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| Journeys over Land and Sea | Journeys of the Mind | Journeys of the Imagination |
Journeys of the Imagination: Trade LiteratureTrade literature represents the development of American manufacturing and marketing, showing how people designed and decorated their houses and gardens; what they ate, wore, and owned; and what they produced at work. |
| Boston Rubber Shoes Company Boston: [1895?].
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| G. Thorburn and Son Catalogue of Kitchen Garden, Herb, Flower, Tree and Grass Seeds, Bulbous Flower Roots, Green House Plants, & c. & c. . . . , 13th ed. New York: 1828.
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| Lucius and Bruning [Dye lot samples] [no date].
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| William Prince Catalogue of Fruit and Ornamental Trees and Plants, Bulbous Flower Roots, Green-house Plants, . . . Long Island, N.Y.: 1823.
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| Sears, Roebuck and Co. Brick Veneer "Honor-Bilt Modern Homes" [Chicago]: 1930.
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| Spencer [Pen nibs] [1937?].
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| United Steel Companies, Ltd. [Lacquer samples] February 1933.
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| William Doxford and Sons, Ltd. Doxford Opposed Piston Oil Engine Sunderland, England: 1922.
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| Yokohama Nursery Co., Ltd. Maples of Japan Yokohama, Japan: 1898.
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Chromolithography, a color printing technique of the mid-to-late
1800s, often resembles an oil painting or watercolor. This Boston Rubber
Shoe Company catalog used chromolithographs to great effect. To illustrate
the variety and appropriateness of its boots for different outdoorsmen,
the Boston Rubber Shoe Company depicted them on fishermen, hunters, and
loggers. In another approach, similar to today’s life-style advertising,
the company pictured young women out in nature or paired proper Bostonians
on rainy days with famous city landmarks, such as the Boston Public
Library. 
Grant Thorburn, born in Scotland in 1773, arrived in New York in
1794 at age 21. He was a nail-maker and sold novelties and hardware in the
city, but when he found that his best sales were for flowers in pots, he
turned to the seed business. His was probably the first American business
of importance to sell stock seeds. The 1822 Thorburn catalog was the first
seed book in America to be issued in pamphlet form and the first to
include illustrations. ![[Dye lot samples]](tn3-26-Lucius-Bruning.jpg)
One of the most effective marketing methods is to show clients a
product in a memorable or eye-catching manner. Clever designers devised
ways to incorporate samples into product literature. These examples
include a colorful cover sunburst of lacquer strips, pen points and their
corresponding signature styles, and colored threads indicating dye lots.
The Prince garden on Long Island was the first major commercial
nursery in the United States. It became the largest and most important
American nursery of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Its first known
advertisement is dated September 21, 1767, and its earliest catalog was
published as a broadside in 1771. Many of the shrubs and flowers collected
from the Lewis and Clark expeditions were sent to the Prince nursery for
propagation and distribution. The nursery also trained most of the early
plantsmen in the United States. 
Sears shipped the components for 49,500
"kit-houses" in 15 years, providing middle-class Americans with good
residential design at affordable prices. Buyers selected their dream house
from the scores of models presented in Sears’ "Honor Bilt" catalogs. For
historians, details of house design, such as the breakfast nook, and
slogans, such as "Where women spend 2/3 of every day should be modern and
bright," are important records of American domestic life. ![[Pen nibs]](tn3-27-Spencerian.jpg)
One of the most effective marketing methods is to show clients a product
in a memorable or eye-catching manner. Clever designers devised ways to
incorporate samples into product literature. These examples include a
colorful cover sunburst of lacquer strips, pen points and their
corresponding signature styles, and colored threads indicating dye lots.
![[Lacquer samples]](tn3-25-UnitedSteel.jpg)
One of the most effective marketing methods is to show clients a product
in a memorable or eye-catching manner. Clever designers devised ways to
incorporate samples into product literature. These examples include a
colorful cover sunburst of lacquer strips, pen points and their
corresponding signature styles, and colored threads indicating dye lots.
Shipbuilders and marine engineers, William Doxford and Sons developed the
opposed piston marine oil engine. To illustrate its unusual operation, the
firm devised this paper-and-board model with moveable pistons and levers.
The Yokohama Nursery, with offices in New York and Japan, was
one of the largest suppliers of Japanese plants and bulbs to the Western
nursery trade. With pochoir stencil illustrations effectively presenting
the vivid colors of leaves, the Yokohama export catalogs created much of
the early interest in Japanese maples in the United States. The
Smithsonian Libraries horticulture collection , strong in 19th-century
landscape design and garden practice, is augmented by garden furniture and
other items related to the florist trade. Smithsonian horticulturists
maintain period gardens and complementary plantings around every museum.
