, 1884-02-26
LlTHoGRAPHY.
Growth of the Chrome Branch of
Business Advertising.
The Sums Expended In illuminated
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the
Art---Oscar WILDE
Advent


New York Mail and ExprcssJ
&No CalendarsT is the sign most conspicuous
on the storm-door OF moro than one down
town insurance house. 1t Is intended for the
calendar hend. Since before the holidays
the leading insurance and steamship com
panies downtown have been beieged with
applicants for calendars. @An the value they
have to most people," said q clerk, us the
photographic part Of them The leaves are
torn of. and a cardboard workbox, ash-re-
oeiver, or match-safo glued on, tho whole be-
Ing then hung up in & conspicuous place In
their homes. Calendars cost too much money
to be wasted in that way" Talking further
on the subject, a Mail and Express reporter
was amazed TO learn that vast sums
of money are spont by Insurance. companies
yearly In Illuminated advertisements A
quarter Of a million OF dollars, it is estimated,
would not pay for the combined works Of
this KIM given away. Many OF the Gallon
dars this year cost 80 cents apiece. Insur-
ance companies, however, are not alone in
this prodigal means Of giving publicity TO
their existence. Steamship, railroad, and
other large companies spend hundreds Of
thousands Of dollars every year In elegant
photographic advertisements Some of thu
pictures given away by the Cunard, GuioL.
Red Star, and other steamship companies
cost over 81 apiece. The photographic work
u - aAhbo AMMAN AAaLS 1ACaka 49,
ness frequently to keep a large establishment
running for a year.
HI HONEY SPENT.
In answer TO the reporters question as 10
how much money is spent on TYPOGRAPHY In
a year, a w~ell-known photographer said'
Taking the insurance men, patent medicine
dealers, theatrical companies, and dry goods
men altogether 1t is estimated they have ex
pended in eight years enough money to more
than twice pay the national debt" From
visits paid many of the photographic estab
lishments Inter on, and from Interview
had with members Of the trade concern
ing the subject, it was learned that
ten years ago the most pretentious speci-
mems of tho Illuminated advertisements
were the pictures of Spanish bull-fghts,
vineyards, and festivals that came In raisin
boxes. These and small labels on cotton and
wooden goods and the better brands Of cigars
constituted the orders Of tho photographer to
a great extent. In the introduction Of 70
ward, Sunday-school, birthday, Christmas
and Easter cards Into America, the quick
wit and the artistic eye OF the job printer
saw a means of doubling his income and
diminishing his labors one-half. 1t was be
that first utilized the small art productions
intended for the exemplary scholar and sac
rihced their beauty to the advertising craze.
IMPROVEMENTS.
One firm OF reward card publ shers sold
millions and millions of their productions to
Job printers in tho inland towns. At first
prices ranged from IS cents to 50 per 200
cards, but with the growth OF trade and the
demand for original goods the prices ran up
until $50 a thousand was paid in some in
stances. European manufacturer were not
slow TO recognize the new field for illumin-
ated work, and they soon had lines on the
market that were sold from samples before
the goods had come from the presS. Hun
dreds of Americans entered the race and
We'd with each other until seemingly every
subject and design possible had been
utilized to furnish stock for the printer.
Improvements in photographic printing
presses, b~ronzing machines, stamping blocks,
cutting gears, and education in art matters
generally, soon mnde 1t possible for indi-
vidual houses to have their own designs and
special subjects worked up by the hrho-
grapher. Most large advertisers, it Is said,
spend 25 per cent. of their gross earnings In
advertising. OF this, is per cent Is spent In
appealing to the mind through the eye by
means of a brilliant combination of colors in
a Autograph. One cigarette manufacturer,
it is alleged, has spent a fortune on litho-
graphs Of prominent actors and actresses.
Three patent medicine firms are credited with
spending yearly enough money to carry an
election in the state OF New York
THE VARIOUS DESIGNS.
Tho advent of Oscar Wilde with his lily and
sunhower brought grist to the photographers
mill So also did the coming of Mrs. Lang
try and Henry Irving and the rage for
ceramics. Jumbo was autographed to the
extent of $4,000. A baby elephant belong
ing to n well, known circus cost So, 900 for
Autographs OF it aud its mother. Tho vnri-
Gus devices given away by the large retail
dry goods houses in the semblance of banjos,
guns, fans, hats, plaques of all kinds. and tho
thousand and one other designs cost from $50
to $500 per 1000. What becomes of this vast
amount OF chrome lithographyi will be asked.
Much Of it is destroyed and goes to waste in
the course OF its advertising mission But
there is also a large amount OF it used In the
homes OF the middle and lower classes. There
It adorns walls that would otherwise remain
bare, and affords opportunity to q greater or
less extent for the cultivation of a taste for
art The only art gallery known In soma
country homes is that made up of chrome
photographic gems from distant city manu-
facturors.
THEATRICAL LITHos.
With reference to the Autographs used by
theatrical companies, it il said the cost Of
this species OF advertising to all frst-clnss
companies is in the neighborhood OF SIS, 900
for a season OF forty weeks. Said the fore
mar of a large establishment In this city:
"As n rule 1t pays an artist better to work at
the stone in a photographic establishment
than to attempt the once popular aim OF be-
coming a great painter. Good hands at de-
signing, working out, and reproducing get
from $40 a week up. We have some men to
whom we pay 5000 per week. Actors and
managers pay literally for their work and
want the best that can be got For window
hthos we get all the way from 9 cents TO 20
cents each-that is, in lots of 1000 or more.
For descriptive posters and other Illuminated
paper for the walls prices vary. For Some
we get as low as 10 cents a sheet For other
kinds we ask as high as so cents."
"This accounts, then, l suppose, for 80
many companies going underT
ION the contrary, my experience has been
that the theatrical companies who make the
most money and live the longest are thoss
over whom the manager presides that be-
lieves in printers ink. The art Of the actor
does not seem TO make the business. It Is the
art of the photographer that tails l call to
mind a company now travelling that can post
a stand OF one hundred bills and never dupli-
cate one of them, and every sheet Of that
stand represents a reserved seat ticket Still
they make money"
Westminster abbey graveyard Is 20 crowded
that distinguished Engiishmsn don't know
what TO do about dying.