Ephemeral Beauty: Grind Your Coffee

Click on the image to love a lassie, a bonnie hee-land lassie.

Well, what have we here? This nifty little trade card with its wordy backside dates to 1889 and was made exclusively for Arbuckle Brothers of New York City—hawkers of coffee which appears to be coated in eggs and sugar.

The obverse depicts various scenes of Scotland, including a Scottish, Lassie, High Street, a Highlander and Edinburgh Castle. Published by Joseph Knapp of New York, it’s a great example of the high quality of their printing.

It would appear that this was the tenth installment in a series of cards promoting Ariosa Coffee which took buyers on a nice, flat trip around the world. Each card included drawings of native people and places and a brief description of each location (printed in teeeeeeny, tiny type).

I’ve spared your eyes by typing out the copy. Meanwhile, I’m now cross-eyed.

Let’s look, shall we?



One of 50 views from a trip around the world.

GRIND 
YOUR COFFEE 
AT HOME. 

     It will pay you well to keep a
small coffee-mill in your kitchen
and grind your coffee just as
you use it, one mess at a time.
Coffee should not be ground
until the coffee-pot is ready to
receive it. Coffee will lose more
of its strength and aroma in one
hour after being ground than
in six months before being
ground. So long as

ARIOSA 

remains in the whole berry, our
glazing, composed of choice
eggs and pure confectioners’ A
sugar, closes the pores of the
coffee, and thereby are retained
all the original strength and
aroma.ARIOSA COFFEE 

has during 25 years set the
standard for all other roasted
coffees. So true is this that
other manufacturers, in recom-
mending their goods, have
known no higher praise than
to say, “It’s just as good as
Arbuckles’.”ARBUCKLE BROS. 
NEW YORK CITY 
JOSEPH P. KNAPP, LITH., N.Y. 



And, then, on the next column, we get the tenth installment of our sugar-coated, coffee-based trip around the world. Let’s put on our kilts and go to…



EDINBURG, SCOTLAND. 

     The point commanding at a
glance the view of all the most
noted features within and around
Edinburgh, is Calton Hill, at the
summit of which is Nelson’s Monu-
ment, its top 350 feet above the sea,
and where, every day at one o’clock
an electric time signal indicates the
hour. 

(NOTE FROM JOSEPH—WHY JUST AT ONE O’CLOCK?) 

     Edinburgh Castle is on a rock
which was the site of a stronghold
before the earliest dates of Scottish
history, and is connected with many
of the stirring scenes recorded in
the annals of this interesting
country. The entrance to the Cas-
tle is by an esplanade on the east.
This is the only entrance. On leav-
ing the confines, a continuous route
leads through the time honored
chain of streets, the Lawn Market,
High Street, with its narrower por-
tion called Nether Bow, and Can-
nongate, to Holyrood Palace.

     The Scott Monument is an ele-
gant structure in the form of an
open crucial Gothic spire, supported
on four early English arches which
serve as a canopy for the statue. It
is about 200 feet high. Under the
central basement arch is a marble
statue of Sir Walter Scott with a
figure of his favorite dog at his
feet.

     St. Giles’ Church is a Gothic edi-
fice with massive square tower ter-
minating in open stone work in the
form of a crown, and is noted
as the scene of many remarkable
events. Behind the church is Par-
liament Square. This occupies the
site of an ancient cemetery where
the reformer, John Knox, was
buried. The Hall of Parliament
House is very beautiful with its
stained glass windows, pictures and
statues.

     Holyrood Palace is renowned for
legendary romance as to its origin
and for the actual tragic incidents
of royalty within its walls. On the
way to the Queen’s Drive, Craig-
miliar Castle is seen in the distance,
where Mary Queen of Scots often
resided. 

     Population 1889 (est.) 271,135

Gifts of Grandeur: The Lehigh Valley Railway Brooch, 1948

The Victoria & Albert Museum

Isn’t this wonderful? Here we see a gold brooch in the form of a diesel locomotive, set with diamonds, sapphires and rock crystal. It’s the work of an unknown American jeweler and dates to 1948.

