Rolltops [Desks].

Rolltops [Desks].

Paris:

Standard [Furniture Company],

1900.

With a pull of the tab, the executive leans back in his chair and the roll top desk cover is lifted by the secretary, clearly demonstrating this product’s feature. The scene is jam-packed with information, which includes Herkimer, New York—“the desk capital of the world”—featured on the map above the desk. Like many trade cards of the era, this one boasts winning the Grand Prize at the Exposition Universelle of Paris in 1900 where almost 9000 Grand Prizes were awarded. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a movable is worth so many more.

Collection of Ellen G. K. Rubin.