Showing posts with label advertising art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label advertising art. Show all posts

Monday, February 15, 2016

1896 - Seedsman F.B. Mills: Bird's Eye View Mills' Rose Hill

Before you read a glowing biography of Mr. Mills and his business acumen below,  have a look at these samples of his 1896 and 1901 catalogs.  

 I am a sucker for any bird's eye view and this one is a lot of fun.  



"His is strictly a mail-order business, and its requirements were such that the government, on November 5, 1895, established Rose Hill post-office with F. B. Mills as postmaster. "



The illustrations of all the departments of his business is fascinating to look at as well.  They are relatively inexpensive catalogs, in that there is no color in 1896 and only the cover in 1901.






The 1901 catalog:





Of added interest to me is the engraver and possibly artist of some of these engravings.  Albert Blanc of Philadelphia is an artist I really admire for his horticultural engravings.  Check out his signature...it is a sort of "Where's Waldo?" hunt on many engravings when you are looking for a signature, but Blanc is usually easy to spot.





FRANK B. MILLS
FRANK B. MILLS, was born in the town of Marcellus, Onondaga county, August 3, 1866, and is a son of George C. and Eliza Mills, who reside on a fine farm at Rose Hill, in the southern part of the town. His early life was passed on the homestead, where he developed a decided inclination for producing and classifying the seeds of various plants and vegetables, at which he became an expert while yet a mere lad. 
His spare time from work and school was spent in the garden, where be thoroughly familiarized himself with every plant that chanced to meet his notice. By the time he had finished his education he had acquired a wide and practical knowledge of almost every seed grown, not only in this country, but in the world, and he at once determined to apply that knowledge to production and distribution. This proved to be the beginning of a business scarcely equaled elsewhere in the State, a business, in fact, that ranks high among the largest concerns of the kind in the country. 
He had become the possessor of a small hand printing press capable of printing an ordinary page at each impression, and with this, at the age of less than twenty-one, he began, in 1887, to print his first catalogue. He did all the work alone, from setting the type to mailing the modest book, of which about 8,000 copies were issued and sent out. During that year be secured 118 customers. From this small commencement the business has steadily and rapidly increased in volume and extent until it now forms one of the largest and most complete establishments of its character in the United States. He has now over 400,000 customers, whose orders come from every habitable part of the globe—from Canada, South America, and Europe, from Asia, Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, -—requiring about half a million catalogues annually for distribution. 
Mr. Mills has a number of large and convenient buildings and several greenhouses devoted exclusively to the business, and all have been erected within the last four or five years. To these and especially to the greenhouses he is constantly adding; each year is increasing the extent and magnitude of an already mammoth concern. He has a large seed farm, of which several acres are devoted entirely to testing every variety of seed he sells, and nothing is shipped away until it is thoroughly tried and fully equals every requirement. In this way Mr. Mills has established a name and business which ranks him among the few great seedsmen of the United States.
 It is doubtful if a concern of equal magnitude has ever sprung into existence in the short time in which his has been prosecuted, and all this is due to the indomitable energy, the systematic methods, and the close personal supervision of the proprietor. He is the founder of a business of which not only Onondaga county but the State of New York may be well proud. 
As an auxiliary to his adopted calling, and as a means of disseminating valuable and practical knowledge among the thousands of gardeners and horticulturists throughout the country, Mr. Mills established in December, 1894, an illustrated monthly entitled “Success with the Garden," which has begun what promises to be an auspicious career. 
His is strictly a mail-order business, and its requirements were such that the government, on November 5, 1895, established Rose Hill post-office with F. B. Mills as postmaster. He resigned this position in 1897, and was succeeded by his brother William E. Mills. 
His residence, the finest in the town and one of the handsomest in the county, was completed in 1893, and with all his other buildings is pleasantly located on Fairview Farm at Rose Hill in the south part of Marcellus. 
Mr. Mills was married, June 16, 1892, to Miss Grace Ackles, daughter of Samuel Ackies, 0f Spafford.

Onondaga's CentennialGleanings of a Century, Volume 2, 1896


Saturday, January 16, 2016

1882 - Eureka Manure

I love early advertising!




This appeared in England in Gardening, IllustratedFor Town and Country. A Weekly Journal for Amateurs and Gardeners, Volume 3


early Daniel's Eureka Manure or Concentrated Essence of Plant Life

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Turn of the 20th Century - Iowa Seed Company Ephemera

I routinely dump interesting postcard images into a folder until I gather enough from one company to become interested.  When I saw I had 3 from the Iowa Seed Company, I took a look for catalogs in the Biodiversity Heritage Library with fair success!  Later I'll post some of their most interesting advertising art from the catalogs...but today here are the postcards and a few snippets about the company.