Jewelers often created special to commemorate notable events. This brooch was made to mark the introduction of diesel locomotives to part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad in the U.S. as locomotives powered by diesel were beginning to replace older steam locomotives. Such an event was exciting and important, hence the creation of this piece.

The Lehigh Valley Railroad was first constructed in the Nineteenth Century to transport Anthracite coal from Pennsylvania to America’s east coast, earning the nickname “the route of the black diamond,” in honor of its profitable cargo. To commemorate this, a black diamond shape can be seen on the company's logo on the front of this brooch.

Ephemeral Beauty: An Odd Double-Sided Chromolithograph

Click image to enlarge.

Hmmmm…this is weird. It’s not a trade card. Its paper is thin and glossy and printed with an illustration on both sides. It’s not a scrap, certainly. It was not cut from a magazine since the odds of the image being centered in the same spot on two sides of a page are quite slim. So, what is it?

This chromolithograph depicts two scenes. One shows a well-dressed, if not wild-eyed, gent holding a package of the unfortunately named Sapolio—a brand of soap which was quite popular between 1883 and 1908. Sapolio is notable for its aggressive advertising campaigns. By 1908, they’d run out of steam with their advertising. When their interesting ads stopped, people stopped buying the product and it died (it was recently resurrected with modest success in Peru and Chile). The man in the scene has swept back a dramatic drapery to remove a life-sized statue. Is he going to clean her with his bar of soap? Has he cleaned her? Is he going to clean himself in front of her? Was she a polychrome sculpture which has been stripped of any and all pigment by being scrubbed with what I can only assume was a fairly harsh cleanser?

Let’s see what’s on the reverse. 

Click image to enlarge.

The other side shows a lad in a kilt with his mum. He’s drinking precariously from a large bottle. He’s upset a bowl and is mother is concerned by it. Or maybe she’s concerned because there’s a fox carved into her over-mantle. Maybe the kid’s a drunk and he’s fallen off the wagon. I trust he’s not drinking Sapolio. In fact, I can’t see any relationship between the two images. Yet, they’re created in the same style by, presumably, the same artist.

Could this be an ad for Sapolio? A portion of an ad? Or is it an image for something else which employed the use of the Sapolio brand since, for awhile, the name was synonymous with soap in general.

It will remain a mystery...a charming, brightly-colored mystery.

Ephemeral Beauty: A Die-Cut Trade Card for Kensington Work

Click image to enlarge.

Of my collection of ephemera, I have a special fondness for the die-cut cards.  Here's one in the shape of a painter’s palette. I’ve got another one in the same shape which has a ship on the front. This one depicts a rather manipulative looking kitten who looks a bit like Bertie's cat, Miss Oscar.  

Sure, he seems sweet at first glance, but there’s something underneath his expression that makes me think he’s got a switch-blade. Or…not. He also looks a bit like Princess Diana, too. So, I’m torn.

These die-cut cards were available through catalogs and could be customized. This one has been printed on the front with the words:

Compliments of 
     MRS. A.W. BELCHER.                                                                         (over) 

Well, if you insist.

The reverse has been custom-printed for an individual operating her own business, which I think is pretty nifty. Let’s see what she has to say.

LADIES…
                I have a fine assortment of new and
artistic designs for Kensington Work, which
you are invited to call and examine. Stitch
taught; work done, or begun: Outlining,
&c., also material for the same. Stamping
to order.
        425 ESSEX STREET, LAWRENCE, MASS.

For those who don’t know, Kensington work is a type of embroidery which was revived and became quite fashionable in Victorian England. The stitch resembles the plumage of a bird with a series of overlapping stitches which create a gradation of color. The technique was used to create patterns of flowers, foliage, birds and animals.

Click image to enlarge.

