Humans have been fascinated by animal imagery since the prehistoric era when cavemen painted images of animals on walls to symbolically capture their prey and to record their observations. With the advent of the printing press, animal imagery was used as a symbol for the press itself. For example, the great fifteenth century printer Aldus Manutius employed the image of a dolphin wrapped around an anchor as his printer’s mark.
With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, companies prolifically utilized animal imagery to promote products and services. Advertisers often used animal images to link an animal’s desired characteristics to their products.
On view are hundreds of examples of animal advertising primarily printed in the nineteenth century, including trade cards, menus, box tops, bookmarks, greeting cards, brochures, table tents, metamorphic cards, original art, and celluloid novelties.
Of course, Dorothy’s “lions and tigers and bears” are represented. But, a tower of giraffes, a parade of elephants, a pandemonium of parrots, a parliament of owls, a pounce of cats, an army of frogs, a barrel of monkeys, and more also appear.
Exhibition opening with remarks by Bruce Shyer, collector, curator, and past president of the Ephemera Society of America
** This is an in-person event at the Book Club in San Francisco and streamed on Zoom. The exhibition will be on view through February 14, 2025