Advertising Trading Card

Welcome back! Before we get started on today's post, I'd like to encourage you to go to Saturday's post titled "This, from a Beer Company - Really?" It appears I need to work a bit on my post titles, but I promise you, the images on that post are worth the visit!

Today, from a Victorian scrapbook, I'm sharing an advertising trading card. Even though it's more about the image (beautiful design!) this particular card advertises "Dr. James' Universal Ague Pills." Well, I like to be able to say a little something about the images, but was at a loss on this particular advertisement! So, just for kicks, I decided to Google the subject. Can you believe I actually found a couple of results! Still don't know exactly what these pills were for, but the first link took me to an e-book titled "The Statutes at Large from Magna Charta to [the Forth-first Year..., Volume 9" by Great Britain. The search took me to a page of medicinal preparations which were subject to duties in 1785! So this particular product had been around for about 100 years prior to this scrapbook! Being of a curious nature, I had to then look up the definition of ague. I found it in the "Dictionary of Domestic Medicine," by J.H. Clarke, published in 2000. The book definition is "Fever occurring in marshy places, coming in paroxysms of one, two, or more days' interval; commencing with chill, and followed by heat and sweat." The author sites other sources in further explanation, and upon further reading, it appears this was no ordinary fever. There were even different treatments for "fat" and "thin" children (his words - not mine!) and based on hair and eye colors!

O.k., I understand that's probably more than you never wanted to know about the advertisement itself, lol! On now to the image! It's being offered today in it's original format, and again with the text removed so you can add any sentiment you wish for your projects!

Thank you for stopping by today :) Hugs d.

Put a Little Pink in Your Day :)

Good Morning! It's a rainy, gloomy day in here in Maryland, so what better way to brighten it up than to put a little pink in it! Today's images (three of them!) are gorgeous pink flowers from a Victorian scrapbook. These scrapbooks fascinate me. They are the most basic form of scrapbooking - certainly nothing like today's scrapbooks! No frills, no embellishments. LOADS of fussy cutting! These scrapbooks are so interesting because the ladies would just cut out what they liked, or what they had, and glue it down into the scrapbooks. The ladies would also sometimes include cards they received, paper merit awards from school, and advertising trading cards - the original ATC's! So much variety within the books!

Today, everything is about acid-free to prolong the life of our scrapbooks. One of the things I find incredibly interesting about the Victorian scrapbooks is that back then, 'acid-free' wasn't even a consideration! I've no idea what type of glue was used back then, but it certainly hasn't affected the quality of the images glued into the books! The only 'wear' seems to be the pages of the scrapbooks themselves, discolored and brittle. But I do love the discoloration of the book pages! Ask me what my favorite color is, and I'll tell you it's vintage!

With these particular images, I've given them a white background so you can digitally cut them to use as digi stamps, if you would like.  But, I'd like to know if you would prefer to have future images with the original discolored paper backgrounds, or if you prefer a clean white background?

Enjoy these gorgeous flowers, share them and spread the word! There's loads more to come!

Thanks for stopping by :) Hugs d.