1857 - Anaglyptography Sells Seeds for Gerney & Algeier, Seedsmen

Here's the rub...I can't show you much here.  But it is worth taking a look at and the links are below!! Since I can't post the image (see below where to view it) here is a sample of anaglyptography.  It is a section of the Australian outback from 1839 :-)

Cool, huh?!

Three Expeditions Into the Interior of Eastern Australia 1839 

First, visit the Library Company of Philadelphia's web site to view a very interesting trade card. The card is from Gerney & Algeier, seedsmen & florists, 69 Chestnut St., Philadelphia - c. 1857.
Besides being early, this card has another  feature that makes it stand out - the process by which it was produced - anaglyptography.

Then go to Richard Scheaff's great ephemera site to read about the process and view more examples.

He defines anaglyptography  "as “the art of copying works in relief, or of engraving as to give the subject an embossed or raised appearance; — used in representing coins, bas-reliefs, etc.”  In point of fact, the process has also been used for portraits, frames, and other dimensional objects. 

Trade Cards from James Vick, Seedsman

Trade cards are just so pleasant to collect.  The tulip below is my favorite.  Die cut cards have something extra.  James Vick was one of the best promoters of his business through advertising that I have encountered.  If you haven't read the previous posts about him there are links after the new images.

Previous Posts 

Vick, James - Rochester, New York....................................................(1) (2) (3) (4)

Pumpkin Floods

Pumpkins appeal to me!  and this bit of history brings to mind interesting pictures...

The Pumpkin Flood of November 10, 1810

The Pittsburgh Press - Jan 6, 1936

1847 pumpkin freshet -The freshet of '47, as it has been called, was also termed the " pumpkin flood," from the fact of its occurring at the time when that product was still in the fields, and all in reach of the overflowing streams were swept away. No other serious damage was done by the flood of 1847. That flood and the rise in 1811, are frequently confused by the term " pumpkin flood " applying to each.

1811 - On the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania- from the 1887 History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania
The first occasion upon which the river rose to an extraordinary height was in the month of November, 1811. There were no bridges on the river at that time, but those across the several streams in the county were almost entirely swept away. The crops of the season had not been fully gathered, and those on the lowlands were carried away by the waters. At times the surface of the water seemed literally covered with pumpkins swept from the fields along the river, and from that fact that this was ever afterward termed the " pumpkin flood." This event was not single to this locality, as a like flood occurred at at the same time on the north branch of the Susquehanna, which extended far up toward the head waters of that stream, and was there known as the "pumpkin flood." No serious damage was done to property in the locality of the West Branch, as settlement was in its infancy, but slight as the loss was, the burden of it was felt by the struggling pioneers.

1786 Then there was the the "pumpkin fresh" (freshet) of 1786.   October 6, 1786: Pumpkin Flood The wet autumn of 1786 culminated in a flood of vast proportions in Pennsylvania, known as the Pumpkin Flood.

1753. At Harpers Ferry, where the waters of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers converge, floods have inundated the Lower Town since the first white settlers arrived here more than two centuries ago. In 1753 "The Pumpkin Flood," was so named for the great numbers of pumpkins washed down from the gardens of nearby Indian villages.