" to the Mercantile Library Association "for the term of Four Weeks" beginning 15th of March, 1836. Signed at foot by "Chas Rolfe Prest [i.e. President of the Association]". Printed on coated card.....
Price: $275.00
Silk,Velvet,Fashion,Luxury Clothing and Goods,History of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Robb Winebrener & Co, 1840. A handwritten receipt for payment on engraved billhead for Robb Winebrener & Co., recording the sale of the British silk, a velvet collar, pantaloons, a vest, and box. The total comes out to $55.50 (approx. $2,000 in modern currency). The purchaser is recorded.....
Price: $225.00
History of New York,Lower Manhattan,Financial District,Hardware and Tools,Material Culture
New York, New York: David B. Pike, 1849. Printed flyer from July 1849 advertising a new hardware business located in lower Manhattan, selling everything from axes, hammers, hatchets, knives and vices to window shades, tanners' tools, locks, wrapping paper and counter scales. Also promotes "Dick's Anti-Friction Press for Punching and.....
Price: $125.00
Gum Copal,Imperialism and Empire,Global Trade,Ecology and Material History
Boston, Massachusetts: Stephen Whipple & Bro. 1860s. Lithographed circular advertising gum copal sold by the Boston-based company Stephen Whipple & Bro., accompanied by a blank price list. Gum copal is a type of resin produced by tree sap in East Africa, and was exported to America in large quantities in.....
Price: $200.00
Lumber Mills,Illustrated Billheads
Memphis, Tennessee: Williams & Co, 1864. An attractive illustrated billhead for Williams & Co. Saw and Planing Mills, featuring an elaborate illustration at the head of the companies building bustling with workers and activity. Finished in contemporary ink and dated Oct 29, 1864, recording a sale of "9 pieces", perhaps.....
Price: $150.00
Business Americana,Advertising Circular,Insurance
N.pl: Sunbury Cattle Insurance Company, 1871. An early 1870's circular advertising Sunbury Cattle Insurance Company, including some fascinating (perhaps inflated, perhaps not) numbers for the end of their fiscal year: 712 policies held, $52,315.00 in property insured, with $39,239.95 in available capital. Also includes a long list of losses paid.....
Price: $175.00
1872 Presidential Election,Grant versus Greeley,Political Humor in Advertising,Cigars,Booze
New York, New York: R. Grant, c.1872. A small lithographed leaflet (9" by 5.75") with political cartoon and caption showing the two 1872 Presidential candidates finding common ground in cigars and booze. Distributed as an advertising leaflet by R. George of New York to promote his business selling cigars and.....
Price: $375.00
Book of Promissory Notes,Kangaroo
[Plymouth, Massachusetts?]: 1881. A pocket-sized book of lithographed promissory notes from the early 1880s, including two that have been finished in pencil or ink and not excised. Each leaf has a small section to the left with blank spaces for the user to record the following information: amount of money.....
Price: $175.00
Coffee,Dry and General Goods,Advertising,Mail Order Samples
United States: c.1880. A sample of coffee beans sent from an unknown dry goods store or coffee roaster via the mail c.1880. The beans are housed in their original metal tin with wooden top, which screws securely onto the tin via a metal screw. Printed label marked Howe's Sample Mail.....
Price: $350.00
Horse and Buggy,Phaetons
Cortland, New York: C.B. Hitchcock, 1882. Scarce 1882 trade catalogue of buggies and phaetons sold by Cortland Buggy and Cutter Works of Cortland, New York. Includes over fifty pages of items, illustrated and briefly described, with prices offered "on application". Also advertises hardware and replacement parts, e.g. harnesses and dashes.....
Price: $225.00
Silversmiths,Silver Spoons,Shakespeare Memorabilia,Midsummer Night's Dream
Chicago, Illinois: Wendell and Company, c.1891. A handsome trade catalogue advertising collectible silver spoons manufactured by a Chicago silversmith. Features a highly stylized cover showing their "Puck Spoon", which references a line in Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" when Puck boasts he can "put a girdle round about the earth in.....
