old seed catalog

From an old seeds catalog, an artist's representation of JMG's

Can anybody guess what year from the prices, or description? I don't know the year...

1914 to 1920

Here's a few more clues possibly:

http://www.tias.com/12231/PictPage/1922960285.html
http://www.sil.si.edu/silpublications/seeds/childsjohn-l.html
http://www.fpvillage.org/history/history.htm

Neat find.

Erynne

Ok 1923

Thanks Erynne! That helps a lot! I noticed the printing on the art side of the page is in that old type of printing where they used small colored dots (don't know what they call it) so I knew it was old.

look at the 14 cent stamp it came out in 1923

No prob Beth. I like a mystery! My friend back in high school used make pictures with dots; I think she called it pointilism or something like that. You'd have to have the paintence of a saint and the eyes of a hawk to do that kind of art work.

Paul, where are you seeing the 14 cent stamp? Probably one of those moments where I'm missing the obvious, lol.

Erynne

on the second link you put up

Oh, you're more observant than I am Paul. I only looked at the text. I guess it's true that menfolk are visual creatures!

Phicks, that 14C stamp was used until 1938, the last edition of the catalog was in 1906, so I say 1906

Good job girls. This is so educational. This was probably the debue of the Japanese mg in the US.

And the feathered varieties were among them that far back. I was always suspicious of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings leaving lots of radiation behind.

Keep it coming, this was a lot of fun Frank

I like the colors of the MGs in the catalog.The artist was creative.

Oh but lookie, there's a catalogue from 1912....maybe there's even later issues:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1912-CHILDS-SEED-CATALOG-FLORAL-PARK-NY_W0QQitemZ260108512456QQihZ016QQcategoryZ1333QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I saw another somewhere last night but my brain was fogging up. It seems the colour chromolithographs got better with each issue as would be expected. It would be neat to find out who John Lewis Childs commissioned to do this lovely artwork.
You all see that pink-red bloom on the right side of the pic that looks like an umbrella......is there really JMG that looks like that??? Sort of reminds me of a Lacecap Hydrangea.

I guess what really impressed me when looking this info up, was John Lewis Childs starting out his career as a seed/plant man as a teenager. Different world back then.


Sorry to ramble, but I do love anything of historical significance. I'm heavily into genealogy which always leads me into looking up the history of towns, people & places abroad.

edited to add......ah yes, I see now......Childs other publication, The Mayflower Magazine, was printed until 1906, which makes Beth's chromo at least that old. I was getting the catalogue and the mag mixed up!



This message was edited Apr 20, 2007 9:32 AM

That is beautiful. I really like it!

Erynne, the pink-red bloom to the right looks like some of the morning glories we see depicted in old Japanese paintings and wood blocks, but we don't have anything exactly like it today. Some of the old japanese depictions that we don't have today are probably mutations that have been "lost" over the years.

More stuff about John Lewis Childs...here he is!

He had a "fireproof" seed building business.

He had his own printing business as well, where he must have generated his catalogs.

He also had a bulb warehouse.

They even made a postcard of his front lawn in 1913.

More postcards of his empire and personal home. Looks like he was very successful.

http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/issues/v009n05/p0163-p0164.pdf

If this link works, it is further info on this man that started with nothing and took full advantage of the advertising industry while it was still in its infancy.

THIS ARTICLE IS DATED 1907

This message was edited Apr 20, 2007 1:58 PM

Wow, this just gets more interesting with every post! He certainly had a lot of property. I don't see any mention of a wife! Surely behind every successful man in the olden days, there had to be at least one good woman,lol.
Too bad that pink-red JMG has been lost but then so many varieties disappear with time. I'm just glad there's still artwork which preserves the history.

Thanks for the trip back in time Beth!

The trip down memory lane is just wonderful, and I think you should export it to other forums and threads. There is a lot of history in the seed catalogues, that many people would love to enjoy. I have a Sunday section fold out of the old Walter Marx Higo Japanese Irises, I treasure, but where it is, is any one;s guess. Frank