The Best in the World! Stone & Murray’s Circus!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52292700286_c0ed4e018c_z.jpg

Title

The Best in the World! Stone & Murray’s Circus!

Coverage

[Philadelphia]:

Publisher

[n.p.],

Date

ca. 1869.

Description

Darius Wells (1800–1875) of New York City found the means to mass produce wooden letters in 1827 by using a lateral router. Large metal type was unwieldly, extremely heavy, and difficult to lock into type formes; wood type provided a cheap and durable alternative. Wood type was not generally employed in book printing, as very large types were not needed for printing hand-held volumes. But it was frequently and widely used in display advertising, such as this poster for Stone & Murray’s Circus.

Source

From the collection of Rare Book School