Face powder and cold cream

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Jarden Lithographing Company, Catalogue and price list of original label designs, talcum wraps, and sachet envelopes in stock (Philadelphia: Jarden Lithographing Company, no date). Graphic Arts (GAX) 2008- in process

This sales catalogue from the Jarden company of Philadelphia offers 60 leaves of chromolithographic plates presenting 181 labels for hair tonic, face powder, cold cream, perfume, and more. The images are not pasted in but printed directly onto the pages.

Lithography was perfected in Europe during the 1790s but it was in American printing companies, such as Jarden in Philadelphia, where the commercial use of color printing really evolved in the second half of the 1800s. For the first time, relatively cheap color images became possible, surpassing the use of stencil or hand-applied color for commercial applications. Up to two dozen oil-based color inks might be used, each from a separate printing stone in perfect registration, to achieve a density and richness of tone. The integration of golds and silvers heighten the metallic shine of the final chromolithograph.

2 Comments

oh this is interesting. we've just been discussing some of the various effects of developments in color printing too.

i wonder why it took so long for it to come to this country.

Beautiful. I need those in my bathroom!