Carnation Catalog and Beauty Book. No. 26A. A High-Class Line of Creams, Face Perfumes, Talcum Powders, Toilet Waters, Perfumes and Other Toilet Requisites, Flavorings, Spices, Medicines and Other Household Articles

St. Louis: Carnation Toilet Co, 1895. Wraps. Stapled. Good. N.d. Circa 1890s. 8vo. 19 by 13.5 cm. 32 pp., plus wraps. No copies of this catalogue show up on OCLC First Search. The only company catalogue that does appear on OCLC is a 1922 catalogue held by the Missouri Historical Society. This catalogue is obviously considerably earlier, both because of the product packaging, some of the products, and other hints, such as the small woodcut illustration on the front cover showing the company's headquarters or store/showroom. The dress of the people on the sidewalk, and with just a small early automobile among the horse-drawn vehicles are consistent with the 1890s, and even by 1900 the cars looked different than this one. The catalogue features some color, green and red, on its front and rear cover, and green type for the text on the inside cover. Otherwise, everything is b/w. Generally two products per page, occasionally more or just one. Almost all products are shown in grainy photographs along side their descriptions, and there is a broad range of products as the subtitle informs us. The packaging is often the fussy ornamental kind we associate with Victorian material culture. The catalogue is on a cheap pulp rich paper, which would help explain its scarcity beyond the fact that it was disposable ephemera. We don't know the fate of the company, not to be confused with Carnation Milk, which was on based on the West Coast. Besides the heavy age toning, the cover has staions, some chipping and closed tearing. It's been through the mill. The front cover is detached. The leaves within have some wear, but are essentially clean, with some very insignificant closed tears.