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Clara Bull, Music Teacher business card

Photo(s) by Alan Mays. Imported from Flickr on Sep 9, 2020. Artwork published in
circa 1884
.
Clara Bull, Music Teacher business card
Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by Alan Mays and tagged with “ringlet”. License: All Rights Reserved.

Clara Bull of Andover, Kansas, used this business card to advertise the music lessons she offered in the early 1880s. Her name appeared in various newspapers during that time.

Clara Bull,
Music Teacher,
Andover, Kansas.
Terms: $10 for Term of Twenty-four Lessons.

The display typefaces were all quite fresh: Herman Ihlenburg’s Ringlet (MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan) is used for the name. It was first released in 1882, just like Program, a hairline slab serif designed by John Graham for Marder, Luse & Co. It’s used in caps with small caps. The star that separates the city name from the state is part of the font.

“Music Teacher” is set in Lady Text, another design by Ihlenburg, issued by Central in 1884. The open card typeface came with nine ornaments that can be combined with the glyphs. It was also carried by several German foundries, including Nies (as Zierschrift Exquisite), Berthold (Zierschrift Graziosa, before 1903), and Ludwig & Mayer (Visitenkartenschrift).

Typefaces

  • Ringlet
  • Lady Text
  • Program (Marder, Luse & Co)

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Artwork location

1 Comment on “Clara Bull, Music Teacher business card”

  1. Robert Pariseau says:
    Apr 2nd, 2021 7:36 pm

    That would be around $300 today!

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