Sunday, September 8, 2013
An Excellent Reproduction (1966)
of a 1902-1903 Toy Catalogue
This week I received a reproduction of a Gong Bell Manufacturing Bell Toy Catalogue. The original catalogue was printed for the1902-1903 season. When it arrived, I opened the carefully-packaged catalogue to see if the item was OK, and it was. I left it on my desk for a few days without really paying much attention to it. Yesterday, I looked and several things caught my eye. First, there was a lot of yellowing. I;d already noticed that even later reprints of catalogues have some yellowing. I thing some of the better reprinters use acidic paper and not acid-free or archival paper. Consequently, over time the paper will yellow. If you ever frame a fine lithograph or water colour piece of art, make 100% sure that the matting around the art is acid free and archival! The second thing that I noticed was that the catalogue was exceptional in quality. And the third thing that tied the first two observations was the fact that this catalogue was reprinted in 1973, in what I like to call the BDE (Before Digital Era).
This doesn't sound like a "big deal", until you realize that Photoshop was released in 1990, and I doubt even if scanners were around then in inexpensive pricing or even good quality. SO what might I deduce? That both Mr. Lloyd W. Ralston (Warren, Ohio) and Mr. F.H.Griffith (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) got together to reprint an old catalogue with exceptional quality and via older methods. If you look at the left sided page next to the "price List" page, you will see that the reproduction date was in 1966. I was 18 then and probably in my first or second year of university. That's 47 years ago! In 53 years, when I am long since departed, this will be a true antique paper catalogue!
So if Mr. Ralston and Mr. Griffith are still alive, or their relatives are, I would commend them on the superb job that they did, and will be looking for more of these catalogues. If their relatives ever read this, please drop me a line (write to me).
That's the logo that I use as a copyright watermark, as well as on my business card.
(for those who don;t know me already,my name is Mr. Stacey Bindman
I've made the scanned images above extra-large for everyone to look at the fine illustrations. The images were originally hand-drawn, and that's what also makes them so nice to look at.
I've added my watermark logo and written notice because there are some people who do make a living reproducing these catalogues, so it's not "fair" for people to copy them. However,if you ever need to use them for an article or an educational paper, just write to me, and I'll send you larger-sized images without the watermark - just remember to give me the credit note, as well as the others - Mr. Lloyd W. Ralston and Mr. F.H Griffith - they did all the excellent work - really!
And of course, if any of my friends who have helped me with this blog by allowing me to use their photos ,ever need a CD copy of any of the catalogues that I have presented, just e-mail me. It's the least I can do for all of your kindness in helping me with this blog!
Of course, now that I've presented the catalogue, I will search out the toys in a few future posts.
I couldn't leave that alone!
Thanks for dropping by,
and have a great part of the day or night,
wherever you may be.
Stacey
toysearcher@gmail.com
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