"8,600 acres in seed growing"







While I'm not sure, I believe this "we pay the postage" engraving was used by printers around this time for many companies...it isn't unique to this catalog.  Sure is wonderful though!!!


below -1893 Market Garden
This is the address on the postcards.




Monday, July 21, 2014

東郷 平八郎 And Hiram Buckbee


Illinois Extension Service straightens us out on the history and naming of the melon which is called cantaloupe.  Basically, while all cantaloupes are muskmelons, not all muskmelons are cantaloupes.

Personally, I can't stand some of the muskmelons for exactly the reason they are called muskmelons...the perfume of the ripe fruit...or as I perceive it, the stink!  My husband loves them and their aroma. I wonder how many people's noses smell a nice aroma and how many smell rotting vegetation.













I wondered how many of Buckbee's varieties are still around.  Then I got side tracked by his Admiral Togo Melon!  He was a very popular figure, "termed by Western journalists as "the Nelson of the East", after Horatio Nelson, the British admiral who defeated the French and Spanish at Trafalgar." (Wikipedia)
As far as I can tell, the Admiral Togo melon is no more.  
Most melons varieties are no more when you get down to it.  



Good Link: Mother Earth News article on heirloom melons and their history by William Woys Weaver.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Happy Image: 1920's, Happy Garden, Happy Family

Comforting, optimistic, happy, secure, in control, - the artist got it right in this ad.   


The inside of the catalog is visually dreadful with b&w photos which make the plants look embalmed now that the paper has yellowed.  Nasty, nasty images.  

I have placed the full sized image below if you want a snappy desktop image.








Monday, February 10, 2014

White-Laced Crucifer - Mystery Flower

I wonder what it is.  This we need to find out!
First, the name itself...does it help describe the flower?From Wikipedia: A crucifer is, in some Christian churches (particularly the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, andLutherans), a person appointed to carry the church's processional cross, a cross or crucifix with a long staff, during processions at the beginning and end of the service. However, while it is used in several different denominations, the term is most common within Anglican churches.
The term "crucifer" comes from the Latin crux (cross) and ferre (to bear, carry). It thus literally means "cross-bearer".
  Nice ad, isn't it?

Friday, January 3, 2014

Get them while you can...seed packet postal stamps are still available!

Post office still has them!

I never saw these stamps when they came out last April...but they are still available online from the USPS store. $9.20 I think they are.
Check out this article at the USPS site...VINTAGE SEED ART: AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. IRWIN RICHMAN
"Dr. Irwin Richman wrote the book—literally—on the art of vintage seed packets and catalogs. Seed Art: The Package Made Me Buy It offers an intriguing glimpse at the history of the art that so entices buyers to dream of ideal gardens. Dr. Richman begins his book with a telling anecdote: “The story is told of a young woman who answered a newspaper advertisement for a commercial artist placed by a prominent seed company. During her interview she was asked about her major qualification for the job. ‘Well,’ she answered, ‘I used to illustrate children’s fairy tales.’ We hope the applicant got the job; she was obviously qualified.”"

Any reminder of spring and the promise of flowers to come is welcome tonight. A minor nor'easter is expected to roar on through in the dark and be gone before late morning. I am sitting here feeling the living room get colder and colder as the temperature drops outside and the wind picks up.   We have 4 more windows to replace in this house.  All four are in the living room!  Big old windows from 1945, one is replaced, 3 are covered with that shrink plastic and the one by my chair is just its plain old leaky Moretited self.  If I covered it I wouldn't clearly see the birds at the feeder!  The other good window is full of feeders as well...the squirrel proof feeder is there as the big rhodie lets the squirrels launch themselves onto any normal feeder.

I found a new picture archive tonight you can poke around in.  The good old USDA assembled it.

PS Next morning-   The storm was 1/2 of what was predicted. But the birds are very active this morning on the birdseed.  I have my camera here now to snap a pic and there isn't a bird near the windows!!! Before, every perch was taken. Last night when I was writing I took a picture of the porch.  That is the bird seed can.  When raccoon population peaks in our area I have to put weights on the top to keep out midnight snackers.  Rabies wiped them out a few years ago  so I rarely see one now.  The pink light is from a candy cane holiday display plugged into where the porch light should be. (Eeek!  My border spade is still out there!!)