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Henry Swartz, Dealer in Dry Goods business card

Photo(s) by Alan Mays. Imported from Flickr on Sep 13, 2020. Artwork published in
circa 1890
.
Henry Swartz, Dealer in Dry Goods business card
Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by Alan Mays and tagged with “antiqueextended”. License: All Rights Reserved.

A late nineteenth-century business card for Henry Swartz’s dry goods store in York, Pennsylvania. Printed in two colors, the card shows a smorgasbord of typefaces, as it was common in the Victorian era. “Henry Swartz” is set in Antique Extended (light), a precursor of Hellenic Wide. “Dry Goods” pairs decorated initials from Ornamented No. 13 and a hairline Tuscan with swelling at the mid-height spurs that is known as Ornamented No. 35.

In further roles: a condensed gothic (cf. Two-Line Pica Gothic Extra Cond, No. 44) with open and shaded floral initials (for “Notions, Queensware”), a Fat Face and a wide sans for the address, several romans, and Tuscan caps with split shade (Brevier Ornamented, No. 23?).

Henry Swartz,
Dealer in Dry Goods, Groceries, Notions, Queensware, &c., &c., &c.
No. 229 South George Street, York, Pa.
Experience in the business and strict attention enables him to render general satisfaction.
Country produce bought and sold.
Gazette, Pr.

Typefaces

  • Antique Extended (light)
  • Ornamented No. 13
  • Ornamented No. 35
  • Ornamented [Gray #282]
  • unidentified typeface

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1 Comment on “Henry Swartz, Dealer in Dry Goods business card”

  1. The open and shaded floral initials used for “Notions, Queensware” are from an unnamed ornamented face shown by MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan.

    Detail from a 1885 catalog by MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan

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