A Nurseryman's Advertising Circulars

Lakeville, Mass: [the nursery, 1905. Eight advertising circulars (size ranges from 42 x 29 to 11x17 cm.). Five of the circulars are illustrated with attractive woodcuts. Printed in dark red, lighter red, brownish purple, and black on various colored stocks. A group of circulars or handbills advertising the fruit trees and vines of O.K. Gerrish of Lakeville, Massachusetts. Gerrish operated a nursery in Lakeville for more than 35 years, from the late 1860s through the turn of the 20th century. In 1904 the National Nurseryman described his operation as having had "the largest volume of business of any man not having a partner, nor being associated with any company, in the country." Varieties represented include The Greely Plum, the Jessica Grape, Fay's Prolific Currant, the Russian Apricot, and the Arctic Apple, a cold-hardy variety for which Gerrish was particularly known. He claimed to have discovered the apple growing in the St. Lawrence River Valley, propagated it, and introduced it to the market. The very lovely woodcut on the Fay' Prolific Currant is indicated as having been "photographed and engraved for the Rural New Yorker. Only one handbill (the Russian Apricot) exhibits significant wear to the edges and splitting along fold lines. The others have some chips to the edges. Generally very good.