I wonder if Mrs. Belcher is an ancestor of Bob.

Fox Broadcasting

Ephemeral Beauty: Another Spooky McLaughlin's Paper Doll

The McLaughlin’s Coffee people wanted to capture the attention of their Nineteenth Century clientele and, so, they produced a series of paper dolls with detachable heads and swap-able bodies. We’ve looked at some from my collection before. 

After a century, many of them have donned a patina which gives them a rather spooky look which I find particularly charming. This one is, in my estimation, the spookiest of the lot.

On the reverse, she says the same thing that her scary sisters say:

16 DOLLS IN THIS SET 

.4 Baby Dolls.

..4 Girl Dolls.. 

...4 Boy Dolls... 

..4 Mamma Dolls.. 

THE HEADS COME OFF 

YOU CAN DRESS AN UN- 

DRESS THEM AS YOU PLEASE. 

SECURE THE WHOLE FAMILY. 

One Doll in Every Package of 

McLaughlin’s 

XXXX COFFEE 

Ephemeral Beauty: Dr. Jacques German Worm Cakes

What have we here? A mother and child—they’re being visited by a fashionable lady who seems to be offering something to them. Soap, perhaps? Or is it a German Worm Cake? After all, they never fail.

Why would this healthy-looking young lady need worm cakes? She seems to be okay, maybe a little tired. Her ENORMOUS baby seems hearty enough. But, then…who can tell when worms might attack? They come from candy, you know? What? You didn’t know? Well, I didn’t either, but that’s what the reverse of the card tells us. Candy and good health bring worms. Poor health and over-eating brings worms. Water and air bring worms. Everything brings worms! Worms, worms, worms! You need vermifuge! You need it now! 

Read on and be afraid…

DR. JACQUES' 
German Worm Cakes, 
The Most Efficient Remedy Discovered

     These Worm Cakes have had the most wonderful suc-
cess, and have proved to be the very best, safest and
most efficient Worm Remedy ever placed within reach of
the people. They are a safe medicine and easily admin-
istered, as children will readily take them, and their
efficiency is remarkable. Nearly all children are at some
time affected with worms, and worms in the system are
more dangerous than is generally supposed , as they de-
prive the children of the benefit of the food they eat,
thus reducing them to a constant state of emaciation and
debility, and also lay the foundation of many serious dis-
eases. The origin of worms in the human body is very
obscure. However, it is certain that children of scrof-
ulous tendency and generally depraved health are most
apt to be affected with them, although they are also
quite generally found in children who are in robust
health. Certain causes are well known to be exceedingly
favorable to their growth, such as excessive indulgence
in food, excessive indulgence in candy and confectionery,
impure water, etc. Worms are most abundant in moist
countries or during a long prevalence of warm, damp
weather. Children after weaning, are more frequently
affected than very young infants, and Convulsions or
Spasms are often caused by worms in the system. Be
sure to ask for Dr. Jacques’ German Worm Cakes.

                           Prepared by theEMMERT PROPRIETARY CO.,    --    Chicago, Ill. 
                          PRESENTED BY… 

NO ONE.

Let's translate the above, shall we?

So, whether you’re strong or weak, whether you eat well or poorly, whether you’re a grown up or a baby…WORMS ARE GONNA GET YA. So, you might as well eat these German Worm Cakes. We don’t tell you what they are or what’s in them. Are they also made of worms? We’ll never tell. Just know that worms are going to get you and make your baby have spasms and be depraved. And, you’ll never know where they came from!

Ephemeral Beauty: The Mollie Knitting Machine

In the Nineteenth Century, evenings were spent reading, engaged in conversation, playing games, enjoying artistic pursuits, and strapping your daughters into a knitting machine. Well, that’s the impression I get from this trade card.

The card was created for The Mollie Knitting Machine which claims to be “The Cheapest and Best Made.” By the was patented on August 10, 1886. The bottom tells us that we can buy this contraption somewhere in Missouri, in the past.

