Description: Follow us on eBay to see what we list, most auctions end on Sunday evenings. Offering this extremely hard to find early example of the very creative advertising Cyrus McCormick's reaper company produced in the late 1800s. You know the history of the McCormick company, I'm sure, but I was fascinated by this particular booklet that employed an entertaining pop-culture RHYME to make a great point about the farm machinery McCormick made. This is from prior to when McCormick's family and another company merged to form International Harvester. I would date it to after 1893 because the World's Fair is referenced, and that makes sense to utilize another big event around and after the Fair in Chicago for a while after it took place. Besides McCormick being an icon of both agriculture and Chicago, other historic significance is that the theme is "Talking Through His Hat." The use of that phrase in America was kind of like a catch phrase at the time. Early American slang origins are often debated, but seemingly in the Bowery in New York, it meant (either) talking while drunk or hungover--or exaggering and talking like an authority but with no substance. I think the latter definition fits the way it was used in this advertising booklet. And it's kind of timeless...when you see that in the context of advertising, the ad industry hasn't changed...utilizing trends and phrases, slang, and what's "in style" to sell you on products. The rhyme extends over 9 pages that have really nice full color illustrations. The covers are heavier paper, it's 12 pages altogether. It's the story of a salesman from a different farm machinery company trying to convince a farmer (farm owner actually with people employed shown as he discusses with the salesman) that this other brand was superior to the McCormick products. It keeps you reading to see what the final end of the story is, and effectively the competitor salesman moves on. Someone with the initials G. B. A. is credited with the "Jingle." Condition: Great color! Overall pretty nice, but at some point in it's life, the cover/pages became detached, and a former owner make pinholes and put twine through it to hold it together. (Kind of interesting to me because "Twine" was one of the McCormick company's products listed on the back cover .) Some age dust shadow, spots (see photos) including one on the front at top, and a couple of pages have really small notches at the top of the page. Size: About 7 x 5 inches (closed) FROM A SMOKE-FREE, MOLD-FREE HOME.Please see the photos. They are of this exact item offered. The photos are an important part of our item descriptions. Regarding Shipping to you:--U.S. winners receive shipping by USPS Ground Advantage Mail, which is typically the least expensive option for you.--Non-U.S. customer shipping is via the eBay International Shipping program ONLY. We gladly combine shipping to save you money. Contact us before paying and we'll send a revised invoice. All the shippers keep raising prices...and the USPS has changed delivery options. Postage is more expensive now, and we need to mention that because postage cost is NOT in our control. We also do NOT inflate our initial auction bid requirements to cover "free" shipping. Calculated shipping done at checkout by eBay is retail postage cost, exactly what it would cost us to ship to you at your address in your zip code (if we walked into the post office and mailed it to you there at the window). On some items we will offer a flat postage fee. Ground Advantage is the least expensive option. Since most of our items contain advertising, they cannot be shipped media mail (post office regulation). Ground Advantage is NOT like the old parcel post or First Class Mail (flat rate); it is calculated by weight and according to the distance from where the seller is located to YOUR location. eBay offers sellers who purchase postage through their platform a small discount; if that turns out to be the case with your shipment, we will try to provide a bit of a refund to you.We ship within 5 business days of eBay notifying us of receipt of payment.We don't accept returns, so please contact before bidding if you have any questions about this item. ** We've been experiencing delivery and pick up delays from the USPS, something that's also out of our control. Please be patient and allow extra time for mail delivery because the USPS is overwhelmed. ** Thanks for looking...and good luck!
Price: 29.95 USD
Location: Chicago, Illinois
End Time: 2024-11-03T00:10:01.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
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All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
