Dent Toys Catalogue No. 10. Cast Iron Toys Cast Aluminum Toys Repeator and Single Shot Pistols Jacks

Fullerton, Pennsylvania: The Dent Hardware Company, 1930. Wraps (light card). Stapled. Fine. Along with toy cars, firetrucks, airplanes, trucks, etc., the single most curious toy is the first shown in the catalogue -- toy Hoover vacuums! N.d., but circa 1930 -- one of the toys is a Zeppelin, which we tend to think would have been retired after the Hindenburg disaster. 4to. 23.5 by 15 cm. 45, [2] pp. One to three photos of the toys on almost every page -- all but five pages. Second page features an illustration of the company's sprawling factory complex. The Dent Hardware Company was founded in 1894 and reached its peak in the 1920s. Pieces of the business (truncated) itself, which has undergone many a restructuring or reshuffling and change in ownership structure, do survive. The toys were a major component of the business but its premier product was actually ice boxes. The type of toys shown in this catalogue are generally things of the past, but we would think it quite possible that one could trace a continuous line from Dent's toy operation to something made today. There appear to be just two copies of this catalogue in its original issue held by institutions, according to OCLC First Search -- Henry Ford and Wisconsin Historical Society. The Henry Ford dates the catalogue to 1934. We tend to think this is a mis-dating, as there is a short supplement issued in connection to this catalogue dated earlier -- we do not have the supplement. There are a few copies of a facsimile of this catalogue held by libraries, and there was an earlier toy catalogue, probably smaller, held by Winterthur and a few other libraries. The wraps have fading around the edges. Otherwise, clean. (Inventory #: 19961)