The chromolithograph, of course, has all the typical trademarks of such products—a happy kitten playing with a ball of yarn and…well, that’s about it. This pale-faced young lady’s cadaverous face is fixed in resolution to her fate as she, bound to her chair, is trapped within the Mollie Knitting Machine. There’s no escape for her. She knows it. So, she’ll just focus on her vaguely Arts and Crafts flower pattern and hope that, perhaps, the kitten will gnaw through the ropes which bind her into this nightmare of needlework.

$500 REWARD 

for any HAND-TUFTING MACHINE on the market at this
date (Sept. 15, 1887,) that can be worked by a child six years
old, with such precision, ease and rapidity, and making such
close solid stitches to the fabric, in working on curves, as can be
done withDeal’s • Fabric • Tufter
(Pat. Aug. 10, 1886; Improved Aug. 25, 1886.) 
AUTOMATIC STITCHER AND FEEDER. Makes Regular Stitches and Beautiful Work
          So Simple a Child can Operate it with Ease.
                    Beautiful in Finish. Perfect in Construction.
                              Durable in Use.

     Ladies delighted with it, and discarding the heavy, awk-
ward flat-handle and loose working crank-handle machines.
     Articles of handiwork – mementoes in years to come of the
loved ones of “Home, Sweet Home,” – made in a few hours
with this LATEST IMPROVED FABRIC TUFTER; such as
beautiful

TURKISH RUGS.
          OTTOMANS, QUILTS,
                    PIANO SPREADS, TIDIES,
                            STAIR CARPETS, LAP ROBES,
                                      HOODS, MITTENS,
                                              CAPS, SLIPPERS. ETC. 

     One Hundred and Fifty Stitches Easily Made in a Minute.
Works Cotton and Woolen Rags, Ravelings and Yarn. We
guarantee every Tufter to be PERFECT IN EVERY PAR-
TICULAR.      Sent by mail to any address for $1.50. Carpet Yarn in
colors at 60 cents a pound. Beautiful patterns in stock. Ad-
justable hard-wood frames, 4 ft. by 6 ft., at 40 cents. Orders
by mail promptly attended to.
     AGENTS WANTED IN EVERY TOWN. 
Address 
GEO. H. KING, MANAGER
FABRIC TUFTER CO.
26 EAST SEVENTH ST.
KANSAS CITY, MO. 


Well, thank God. Now, I can get my tidies made! I just have to let little Audra’s legs atrophy for it. This thing could do anything, it seems. Anything, I suppose, except give your daughter a healthful glow and a happy look in her eye. So, for $1.50, I can have all manner of fuzzy things in my house AND keep the female children from thriving.

Ah, but they did anyway. As you can see, one of them had the audacity to write on the card. On the front, in neat script, she wrote her name in pencil—“Lissa.” On the reverse, she wrote something which is now unreadable. I think it says, “Help me.”

Ephemeral Beauty: A Trade Card for Newman and Levinson

Click Image to Enlarge

Here’s an excellent example of a “stock” trade card which has been used by a business as an advertising tool. The card, likely selected from a catalog from a local printer, features a comic drawing and caption which, it seems appealed to the advertiser.

The drawing depicts “Simple Simon” who seems to either have a tooth-ache or is deceased, and, in the style of Jacob Marley, has his jaw bound. Simon wears his dressing gown and is fishing. The caption at the above right reads:

SIMPLE SIMON WENT A FISHING
      FOR TO CATCH A WHALE
ALL THE WATER HE HAD GOT
   WAS IN HIS MOTHER’S PAIL. 

This is the way the card looked when it was selected from the catalog. As you can see, there’s a white space to the left of the caption which was meant to contain the logo or motto of the business who selected this particular model. The advertiser opted not to have that space printed, instead focusing only on adding a custom-printed message to the reverse which would have been entirely blank. Two-sided printing would have been considerably more costly.

