About this Item
H. C. Phillips, Nurseryman, Rochester, N.Y. No. 25. B. Leather-bound specimen book/seed catalog with 121 color chromolithographs by Stecher Litho Co., Rochester N.Y., dates ranging from 1886 - 1888 on plates. 5.25 x 9", 8vo. In fair condition. Black leather boards scuffed at edges and worn/bumped at corners. Head and tail of spine rubbed. Gilt lettering on front board overall bright and clean. Marbled front and rear end-pages beginning to crease/tear along gutters. Binding shaken, but intact. Light toning throughout text-block; mostly at lithos' bottom edges. Colors remain bright and attractive. Small tear at bottom edge of plate 2 (Duchess of Oldenburg apple). Plate 88 (Photo #4) torn horizontally ~5". Very attractive contents - each plate is in color and quite beautiful. Binding is intact, hinges fragile. Please see photos and ask questions, if any, before purchasing. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Rochester, New York, was a leading American nursery center. Auxiliary to the nursery businesses, there developed allied enterprises, one of which was the production of colored fruit and flower prints designed to aid nurserymen and their travelling salesmen sell plants. This business in nurserymen's plates, as these prints were also termed, flourished until changes in marketing nursery products and the increasing use of colored illustrations in nursery catalogues caused its decline. By the early years of this century, the production and use of these plates was ending. A typical nurserymen's color plate was approximately 9 by 12 inches or the smaller "pocket size" of 6 by 9 inches, which was introduced in the early 1870's. Each pictured a specimen of fruit, flower, shrub, ornamental tree, or, occasionally, a hardy vegetable such as rhubarb. Under the illustration would be its name, perhaps a brief description of its attributes (as much for the benefit of the salesman as the potential customer), and the name (and often city) of the producer of the plate. These plates were generally printed on heavy paper stock to withstand wear. A nursery firm or salesman could purchase plates in a variety of ways: individually, as bound assortments, or as collections in portfolios. If he wished he could select an assortment illustrating the stock he was selling and have it bound. Often he would select plates produced by various firms. If he wished to change the assortment or replace worn or damaged plates, special bindings could be had that made such substitutions easy. The earlier plates were either hand-colored lithographs or a variation of the theorem technique of using stencils with details added freehand. All of these plates were bright and colorful; some had simplified designs which were almost abstract in quality. The first Rochester chromolithographic company began in 1871, and sometime thereafter local firms began to use this method to produce less expensive plates. By the end of the century, plates were also created by the photomechanical reproduction of photographs. Although fruit and flower plates were produced in other places, Rochester appears to have been a center for the business. By the 1880's and into the 1890's, more than a half dozen firms were active in Rochester. The major nineteenth-century Rochester plate firms were D. M. Dewey, the Rochester Lithographing and Printing Company (with which Dewey merged in 1888), and the Stecher Lithographing Company. Stecher Lithographic Company was previously known as Charles F. Muntz & Company, Mensing, Rahn & Stecher (Lithographic & Chromo Company), and Mensing & Stecher (Lithographic & Chromo Company). Chromolithography came to Rochester early in 1871 when three partners, Charles F. Muntz, Frank A. Stecher, and Anton Rahn founded Charles F. Muntz & Company. In 1874-75 when Muntz left and J. D. A. Mensing became a partner, the firm became Mensing, Rahn & Stecher. RAREA1888FSVW 07/24 - HK1859. Seller Inventory # RAREA1888FSVW
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