Object of the Day: Edwin C. Burt Fine Shoes

Click on image to ride in a shoe.

I know that when I’m sledding in a giant ladies shoe (or, specifically in a giant lady’s shoe), I like to wave the American flag. Mine has fifty stars, I’m proud to say, but when this card was printed, the U.S. had markedly fewer states and wasn’t even twenty years past the Civil War.

This clever bit of Victorian weirdness was printed for “Edwin C. Burt, Fine Shoes.” Burt Shoes were a popular brand which was marketed through many retailers. The Burt Company would distribute these trade cards to retailers as a means of advertising individual shoe shops. As we can see, this one was overprinted with the information of a shop in Massachusetts. It reads, “Presented by P/B/ Robinson, 221 Essex St., Lawrence Mass.”

The reverse is neatly printed with additional information about Mr. Robinson’s shoe shop as well as some very vital data about Mr. Burt’s fancy shoes.

P.B. ROBINSON, 

Dealer in BOOTS and SHOES of every description, 

No. 221 Essex Street, 

LAWRENCE, MASS. 

Has a fine line of BURT’S GOODS, manufactured 

expressly for him by 

                                           EDWIN C. BURT, New York. 

CAUTION. 

THE GENUINE BURT SHOE has the name of 

EDWIN C. BURT 

stamped in full on the LINING and SOLE of EACH SHOE 

and are warranted. 

The Major Knapp, Lith. Co., 56 Park Place, N.Y. 

It seems that in the printing process, the sheet became misaligned and the “CAUTION” type was repeated. There’s also a curiously placed “Over” which makes little sense. However, look at that nifty logo for Burt’s Shoes! That indicates to us that this card was printed in 1878 or so.