Let’s see what the reverse says, and, especially, who the advertiser is. Firstly, I notice that they spell “chenille” with three “l’s.” In fact, it's kind of a mess. I'll try to replicate it here as best I can with limited Internet fonts.

WM. J. NEWMAN                                                                                               JOHN LEVINSON 

NEWMAN & LEVINSON, 

(Successors to BUYER & REICH,) 

IMPORTERS OF AND DEALERS IN 

Berlin Zephyrs, German Yarns, 

CANVAS,            HOSIERY,          LACES     

                       CHENILLLE,     EMBROIDERY,      FANCY GOODS, 

                                          FLOSS BEADS,    WHITE GOODS,     TRIMMINGS, ETC. 

KID GLOVES. 

Gilt and Silver Trimmings for Theatrical and Society Purposes. 

Decorative Art Rooms Up Stairs 

No. 129 Kearny Street. 

Between Sutter and Post,                                             San Francisco 

I want some "fancy goods!" I’d guess this card dates to about 1880, by the way. The store certainly has an interesting assortment of goods. I wonder, however, why they are so shy about the “Decorative Art Rooms” which are seemingly hidden upstairs. 

Click Image to Enlarge

Mastery of Design: Mary Todd Lincoln's Diamond Brooch and Earrings, pre-1867

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Mary Todd Lincoln was a very complicated woman by all accounts.

Still, we're not here to discuss Mrs. Lincoln's life of suffering, her eccentricities nor her triumphs.  We're here to discuss her sense of style, and, from what I've seen, she had rather good taste in jewelry.

For example, this diamond brooch and earring suite is a rather stunning bit of work.

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Quatrefoil in design, each element is set with a central diamond framed in a diamond surround.  Eight smaller diamonds form a  second tier of stones. The gold mounts were originally highlighted in enamels though now much of the enamel is lost to wear.

The mine-cut diamonds are likely all original to the parure, ranging in color from  J-K with VS-VS1 clarity. 

On October 26 of 1867, the suite was featured  in Frank Lesley's Illustrated Newspaper as part of a job lot of Mrs. Lincoln's clothes, jewelry, and furnishings that were offered for sale through Brady & Company of New York City. 

Mrs. Lincoln in 1867,
around the time of the sale of her jewels.

After the assassination of her esteemed husband, President Abraham Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln's many debts became insurmountable, leading to this rather depressing sale of some of her most cherished possessions.  The sale price listed for the suite was $350.00.

A James Denton Hancock of Ohio purchased the parure for his wife Mary Hitchcock Hancock (according to Mary Todd Lincoln scholar Donna McCreary) at the 1867 sale which took place at Brady &Co, 609 Broadway, NYC.  The jewels descended in the family of Robert Allen, Jr..  they were later purchased at a Frank Kaminski auction on in April of 2008 by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts where they're now a central part of the museum's important collection of jewelry.

Building of the Week: Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Virginia, United States

The West Front Facade
Monticello

To begin with, Jefferson’s famous Virginia estate is quite a bit newer than I originally thought. I’ve become so accustomed to buildings and objects from the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries that I had mentally categorized Monticello as falling into the latter era of building. However, the Palladian mansion that stands today was actually built in the Nineteenth Century.

The original structure at Monticello was a more modest two-story mansion that was erected in 1768 and occupied by Jefferson in 1770. After that, Thomas Jefferson was appointed Minister of the United States to France and subsequently moved from the U.S. During his travels, Jefferson became intimately acquainted with the architecture of Europe and saw first-hand the beautiful buildings he’d only seen illustrated in books. It was his viewing of French and Italian Palladian-style architecture which seems to have planted the seeds of his idea for his own home.

The East Front Facade
Monticello

Beginning in 1794, Jefferson returned to the U.S. and began working on designs for a major overhaul of Monticello which would incorporate the ideals of the architecture he’d seen abroad. The remodeling continued for many years and lasted until 1809.

