Object of the Day: A Trade Card for Boots and Shoes, 1882

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Here’s another trade card in the genre of a monochromatic print on a metallic ink background. These Victorian cards—available from a catalog to be printed with customized copy—seem to all feature children, especially boys, engaged in sporting activities, usually in mid-action and, most often, about to injure themselves in some manner.

Here, we have a scene of a lad who is, I guess, playing cricket. I don’t know sports. It’s some game with a big, flat bat. I suspect that’s cricket. Nevertheless, he’s in the process of catching a ball—I think—while trying to avoid being impaled by a series of long sticks. Is that how cricket works? Doesn’t seem fun to me. A crowd watches as the startled boy is about to be struck by the ball which he was attempting to catch. It’s going to hit him in the stomach, likely to cause internal bleeding which would not be reparable by Ayer’s Pills or Scott’s Emulsion. If he doesn’t catch the ball, his innards will be turned to casserole and his liver crushed. If he does, he’ll lose focus and be gored by the number of batons into which he seems to have stumbled. Either way, he’s going to fall into a mud puddle. His life is over. Sports are horrible.

Or, not. I don’t know.

The card is copyrighted. It reads awkwardly, “1882. Copyright 1881 by Geo. M. Hayes.” The title of the scene is inscribed as “Bowled Out.” I bet that means something.

The top of the card, on the silver ink is printed with the following:

Compliments of W. H. DOWNS 

--DEALER IN--

BOOTS AND SHOES 

214 Genesee Avenue 

EAST SAGINAW, - MICH.