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Chromolithograph, 24.5" x 17", plus margins. CONDITION: Good, foxing (mainly confined to margins), old folds, a few tiny breaks along folds. A delightful chromolithographic broadside advertising twenty-eight shoes by prominent boot and shoe manufacturer Henry Arthur & Co. Appearing in the center is a view of the company's stately building at 84 & 86 Gold Street, NY,in downtown Manhattan. Surrounding it is a plethora of boots and shoes available for both men and women including a "Congress shoe," an "Oxford Tie," a "Crimpt or Creole Congress," a "Gent's Button," a "Centennial Buckle," a "Windsor," and many others besides, in addition to several riding boots, an overgarter, and a "Napoleon Legging." Circular genre scenes, which seem to be included solely for decorative purposes or to associate Arthur's shoes with "works of art," appear in each of the four corners, including a young woman watering her plant on a balcony (upper left), a young girl playing with doves (upper right), an organ grinder with his monkey in company with a society woman (lower left) and a pair of mischievous children sledding past a basket-encumbered woman who narrowly avoids collision. Although this print lacks a lithographer's credit, other lithographs advertising Henry Arthur & Co. were printed by Schumacher & Ettlinger. Originally from Germany and based in New York, Theodore Schumacher (1844-1927) and Louis Ettlinger (1846-1927) were notable specialists in tobacco and cigar box labels, as well as trade cards and advertising material for tobacconists. Most significant for developing a stippling process for commercial color lithography, their innovation made it possible to print colored images by sequentially printing arrays of primary color dots. In both appearance and concept this was an important predecessor of the photographic halftone process. REFERENCES: Last, Jay. The Color Explosion, p. 140. Seller Inventory # 5027
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