The "Dome Room"
Monticello

One of the first orders of business was to double the size of the house by adding a parallel set of rooms and resituating the floor plan of the house. Massive East and West facades in a Palladian style were constructed with perfectly proportioned pediments and columns. The entire full-story second floor was completely removed and replaced with a more utilitarian mezzanine bedroom floor. Thomas Jefferson had two reasons for this. First, he was not a big fan of having too much furniture in the house (we’d not have been good friends) and didn’t feel that it was necessary to waste space with beds and wardrobes and other such nonsense. The bedrooms in the new design amounted to cupboards with sturdy Murphy beds and lots of built-in storage space. Secondly, by removing the second floor, he made room for the mansion’s most famous feature—its octagonal dome which is vaguely reminiscent of the dome of Italy’s Pantheon.

The Entrance Hall
Monticello

The mansion itself is not as large as it looks. It is, certainly, not a small house—amounting to 11,000 square feet. But, it appears to be much bigger than that. This owes in large part to the perfect scale of the structure. Every detail is perfectly measured and absolutely correct in scale. While the house is somewhat under-decorated, the architecture is superb.

Monticello, after Jefferson’s death, had several different owners before becoming a museum. It is the only private residence in the U.S. which has been designated as a World Heritage Site. Painstakingly restored, Monticello is open to the public. On rare occasions, the public is even allowed in the intimate dome room which has been painted in two of Jefferson’s favorite colors—“Mars Yellow” for the walls and “Grass Green” for the floors. If you’re in the Virginia area, you should visit this magnificent monument which served as the home, and now the burial place, of one of our most intriguing presidents. 

"The Tea Room"
Monticello

Sculpture of the Day: A Bust of Thomas Jefferson, 1789

Thomas Jefferson
Jean-Antoine Houdon
1789
The National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C.

Since we're indulging in a sort-of-Presidents'-Day salute, let’s take a look at this exceptional marble bust of Jefferson by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon.


Houdon was considered the “Sculptor of the Enlightenment” and espoused Neoclassical ideals in his crisp, attractive work. This bust of Jefferson was created in 1789 while Jefferson was still Minister to France. Today, the bust is housed in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Painting of the Day: “The Washington Family,” by Edward Savage 1789-1796

The Washington Family
Edward Savage, 1789-96
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
The National Gallery of Art, U.S.

American painter Edward Savage was known for his historical paintings and, sadly, the fact that his ambition outshone his talents. His paintings are often stiff and anatomically awkward due to his lack of formal training and natural artistic instincts. He did, however, manage to secure several well-known sitters, most notably George Washington and his family.

Washington, his wife Martha, and her children from her first marriage (she was widowed) sat for Savage in 1789-90 so that he could produce a series of sketches of the group. In 1790, Savage traveled to London where he sketched and was meant to study. He spent most of his time in England drawing and making a name for himself as a collector of art. Savage’s greatest achievement perhaps, is that of a curator more so than an artist. When he returned to New York, he opened the Columbian Gallery and is considered one of the first American museum proprietors.

In 1794, Savage began the actual painting of this nine-foot wide portrait of the Washington Family—four years after the initial sketches. Ever the master showman, he advertised this fact quite broadly and invited visitors (for a fee) to see a “life-sized” image of the first “first family.” In fact, Savage became quite wealthy from this painting—not only from the many engravings that he sold of the finished work, but by charging people to see it.

The portrait is meant to be set at Mount Vernon. However, Savage had never seen Mount Vernon and had no idea what it looked like. The background shows marble columns and a liveried footman in the English manner that Savage had learned to copy while abroad. The composition is rigid, flat and awkward, showing the artist’s lack of skill. He relied heavily on his assistants to do much of his painting for him.

Savage was quite pleased with himself for the “symbolism” of this work. He fancied that he had imbued the figure of Washington with a sense of military and presidential dignity by costuming him in his uniform and putting papers in his hand. Martha Custis Washington holds a map of the unfinished District of Columbia—pointing with her fan to what is now Pennsylvania Avenue.

