Cires á Cacheter, Goudrons pour Bouteilles, Méches Soufrées, Encres.

E. Cornu, 1899-1900

(Trade Catalogue) (Wax) (Wine) Cornu, E. Cires á Cacheter, Goudrons pour Bouteilles, Méches Soufrées, Encres. Edouard Cornu, Fournisseur du Ministère des Postes & Télégraphes. Paris: Imp. Charles Verneau, [1899-1900]. Folio, [19] pls.; frontispiece followed by 17 chromolithographic plates and a table of contents, some printed recto and verso; colors remarkably fresh with minor bumping to lower corner progressing to heavier creasing until the final color plate with a small loss, not affecting the image; bound in, but separated from, orig. stamped cloth portfolio, chipped at edges, lower corner bumped. Manuscript note from manufacturer to potential client tipped in, dated 1899 but changed by same hand to 1900.

Detailed plates advertise rainbow-hued sealing waxes for letters, packages, bottles, and champagne; sulfur wicks and powders for sterilizing wine barrels; and inks. The catalogue was produced by master arthouse printer Charles Verneau, the Parisian publisher of many famous posters, including most of Théophile Alexandre Steinlen’s oeuvre.

Edouard Cornu was the official supplier of waxes and inks to the Ministère des Postes & Télégraphes. The ministry had assumed control of the French telephone system when it was nationalized in 1889. The Cornu factory telephone, still a relative rarity in France in 1899, is advertised prominently on the portfolio cover and frontispiece. Many of the catalogue’s examples display Cornu’s trademark beehive, others with various winemaker, liquor (violette, grappa), and industry trademarks.

Rare. As of September 2019, not found in OCLC or the trade.

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