Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by Alan Mays and tagged with “belgian”, “broadgauge”, “glyptic shaded”, “old style extended”, “fashion”, “cloister”, and “french clarendon shaded”. License: All Rights Reserved.

This is a nineteenth-century advertising trade card for John P. Schaum, gas fitter and plumber, whose business was located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The other side of the card features an illustration with a rabbit and flowers.

Chandeliers, Coal Oil Lamps, and Gas Fixtures.
Stoves, Heaters, and Ranges.
Gas Fitting and Plumbing.
John P. Schaum,
No. 24 South Queen Street, Lancaster, Pa.

The featured typefaces include Belgian (Bruce, 1867) and Fashion (Farmer, 1876). Most of the typefaces come from the catalog of MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan in Philadelphia. This includes Broadgauge (a foundry version of a design previously seen in wood as Antique Tuscan Extended, 1869) French Clarendon Shaded (1871), Cloister (1873), Glyptic Shaded, Caxtonian (both 1878), and Kitcat (1883). The grot on the back is a version of a design that was known in Germany as Moderne Steinschrift.

Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by Alan Mays and tagged with “fashion”, “kitcat”, “caxtonian” and “french clarendon shaded”. License: All Rights Reserved.

A ticket for a fundraising benefit held at the Grace Lutheran Church in Lancaster, Pa. The printer was David Bachman Landis of Pluck Art Printery (also called Pluck Print and later known as Landis Art Print).

Entertainment
By the Young Women’s Missionary Society, At Grace Lutheran Church, Tuesday, May 15, 1894.
Benefit of Emmanuel Mission. Admission, 10 Cents.
Pluck Print

W. R. Cheney
Carriage Builder.
Repairing and Repainting Done Promptly.
Cor. Grant and Christian Sts.,
Lancaster, Pa.

William R. Cheney (1859-1932) was a blacksmith and carriage builder in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

For a similar Cheney business card by the same job printer (Pluck Print), see W. R. Cheney, Carriage Builder, Lancaster, Pa. See also a handbill for Carriages, Wagons, and Sleighs Repaired—Cheny's Repair Shop, Lancaster, Pa., ca. 1890.

The typography features Hansard caps set on a curve, French Oldstyle with larger initial caps, Archaic paired with R initials from Pynson, and Dante.

Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by Alan Mays and tagged with “no500page”, “duerer” and “latinantique”. License: All Rights Reserved.

A broadside printed in 1907 by David Bachman Landis, Pluck Art Printery, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Home Talent.
The Social Mandolin Club will hold a Musicale in the Landisville Band Hall, June 15, 1907
They will be assisted by a Reader and Vocalist.
8:00 sharp.
Adults, - - 15 cents. Children, - 10 cents.
Pluck Print, Lancaster, Pa.

“Home Talent” is in Page’s No. 500, and “The Social Mandolin Club” in the similarly boxy Duerer. The wide roman with split shade is Eclipse Shaded. Latin Antique is used for the remainder of the text.

Wright’s Ferry Mansion is a historic house museum in Pennsylvania. Their website features Romie by Margot Lévêque as the typographic star of the show, making use of its gorgeous ligature and expanded character set. This ornate text is balanced by a classic and a workhorse: Tony Stan’s ITC Garamond and Inter by Rasmus Andersson.

E. Oettel, Philadelphia Reliable Fancy Bakery and Confectionery.
All kinds of Cakes, Pies, Creams, Water Ices, and Home Made Bread.
No. 506 Manor Street, Lancaster, Pa.
Special attention given to wedding and party orders.
Stands at Eastern, Central, and Southern Markets.

An elaborate business card printed by David Bachman Landis of Pluck Art Printery (later known as Landis Art Print) in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.

The wavy, wiry vertical lines that Landis used to separate the “Special Attention” section on the left from the main “E. Oettel” portion of the card come from a set of “Capital Ornaments” dated 1891 that was available from the Barnhart Brothers & Spindler (BB&S) type foundry. Landis also used these separators in a number of other printed pieces. See, for instance, the following examples:

• Charles S. Frantz, Graduate Ophthalmic Optician, Watchmaker, and Jeweler, Lancaster, Pa.
• A. H. Herr, Mill Creek Dairy, Lancaster, Pa.
• J. M. Trout, Fire Sand Quarries, Landisville, Pennsylvania, ca. 1890s

BB&S also sold a set of “Brownies” characters that included the tiny owl in the upper left-hand corner.

Typefaces: Duerer (“Fancy Bakery and Confectionery”), Pynson (“All kinds of Cakes, Pies, Creams, Water Ices, and”), Hansard (“Home Made Bread”), Dante (“No. 506 Manor Street”), and Old Style Bold (“Lancaster, Pa.”). The unidentified typeface used here for “E. Oettel” appears to be the same as the one selected for “J. M. Trout” on the J. M. Trout, Fire Sand Quarries card [edit: it’s Eclipse Shaded].

A ticket for a Halloween festival held in 1926 at a school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Landis Art Press (formerly Pluck Art Printery) printed the ticket.

For another 1920s Halloween ticket by Landis Art Press, see Black Cat Dance Ticket, Lancaster, Pa., October 27, 1922.

The typeface used for most of the text is Dante (Barnhart Brothers & Spindler, before 1889). There’s also (small) caps from a grotesque (“including refreshments”) and an italic (“Landis Art Press”).

