19TH CENTURY SALESMAN PORTFOLIO OF FRUIT PLATES, E. DARROW & BROTHER, ROCHESTER, NY
A great 19th century portfolio of stenciled and hand-colored fruit plates designed to aid nurserymen and their traveling salesmen sell plants. This particular portfolio contains plates produced/distributed by the E. Darrow & Brother firm in Rochester, New York. [Rochester appears to have been the center for this type of business in the 19th century.] Under each illustration is the name of each fruit. All of the plates are bright and colorful. There are 25 pages of drawings of various varieties of:
Apples (Red Astrachan, Early Harvest, Golden Sweeting,Twency Ounce, Peck's Pleasant, King of Tompkins County, Yellow Bellefleur, Rhode Island Greening, Baldwin, Northern Spy);
Pears (Bartlett, Louise Bonn De Jersey, Duchesse d'Orleans, Duchesse D'Angouleme, White Doyenne, Vicar of Wakefield);
Peaches (Kensington);
Plums (Green Gage Plum, Peach Plum);
Cherries (on one page--Elton, Yellow Spanish, Black Tartarian, Napoleon Bigarreau, Reine Hortense, Burrs Seedling, Downers Late Reel, Black Eagle);
Quince (Orange Quince);
Grapes (Diana, Concord);
Cherries (Cherry Currant);
Strawberries (Hookers Seedling)
The portfolio has paper covered boards and measures 10 x 13 1/4 inches. Each plate is on heavy paper stock and has withstood wear very well over the years.
A nursery firm or salesman could purchase plates in a variety of ways: individually, as bound assortments, or as collections in portfolios. If he wished he could select an assortment illustrating the stock he was selling and have it bound. Often he would select plates produced by various firms. If he wished to change the assortment or replace worn or damaged plates, special bindings could be had that made such substitutions easy.
E. Darrow & Brother. Erastus Darrow (Plymouth, Conn., January 29, 1823-Rochester, March 21, 1909) ran a bookstore in Rochester from January 1846 until his death. Several times during his career he had partners, including his brother Wallace from 1856 through 1866. His advertisements in the Rochester city directories from 1861 through 1867 mention his publishing fruit and flower plates for nurserymen.
Provenance: From the Adam Hess Estate, Boalsburg, Centre County, Pennsylvania.
PRICE: $16,000
