Details
Contributor Hayes, George M., copyright holder.
Title [Frederick A. Rex & Co. trade cards] [graphic].
Publisher [United States]
Publisher UNITED STATES. 1881
Date [ca. 1881]
Physical Description 2 prints : chromolithograph and lithograph printed in blue ink ; sheet 11.5 x 8 cm (4.5 x 3 in.) or smaller.
Description Series of illustrated trade cards promoting coffee manufacturer Frederick A. Rex & Co. and depicting a fox leaping to grab grapes in its mouth from a vine running along the top of a tall stone wall. Racist trade card titled "An absorbing subject" and depicting a caricature an African American man lying on top of a barrel and drinking from it with a straw. Shows the barefooted man, portrayed with exaggerated features, and attired in a straw hat, a striped shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and patched and torn pants. He lies straddling on top of a wooden barrel and rests his head in his hands. He closes his eyes as he drinks from a straw through a hole in the barrel. The barrel has a label pasted on it and is marked “XXX.” In the foreground, a painter’s palette leans against the front of the barrel. Frederick A. Rex (1850-1916) founded the Frederick A. Rex Company in the 1880s which manufactured coffee and tea. The firm had an office in Philadelphia and a mill in Camden, N.J.
Notes Title supplied by cataloger.
One print [P.9651.20] copyrighted 1881 by Geo. M. Hayes.
One print [P.9651.20] contains advertising text printed on verso promoting "Peerless Coffee," the finest coffee sold, roasted and packed by Fred'k A. Rex & Co., 39 North Front St., Philadelphia, with mills in Camden, New Jersey.
Purchase 1999, 2001.
RVCDC
Description revised 2021.
Access points revised 2021.
Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Digitized.
Subject Frederick A. Rex & Co.
African American men -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Barrels.
Coffee industry -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Eating & drinking.
Foxes.
Grapevines.
Palettes.
Racism in popular culture.
Genre Chromolithographs -- 1880-1890.
Lithographs -- 1880-1890.
Trade cards -- 1880-1890.
Printer Hayes, George M., copyright holder.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| trade card - Rex [P.9651.20 & P.9984.2]
Accession number P.9651.20
P.9984.2