Halloween Festival
Special School, 128 North Mulberry St.
Thursday, October 28, 1926, 7 to 10 P.M.
Tickets, including refreshments, 10c.
Landis Art Press

Notice!
Carriages, Wagons & Sleighs Repaired and Ironed by Practical Mechanics at Cheny’s Repair Shop, 412 North Christian Street, a few doors above Lemon.
Prices lower than the lowest. Do not Forget the Place. Give us a Call.
W. R. Cheny, Prop’r.
Pluck Print

A handbill advertising Cheny's Repair Shop, whose proprietor was William R. Cheney (1859–1932). His last name appears here in print as “Cheny,” but his gravestone adds an extra e—“Cheney.”

David Bachman Landis of Pluck Art Printery (later known as Landis Art Press) printed this piece with the “Cheny” spelling, and he also printed a separate business card for him using “Cheney”—see W. R. Cheney, Carriage Builder, Lancaster, Pa.

Lancaster city directories document the spellings of William Chen[e]y's name and his business and home addresses between 1877 and 1903 (see below). Based on the addresses alone, it appears that the handbill above (with 412 North Christian Street) dates to 1888 or 1890, while the business card (26 North Christian Street) corresponds to the directory entries for 1892 and 1896. If 24—instead of 26—North Christian Street represents the same location, then the city directories show that he continued in business there during 1897 and 1898.

See Alan Mays’s Flickr post for additional details about William Cheney's business.

With the exception of Challenge (BB&S) and the unidentified gothic of lighter weight, all typefaces seen here also appear in a similar layout for another advertisement printed by Landis, see “The New Singer Vibrator!” handbill. “Carriages” and “412 North Christian Street” are set in two sizes from Gothic No. 122. The design of this typeface varies greatly from size to size. While the larger sizes have a G with bar, diagonal terminals in C or S, and an R with curved leg, smaller sizes feature a barless G, horizontal terminals, and a straight-legged R.

A handbill extolling the virtues of the Singer Vibrator, which was advertised as a "new" sewing machine in newspapers and magazines beginning around 1888.

David Bachman Landis of Pluck Art Printery (later known as Landis Art Press) printed this piece.

Before buying a sewing machine, it will pay you to call and examine
The New Singer Vibrator!
You will find it the lightest running and simplest constructed machine in the market.
A full supply of needles, oils, and parts for all sewing machines.
Repairing promptly attended to.
Singer Manufacturing Co., Stevens House Block, No. 4 South Prince St., Lancaster, Pa.
Chris. Myers, agent.
Pluck Print

“The New” uses caps from a French Antique/Clarendon Extended, and “Before buying” appears to be Latin Antique. “Singer Vibrator” is No. 500, which was first shown as wood type by William H. Page in 1890. “Lightest Running” is Egyptian Extra Condensed, while “Needles, Oil and Parts” is set in Pynson. There’s also a Ionic, Old Style Bold, as well as five more typefaces that have not been tracked down yet.

The Lancaster City Directory for 1903 listed John B. Martin (1875-1906) as a bicycle repairer and gave his address as 421 N. Prince Street, so it seems likely that this business card with the same information dates to about the same time.

I haven't uncovered any information regarding Martin's career as a trick rider, nor have I found any reference to the athletic grounds and banked bicycle track that he operated on Prince Street.

Martin died on March 19, 1906. He was only 30 years old and left behind three young daughters.

David Bachman Landis of Pluck Art Printery printed Martin's business card.

J. B. Martin, Wheels to Hire.
Martin the Trick Rider.
First-Class Bicycle Repairing. Athletic Grounds in the Rear.
Come and see the new banked Bicycle Track.
421 N. Prince St., Lancaster, Pa.
Half Square North of P.R.R. Freight Depot.

In 1900, the Sunday schools of churches in Landisville and Salunga, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, organized a trip to Penryn Park, a trolley park that was located about eighteen miles away near Cornwall in Lebanon County (YMCA Camp Shand, a children's summer camp, occupies the park site today).

Grand Excursion and Picnic,
By Landisville and Salunga Sunday-schools
Wednesday, July 25, 1900, Penryn Park.
Adults’ ticket, 45 cents.
Pluck Print.

“Penryn Park” is set in caps from Old Style Bold (Central, 1886). “Landisville” is in Duerer (Boston, 1880s), and “Adults’ Ticket” in Archaic (MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan, 1888). The other fonts are unidentified.

A. H. Herr, Mill Creek Dairy.
Pure milk and cream.
Lancaster P.O., Pa.

A late nineteenth- or early twentieth-century business card printed by David Bachman Landis, who operated Pluck Art Printery, which was later known as Landis Art Print. I haven’t uncovered any reference to a “Mill Creek Dairy,” but it's possible that “A. H. Herr” was Aaron H. Herr (1880–1940), a farmer who lived in Manor Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

The fonts in use are Gustav F. Schroeder’s Old Style Bold (Central Type Foundry, 1886) and Herman Ihlenburg’s Pynson (MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan, 1887). The same combination was used by Pluck Print for a ticket printed in 1894.

A ticket printed in 1894 by Pluck Print.

Oyster and Turkey Supper.
At H. S. Keller’s Hotel, Voganville, Pa. Dancing free.
On Thursday evening, Dec. 20, 1894.
Price $1.00 for Gentleman only. Price $1.50 for Gentleman and Lady.
Pluck Print.

A Halloween party ticket, probably dating to the first decade of the twentieth century.
— Alan Mays

“Hallow Eve Party,” By the Young Men’s Society of 1st M.E. Church, at Iris Club Building, No. 323 North Duke St., Friday, October 30. Tickets, 10 cts. Pluck Print.

Among the fonts in use are Duerer (1880s) and Abbey Text (1895). The latter is very similar to Bradley (ATF, 1894) and perhaps based on the same lettering by William H. Bradley. There are at least two more unidentified typefaces. If you recognize them, let us know in a comment!