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To the Ladies of My Country. How to Be Your Own Manicure.
New York, 1884. 24mo (5.625” x 4.625”), chromolithographic wrappers. 32 pp., illus. CONDITION: Very good, light wear to extremities. A scarce and richly-illustrated little volume designed to amuse, instruct, and advertise in the burgeoning art of the manicure, published by the female entrepreneur whose New York City salon launched the American nail care industry. Beginning with an introductory definition of the word “manicure” (“a compound word derived from two Latin words manus, the hand, and curo, to care for,” now signifying “the art of beautifying the hand and finger nails”), this volume introduces readers to the “Origin, history and progress of the manicure art” (“Many are the legends told in connection with the finger nails…”); “The anatomy of the human hand,” as well as the various fingernail diseases and deformities, from hangnails to onychomycosis; and, naturally, “The perfect hand, and how to obtain it.” A central section outlines “How I became America’s first manicure,” and a price on one of the final pages covers everything from “Bran-u Nail Powder” (just fifty cents) to “Mrs. Cobb’s Special Selected Nail Set, in Plush Case, Satin Lined, from $5.00 upward.” Illustrations on the inner wrappers show the interiors of Mrs. Cobb’s Manhattan manicure parlor and her separate manufacturing warehouse, where both men and women can be seen stirring concoctions, filling tins, and packing crates. Illustrations throughout the text show Mrs. Cobb’s various wares: nail soap, tins of “pan-za cream” and “cosmetic cherri-lip” (for tinting nails, lips, and cheeks), an emery board—her invention—and the elegantly-packed contents of her complete manicure kits. Mary E. Cobb (1852–1902) was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, and in the early 1870s moved with her family to New York City, where she would become the first American manicurist, launching an industry and setting the stage for women-owned cosmetic giants like Elizabeth Arden and Estée Lauder. After marrying wealthy podiatrist and businessman Joseph Parker Pray, she opened the first manicure salon in the country, called “Mrs. Pray’s Manicure,” which soon occupied two townhouses on West 23rd Street, with a seasonal location in Saratoga Springs and branches in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and as far west as Portland, Oregon. The year 1884 was an important one: Mrs. Pray and her husband launched the emery board; they divorced; and Cobb, returning to her maiden name, published this booklet to accompany her expanding line of cosmetics, which she began selling by mail-order as well as in five and dime shops and major department stores. The business deteriorated after her death, lasting just thirty more years, which were painfully punctuated by the suicide of her son in the New York salon. OCLC records six examples, at Duke, AAS, the Hagley Museum and Library, the Fenimore Art Museum, the Chicago History Museum, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. An attractive example of this illustrated guide to the modern manicure, published by the mother of the industry.
Item #10429
On Hold
Price: $450.00
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