Taking readers on a journey through the colorful history of advertising,
this book showcases one of the most important and extensive collections
of printed ephemera in the world to uncover rarely-seen examples of ads,
posters, and handbills. How did the advertisers of the past sell
electric corsets, carbolic smoke balls, or the first televisions? Which
celebrities endorsed which products? How did innovations in printing
techniques and design play a part in the evolution of advertising? What
can these items tell us about class, transport, war, and even the royal
family?
Richly illustrated with over one hundred images from the Bodleian
Library's John Johnson Collection, Vintage Advertising: An A to Z
takes a fresh look at historical advertising through a series of
thematic and chronological juxtapositions, with topics arranged
alphabetically from Art to Zeitgeist to provide striking, often
unexpected, insights into changing culture, politics, and technology.
Topics include new fashion trends such as patterned hosiery and the
advertisement of new medical treatments, tonics, and devices. These
advertisements shed new light on social issues such as the changing
roles of women and the rising middle class. Highlighting how nineteenth-
and early twentieth-century advertisements often capture the spirit of
their age, each page is a rich repository of information, a new piece of
the jigsaw puzzle of the past.
