Zanol, the Better Way to Buy. Catalog no. 20. [Cover title.]

Cincinnati: American Products Company, [1927] Edition C" (1927, see p. 68). Various editions of Catalog no. 20 were issued to Zanol salesmen ca. 1921-1928, some without edition statements. OCLC records seven copies of Catalog no. 20, all in Delaware and Ohio: one dated 1921 (Cincinnati PL), two 1924 (Winterthur Museum, Cincinnati PL), two 1925 (Ohio History Connection, "Edition A"; Winterthur), one 1927 (Winterthur), and one 1928 (Cincinnati PL). We could not locate any other Zanol catalogues from the 1920s in OCLC. Publisher's black paper wrappers printed in orange. 11 x 14. Illustrated on every page with Zanol products, mostly printed in black on color backgrounds, plus sixteen full-color pages. Slight discoloration to wrappers. Creasing to leaves at one corner. Errata slip mounted on p. 68 identifies this as "Edition C." Minor predation to a few leaves. A very good copy of a scarce item. Albert Mihalovitch (later Mills) and his two brothers founded the Mihalovitch Brothers Company in Cincinnati in 1907 to distribute food products, cosmetics, and home goods under their Zanol trademark. The Mihalovitch brothers, like Avon founder David H. McConnell, realized the cost efficiency of using door-to-door salesmen as distributors for their products, and the present item includes a page touting the benefits of "shopping in your own home the Zanol way." An illustration on the page depicts a man displaying a case of products to a woman, presumably one of the "millions of housewives [who] use 'Zanol' products exclusively in their homes." According to this catalogue, the Zanol line comprised more than 350 items, including three main cosmetics lines, all of which are advertised in the present catalogue: Fleur D'Orient (1916), Dream Girl (1917), and La Bara (1917), the latter of which was named for Theda Bara (1885 – 1955), star of the silent film Cleopatra (1917). This catalogue also includes a two-page spread of celebrity endorsements by silent film stars and Ziegfeld follies performers. Like Avon products, Zanol cosmetics were endorsed by women's magazines like Good Housekeeping and The Modern Priscilla, as advertised in this catalogue.