[Movable Card] Families Supplied Novelty

Boston: Bay State Card and Paper Company, 1901. NA. Very Good. Unusual promotion for a card and paper company. One flips a flap on a rear case being transported on the back of a delivery tricycle and revealed are many infant heads! Based on the captioning below, which reads: "This is a sample of our Families Supplied Novelty at $10.00 per thousand, List", this is a promotion for the sort of clever work this stationary printer could do for customers, as opposed to selling the particular card. Indeed, we don't quite get who would order this card, which would seem to turn on punning the word "Delivery" in a manner that seems strained to us, although a recipient (truncated) of the card would probably be mildly charmed by the gimmick, and after all, the company is promoting its facility with novelty cards. There is charm, also, in the chromolithographic image, even without the flap, with its young delivery cyclist from a bygone era, a sort of delivery that only recently has staged a major comeback. The card is one folded sheet of card stock. Closed, it is oblong, measuring 7 by 11 cm, and open, it is 14 by 11 cm. Moderate wear, with a few short surface cracks that run like short veins (not tears that cut all the way through) and light soiling here and there. (Inventory #: 20022)