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Second Series American Commercial Specimens Amerikanische Mercantil-Arbeiten [cover title].

Wien and Leipzig: Herausgegeben von Josef Heim; Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The American Fine Art Company, Gugler Litho., [c. 1898]. 4to, black cloth and marbled paper over boards, decorative title label affixed to front cover. 24 leaves of lithographic specimens printed on one side only of each leaf, 5 being chromolithographs in an extensive range of colors, others printed in one, two, or three colors. 6 additional leaves of specimens laid in, including one color double page specimen.

A rare commercial printer’s specimen book, published by a German firm for the American market, with fine examples of printing for trade cards, bill-heads, stock certificates, labels, etc., presented in the montage style.

The credits on the specimens indicate that Heim worked in conjunction with two American printing firms, the American Fine Art Company of Milwaukee (as well as NY, Chicago, and London) and the Gugler Litho. Company of Milwaukee. Most of the specimens included advertise firms located in the Midwest, although a number of labels for companies outside of the region are included as well. Among the most eye-catching samples are four pages of chromolithographic beer labels for such breweries as Lemp’s of St. Louis, Schlee’s of Columbus, Berghoff’s of Fort Wayne, Feigenspan’s of Newark, etc. Other specimens advertise such firms as The Monarch Cycle Manufacturing Co. of Chicago, Packard Organs of Fort Wayne, White Pine Lumber Co. of Milwaukee, Missouri, Kansas & Texas Trust Co. of Kansas City, the Chicago Fruit Cleaning Co., Coffin, Fletcher & Co. Pork Packers of Indianapolis, Kneipp Malt Food Co, of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and many more.

Trained as an engraver in Stuttgart, Henry Gugler (1816–1880) immigrated to New York in 1853, where he worked for the New York Banknote Company. During the Civil War, he worked at the National Currency Bureau in Washington as a vignette engraver. His son, Julius (1853–1919) apprenticed to New York lithographer Ferdinand Mayer in 1863. In 1872, Julius and his father took charge of the lithography department at the Henry Seifert Co. of Milwaukee, leaving in 1878 to found H. Gugler & Son, which produced posters, maps, city views, trade cards, sheet music covers, etc. Following Henry’s death in 1883, the firm continued as Gugler Lithographic Company, operated by Julius and his brothers Oswald and Henry Jr. and employing some 125 people. The firm remained in business until the 1970s.

The American Fine Art Company was founded by Alfred E. von Cotzhausen and operated from 1894 to 1916. It was absorbed by the Milwaukee Lithographing Company in 1910, continuing to operate under its own name for several years.

OCLC records just one copy, at the St. Galler Bibliotheksnetz, Switzerland.

REFERENCES: Last, Jay. The Color Explosion : Nineteenth-Century American Lithography (Santa Ana, CA, 2005), pp. 88-89, 160.

CONDITION: Very good, covers moderately rubbed and soiled.

Item #6140

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