c1895 antique BAY STATE CARD & PAPER Co boston ma SAMPLE BOOK invites menu progr For Sale

c1895 antique BAY STATE CARD & PAPER Co boston ma SAMPLE BOOK invites menu progr
SCROLL DOWN for MORE PHOTOS in DESCRIPTION
ClickHEREto view or search ANTIQUE.COTTAGE listings.

AI-assisted research note: This description was prepared with AI research tools. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, details such as dating, attribution, terminology, and intended use should be reviewed carefully by the buyer prior to purchase.

Large-format Bay State Card & Paper Co. (Boston, Massachusetts) manufacturer’s master sample book, produced circa 1895–1908, measuring approximately 12 × 18 inches. This is a commercial trade presentation album, used by company salesmen and representatives to demonstrate available printing designs, paper stocks, embossing patterns, chromolithography, and finishing options to a wide range of institutional and private clients.

The album contains dozens of mounted original factory samples, including both finished chromolithographed designs and blank embossed stock. These represent menus, invitations, programs, tickets, certificates, folders, and ceremonial stationery, covering nearly every major category of late-19th and early-20th century commercial printing.

Scope of Content

This sample book documents a broad spectrum of American decorative and institutional design, including:

• Formal menus (explicitly labeled)

• Invitations and event stationery

• Programs and tickets

• Decorative frames and cartouches

• Holiday and seasonal designs

• Sporting and leisure imagery

• Theatrical and masquerade themes

• Floral and pictorial motifs

• Portrait medallions

• Blank embossed stock samples with original factory reference numbers

• Named wedding invitation examples

• Labor, transportation, patriotic, social-club, and fraternal organization designs

Fraternal and lodge-related imagery (Masonic, Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights of Pythias, etc.) is present as one category among many, reflecting the firm’s commercial clientele rather than the album’s sole focus.

A terminal board displays original cord, tassel, and tie samples, with printed notations such as “PROGRAM PENCIL – WHITE ONLY” and silk color references. This page definitively establishes the album as a working printer’s trade catalog, not a scrapbook or promotional souvenir.

Physical Description

• Approx. 12 × 18 inches

• Original cloth-covered boards

• Heavy presentation leaves

• Mounted chromolithographed, embossed, and blind-embossed samples

• Printed and penciled factory reference numbers throughout

Condition

Consistent with professional trade use:

• Heavy edge wear, fraying, and softening to covers

• Interior mounting paper worn, with losses where samples were removed

• Samples generally intact, with scattered toning and handling wear

• Structurally complete and stable

Condition issues are typical for a working commercial sample book and do not detract from its documentary value.

Significance

Surviving American paper manufacturer sample books of this size and breadth are uncommon. This album serves as a comprehensive visual record of late-Victorian and early-Edwardian commercial printing, illustrating how printers marketed design options across social, institutional, and private sectors.

Appropriate for:

• Printing and graphic design history collections

• Ephemera and advertising collectors

• Museum or archival reference

• Study of American commercial aesthetics, c. 1900

This is an intact trade artifact, preserved as originally used, and offers exceptional insight into period printing practice.

Authentic period piece related to family, historyor local heritage - well-suited for historical collections, genealogical /genealogy research, or museum acquisition.Vintage or Antique.

CONDITION: The attached cards have likely dabs of glue to keep them shut.. See listing description and photos.




















































- International buyers are responsible to pay VAT or other Taxes to their countries as required.

- collects and remits sales tax on behalf of several states.If you are a dealer, you can write to to file a form to become tax exempt.
LOC:
LOC2: BOOKBOX42-TMKTK

Powered by SixBit's eCommerce Solution