Price: $150.00
Women's Literature,Advertising to Women
New York, New York: Century Co, [1902]. A scarce 1902 advertising leaflet from the publisher Century Company, advertising new books to women, including the following titles: Confessions of a Wife, by Mary Adams; Biography of a Prairie Girl, by Eleanor Gates; Aladdin O'Brien, by Gouverneur Morris; and Napoleon Jackson by.....
Price: $150.00
Family Medicine, Self-Help, Marketing, Radio
United States: 1930s. A small gathering of advertising materials seemingly collected by one woman, "Mae Fenton", in the 1930s. A valuable snapshot of what kinds of marketing appealed to the average American white woman at this time. Most include references to a 1930s radio show, "The Voice of Experience", which.....
Price: $275.00
religion, catalog, ephemera, religion, mennonites, religious education, trade catalog
Scottdale, PA: Mennonite Publishing House, 1932. 120pp. Yellow paper wrapper. Small illustration of an alter with a bible on top on the front cover, black and white photograph of the Mennonite Publishing House on the back accompanied by a list of services they provide and their address. Catalog includes anything.....
Price: $85.00
New York Stock Exchange, Business & Economics
40 Page illustrated book. “New York Stock Exchange, Its Functions and Operations,” published in April, 1936 by the Committee on Public Relations, New York Stock Exchange; Its purpose was to explain the Exchange, “a market place where buyers and sellers of securities meet on perfect equality.”; Contains history, traditions, operations.....
Price: $85.00
Advertising Contraceptives and Family Planning Products,1960s Sexual Revolution
Chicago, Illinois: Federal Pharmacal Supply, Inc., 1965. A brightly illustrated advertising leaflet for products by Federal Pharmacal Supply, Inc., with a focus on contraceptives. Includes several brands of prophylactics/condoms and a brand of numbing lubricant for men. Note the "Federal Fun Specials" on the back, which include novelty gifts such.....
Price: $325.00
ABAA-HOLIDAY-2025,19th Century American Printing and Publishing,Teaching Collection
United States: 1847-1900. A collection of twenty-seven (27) items related to peripheral corners of the American publishing industry, comprised largely of ephemera, giving insight into the business between the years of 1847 and 1900. Includes advertising ephemera such as trade cards, catalogues, and even an ink blotter, as well as.....
Price: $3,000.00
Account Book,History of Massachusetts,Daily life and Commerce in 19th Century New England
Exeter, Massachusetts: 1824-1830. Manuscript account book kept by Benjamin Clark of Exeter, Massachusetts (dates unknown), between 1824 and 1830. The account book has been filled with what appears to be debts owed to Clark, as well as mileage traveled. A representative example of the entries: "Mr. John Gardner, Debtor 20.....
Price: $175.00
Historical Memorabilia, Accounting, Cow
New York: M. Day Printer, 1832-1852. Pictorial paper wrappers, illustration of cow on front, the Selling of Joseph to the Ishmaelites on the reverse. A detailed accounting on accounts payable and receivable on portions of each of the estates. Includes a detailed accounting of an auction of the property of.....
Price: $250.00
Probate,Estate Sales,Daily Life in 1840s America
Merrimack County, New Hampshire: 1848. An inventory list of sales made from the estate of Thomas Miles Wadleigh (1774-1848), nephew of Revolutionary War veteran Thomas Wadleigh (1755-1827). The Wadleigh family were based in Merrimack County, New Hampshire during this period. This account appears to be a draft or fair copy.....
Price: $150.00
Hotels and Boarding Houses
[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]: c1870s. Advertisements, printed on either side of a single leaf, for competing hotels in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, c.1880, sometime excised from an unidentified publication. The recto promotes Monogahela House, a famous hotel that hosted a slew of celebrities and politicians ranging from Charles Dickens and P.T. Barnum to Abraham.....
Price: $150.00
Mobile Homes, Do-It-Yourself
Saginaw, Michigan: Mershon & Morley, 1900. Printed bifolium advertisement (8.5" by 5.5") for "Portable Houses" produced by Mershon & Morley of Saginaw, Michigan. First leaf features a printed testimonial letter from a happy customer, promoting the ease of the structure's assembly; the second leaf features an illustration of the fully.....
Price: $115.00