It’s a curious painting indeed, but an important one as it is, as Savage would have been the first to tell you, one of the few looks we’ll ever get at the entire assembled Washington family.

Ephemeral Beauty: A Bookmark from the Family Druggist

You must click on the image to see the larger picture since it's very attractive.  I insist.  

A chinoiserie-inspired scene on a celadon background, this antique bookmark mimics the look of the japanned objects and furnishings which were so popular in the mid-to-late Nineteenth Century while incorporating the “it” colors of the 1880s—minty green, rust, coral and umber.

It’s a dandy little thing. I love the color palette. If given this bookmark/trade card by my local druggist today, I’d surely save it and use it. I think its inherent loveliness is the very reason that it’s survived well over a century to end up in the collection of some guy in Texas in 2012.

EVERARD H. KELLEY, FAMILY DRUGGIST handed out these cards. I wonder if he liked his name. I’ve never heard the name “Everard” before, but you can rest assured it’ll pop up in "A Recipe for Punch" or some of my other projects. Mr. Kelley’s apothecary shop was located on the Post Office Block of Lawrence, Massachusetts. That’s not too specific is it? Well, I suppose if you lived in Lawrence in the 1880s that was as specific an address as was necessary. I’m sure everyone knew Mr. Kelley. I’m sure Everard was the president of some local organization—the Elks or the Loyal Order of Anteaters or, perhaps, he was a member of some group like one which we had here in my hometown in the 1880s—the ‘Possum and ‘Tater Club. Everyone probably knew him, and everyone probably liked him. I’ll bet the men thought he was “aces” and the ladies admired his taste and gentle spirit. Or…maybe he was a real jerk and everyone cringed every time they went to buy a Scrofula tonic. “You know, Midge, he’s bitter about his name. That’s why he’s like that.”

Either way, for some reason, this card has been preserved, and I’m glad it has because it’s awfully pretty. And, that’s the sort of thing I think about here in my house full of old paper.

Ephemeral Beauty: Rumford Chemical Works Baking Powder

Click on image to get a closer look.

Nothing says home-baked goodness like “Chemical Works.”

The front of this handsome, and atypically large, trade card is printed with a very Rembrandt-y portrait of a curly-locked tot of indeterminate gender. The work of The Major & Knapp Lithography of New York, the card is copyrighted 1884 by the Rumford Chemical Works.

So, what could this be advertising? Oil? Cleaning solution? Soap? Insecticide?

Nope.

Baking powder.

How can this be? Let’s see what they say: 

Prof. HORSFORD'S 

SELF-RAISING 

BREAD PREPARATION. 

The Healthful and Nutritious 

Baking Powder. 

It is recommended and used by the leading Physicians 

and Chemists, and its use is positively 

Beneficial to Health. 

     Phosphate of lime is an essential constituent of all grains, and
is an important nutritive principle and indispensable element in the
construction of all the animal tissues.
     In the process of bolting fine wheat flour, a large portion of the
phosphates are lost.
     This Powder supplies the phosphates, this rendering the bread,
biscuit, etc., healthful and nutritious. 
    No other Baking Powder in the world ever received such high
commendation from eminent authorities. 

SPECIAL DIRECTIONS. 

       Sift the Powder and Flour thoroughly together before wetting.
     Have the oven HOT before mixing the dough.
     Mix the dough as quickly as possible, and put it into the oven immediately. The
quicker this is done, the better the result. 

------------------------- 

Send to Rumford Chemical Works, Providence, R.I., for the Horsford Almanac 

And Cook Book.

Wow! What specific instructions! Next time I try to bake something, I'll make the oven vaguely HOT and then work as fast as I can. I wonder what the little child on the front of the card would say. Nothing, I suppose, since he or she would likely be very disinterested.