I have always had a fascination into the art of early printing methods and the use of colour.  American trade cards are a prime example of this.

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My first publication on the history of lawn mowers in 1982 was printed on an original Heidelberg printer and interset machine made in the 1890’s. The printer had been new to Sheffield Star Newspapers but due to its age, it eventually had to be replaced. Meanwhile, two enterprising friends decided to save it and rebuild it on the first floor of outbuildings next to their house. It was heavy and cumbersome to move. Anyone else would have re built it on the ground floor, except that was taken up with an earlier project, a Ransomes 1919 full size Agricultural steam traction engine.

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The history of American trade card printing is quite interesting, developing soon after the end of the American civil war in the 1850’s.  It was a way of cheap advertising that could be passed to the masses, who in many cases could not read but with the use of colour images could attract their interest.

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Business cards in Europe have been used far longer but with a slightly different style and approach. It has always been said that Americans take sport to a different level. The use of trade cards was a cheap form of advertisement, which gained momentum with the masses, fuelled by the ever-expanding industry of an ever-growing young nation with the need to produce goods of high quality but at an affordable price. This required the influx of an ever-expanding immigrant work force which again created new ideas. All the elements for a country to become a super power.

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The early trade cards were two-tone, either just black and white or two colours using sepia. Most were a standard small size ideal to fit into a pocket. Many different trades used them to promote their products, for example soap, food and fashion. The ones I collect are from lawnmower makers, these companies also produced other lines of which it is common to find the same companies advertising farm implements.

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In the 1850’s Louis Prang, a young enterprising German immigrant in the USA, was experimenting with colour as technology was expanding in the field of printing and in 1873 had entered an exhibition at the Vienna International Exposition using a

multi-coloured trade card with which he won. On returning to the USA, he started to print many of these colour Chromeo lithograph trade cards.

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On my many travels to the USA over the years, I have seen and touched the original former's carved out of a soft soap stone used by Louis Prang and his contemporises, most now belonging to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington or the Snakenberg Collection in South Maryland.

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Many of the cards can be described as primitive, or humorous with the American style of slap stick comedy but there are other features which are prevalent which also in turn attract collectors. This can be seen in the fashion and style of clothing, recreation, and culture. As in many cases, it must be remembered that the Eastern states, for example New England running down the Eastern coast, New York State and Pennsylvania were far more Anglophile than the Western States.

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As the idea of using a trade card became an important part of advertising, a form called a stock card was used by the travelling salesman. This was mainly used by smaller manufacturers, the idea being the cards were all printed the same but the salesman could use a stamp on the road to print the product or the dealer’s name. Further ideas were used, such as metamorphic, this is where, by folding the card over a different picture, it could be produced.

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Many trade cards obviously had the company name but also had the style of a lawn mower and size plus the date of when the card was produced, so helping any collector today. One company called Mast Foos presented collectible sets while Pennsylvania mowers preferred to depict Angels. There are a few examples where American trade cards were used in the UK and in Europe where they can be found to have subtle changes in print colours and will have British prices on the rear.

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Obviously, all these ideas in trade cards attracted collectors for all different reasons. It was commonplace for children to collect them in the late 1890’s, whereby in many cases they pasted them in books. Even today there are those who collect cards depicting sports men and women, to become collections in future years.

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There was a serious shift away from using trade cards in the early 1900’s due to the development of cheaper colour production in newspapers and magazines, though smaller companies did carry on using them.

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In the 1990’s the hobby of collecting ‘paper’ became very popular in the USA, (which we would call ephemera). Many early children's collections from the 1900’s re-surfaced from house clearances and tag sales and in many cases broken up and sold. I know by the many paper ‘meets’ I have attended, there seemed to be an opinion that more would surface and as often is the case with collecting, prices rose along with interest. Over the past 30 years, prices for some have levelled out, giving new collectors a chance to acquire them but obviously, as they are American, there will always be a consequential loss in postage to those who live outside of the USA.

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My own collection comprises over 300 cards which we have used by enlarging the cards for exhibitions, using them as a

back-drop on our displays. These amusing pictorial depictions of bygone lawn mower advertisements have opened up conversations, echoing the initial intention of 175 years ago.