Litho-mania

My last post concerned the photoengraving industry of the pre-Depression period. This week it's pre-WWII lithography!

"Litho Media: A Demonstration of the Selling Power of Lithography," published in 1939 by Roger Stephens and edited by H. Homer Buckelmueller and Colin Campbell, is a 206-page, 12-by-15-inch slipcased bible produced to help publicize the successful and effective results of using the lithography process for marketing purposes. It doesn't pretend to be anything other than a "Toot Your Own Horn" compilation of uses (employing tipped-in examples of the produced work discussed), accompanied by testimonial letters from the various people responsible for utilizing the craft for their products. There are no technical descriptions or images that explain the process.

[caption id="attachment_359191" align="aligncenter" width="491" caption="The 12-by-15-inch Litho Media with its slipcase"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359201" align="aligncenter" width="485" caption="The hardcover edition with its dust jacket"][/caption]

The major difference I find between this publication from 1939 and the subject of my prior post ("Achievement in Photo-Engraving and Letter-Press Printing," 1927) is the more aggressive approach to presenting the cause for using the technique. The 1927 catalog felt more like a "Gentleman's Game" of marketing. This newer reference edition uses a more modern/familiar approach to promoting the craft — a bit more brash and direct.

(When it comes to the images, remember to click on the picture to enlarge and click again to go in even further ...)

[caption id="attachment_359211" align="aligncenter" width="461" caption="Opening acknowledgements"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359221" align="aligncenter" width="470" caption="Title page"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359231" align="aligncenter" width="468" caption="The president of the Association of National Advertisers, Paul B. West, wrote the "Advertisers Viewpoint" foreword"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359261" align="aligncenter" width="530" caption="Roger Stephens's introduction, with the definition of "Litho Media""][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359271" align="aligncenter" width="531" caption="An example of direct mail marketing using the Book of the Month Club's "The Arts," by Hendrik Willem Van Loon and published by Simon & Schuster"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359281" align="aligncenter" width="532" caption="The fold-out approach was a reflection of the book's dust jacket, which also opened to show a chronological art-history timeline"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359291" align="aligncenter" width="421" caption="Here's what "The Arts," by Hendrik Willem Van Loon, actually looks like"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359301" align="aligncenter" width="524" caption="The book with its dust jacket"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359311" align="aligncenter" width="524" caption="The dust jacket in its opened configuration"][/caption]

Back to our feature presentation ...

[caption id="attachment_359321" align="aligncenter" width="524" caption="The Sarco Company's contribution to the "Letterheads and Letter Forms" chapter"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359341" align="aligncenter" width="482" caption="Lithographed postcards from the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359351" align="aligncenter" width="519" caption="The Hotel Pennsylvania's map for use by visitors to the 1939 NY World's Fair"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359361" align="aligncenter" width="522" caption="The Hotel's Statler Company's folder in opened form"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359371" align="aligncenter" width="522" caption="A brochure announcing the offerings of the new Alwyn Court apartments at 58th Street and Seventh Avenue"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359381" align="aligncenter" width="524" caption="The letter from Tison Page of Tison Page Advertising discusses, among other things, the use of halftone screening to give the impression of three colors using only one"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359391" align="aligncenter" width="525" caption="Illustration by Henry Stahlhut with accompanying letter from fair president Grover Whalen"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359401" align="aligncenter" width="524" caption="General Electric Air Conditioning sales presentation example"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359421" align="aligncenter" width="525" caption="PanAm brochure illustrated by Kenneth W. Thompson"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359431" align="aligncenter" width="526" caption="Foldout with more illustrations by Thompson"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359441" align="aligncenter" width="530" caption="Remember blotters?"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359451" align="aligncenter" width="532" caption="A Currier & Ives–inspired calendar"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359461" align="aligncenter" width="531" caption="Pages from the E.P. Dutton & Co. children's book, "Bumblebuzz""][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359471" align="aligncenter" width="530" caption="A dust jacket cover illustrated by Gregor Duncan"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359501" align="aligncenter" width="530" caption="A marvelous illustration by Vernon Grant, creator of the Kellogg's Rice Krispies "Snap, Crackle & Pop""][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359511" align="aligncenter" width="528" caption="P.O.P. examples (having nothing to do with breakfast cereal ...)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359541" align="aligncenter" width="528" caption="A small Sealtest cookbooklet tipped into the page"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359561" align="aligncenter" width="530" caption="Actual tipped-in labels lithographed for various products"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359571" align="aligncenter" width="530" caption="A label (front and reverse) for canned salad sprouts"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359581" align="aligncenter" width="530" caption="Example of a White Owl cigar band and a Robt. Burns holiday cigar-box wrapping"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359591" align="aligncenter" width="528" caption="A Boraxo label printed on metal and Griffin Allwite shoe polish packaging"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359601" align="aligncenter" width="529" caption="Paas Easter Egg coloring package"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359611" align="aligncenter" width="530" caption="A chapter on logos and trademarks"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359631" align="aligncenter" width="531" caption="Lithography for use in transparencies and "decalmanias""][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359641" align="aligncenter" width="529" caption="A billboard foldout designed by . . ."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359651" align="aligncenter" width="531" caption="... Dean Cornwall"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359661" align="aligncenter" width="531" caption="A pre-Speedy advertisement for Alka-Seltzer"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359671" align="aligncenter" width="531" caption="A reproduction of a Sir Samuel Luke Fildes (1844–1927) painting used by the Lever Brothers Company for in-store promotion"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359681" align="aligncenter" width="533" caption="Menu cover produced by Schenley Distillers Corporation"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359691" align="aligncenter" width="530" caption="Esso automobile roadmap"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359701" align="aligncenter" width="528" caption="Esso map, partially folded out"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359711" align="aligncenter" width="529" caption="Sheet music produced by the State of New York to promote safety to children"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359731" align="aligncenter" width="528" caption="Package insert for Murine eye drops"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359751" align="aligncenter" width="530" caption="Office and factory forms"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359761" align="aligncenter" width="530" caption="The "Carnival of Color"..."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359771" align="aligncenter" width="529" caption="... illustrated by T.M Cleland ..."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359791" align="aligncenter" width="526" caption="... and printed on a Harris Offset Press"][/caption]

The remaining eight spreads are actual ads at the end of the book.

[caption id="attachment_359801" align="aligncenter" width="523" caption="Three spreads promoting the products of International Printing Ink"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359831" align="aligncenter" width="522" caption="Gloss finishes ..."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359841" align="aligncenter" width="522" caption="... weatherproofed printing, and photoreproduction"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_359851" align="aligncenter" width="520" caption="The gold-and-blue image is an actual printed-on-metal example, tipped into the page"][/caption]

.
If you relish a tactile design experience, you might also enjoy the DesignCast "Freaks of Fancy, or Everything You Wanted to Know About Wild, 19th-Century Printing Techniques (But Were Afraid to Ask)."