Advertising for N. Snellenburg & Co. [boards from Illustrated Sketches and Stories for Young America]

Philadelphia: N. Snellenburg & Co, 1891. Very Good -. Illustrated Sketches and Stories for Young America by George M. Vickers was issued by the Philadelphia department store Snellenburg & Co. in 1891 as an advetisement for the store. These pictorial boards (27 cm. high), long-since removed from the book, have the title of the book on the front board with a black-and-white illustration of a ship under steam in the center and color illustrations of boys skating and cycling around it. At the lower edge is added: "Presented to Our Young Friends. N. Snellenburg & Co. Philadelphia." In the upper right-hand corner is a blue circular emblem with the motto: "Snellenburg's Good Phila. Made Clothing G.P.M.C. Others 30%." The back board displays color illustrations of the two department stores in Philadelphia with the same motto in brown. In the late 19th century, Snellenburg's issued several such books for children with advertising on the exterior boards. This is a charming example of such late-19th-century advertising. In Very Good- Condition: light soiling, what was the front board more heavily than the back, especially along the fore-edge; edges rubbed; a former owner has embellished in pencil the reverse side (the former fixed endpapers).