DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.73059#0047
Coupon Prints.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Coupon Prints.
n CT" Pe°P'e in these days think they know a little about the fine
" arts, an' as rewards the masses, it is perfectly true—a very
little. It is not so long since one could hardly take up a periodical without
coming across glaringly lying advertisements, offering a large and beautiful engraving,
worth a guinea—observe the ingenuity of the wording—of a popular subject by a well-
known artist, in return for fifteenpence and the coupon cut out from the body of the
advertisement. The advertisers generally traded under some fine-art title. It is said
that the success of one of these firms was so great, that each day's post-office orders, when
stuck on an ordinary skewer file, measured several feet in height, and that the bankers
with whom the firm had opened an account in beginning its trade, could not put up with
the trouble of collecting them, and promptly closed it ; while another banker, who under-
took to do the business, charged a special commission for the extra trouble involved.
The writer from time to time had impressions sent to him, with requests that the system
might be exposed in a technical journal with which he is connected ; but while the rage
lasted the sales went on in spite of protest. Competitors multiplied, and no doubt
altogether some millions of these trashy prints must have been disposed of. The pro-
prietor of a paper of some position, who allowed these advertisements to be inserted, was
written to on the subject, and replied—no doubt truthfully and honestly—that he had
seen specimens of the prints in question, and that they were all they were represented to
be, and worth a guinea each, and he could not tell how they were produced for the money.
This was a dreadful staggerer, but an almost worse was to follow. While the writer was
one day concluding a purchase in a print-shop, where he was well known, a gentleman
entered, and explained that he had been fortunate enough to secure a guinea print for
fifteenpence, and that he wanted it tastefully framed, for which he was quite ready to pay
a guinea. The possessor of this foggy treasure had the appearance of being an educated
man; and when he had left, the writer learned that this was by no means a solitary order
of the same description that had found its way to this shop. However, people at last got
25 to
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Coupon Prints.
n CT" Pe°P'e in these days think they know a little about the fine
" arts, an' as rewards the masses, it is perfectly true—a very
little. It is not so long since one could hardly take up a periodical without
coming across glaringly lying advertisements, offering a large and beautiful engraving,
worth a guinea—observe the ingenuity of the wording—of a popular subject by a well-
known artist, in return for fifteenpence and the coupon cut out from the body of the
advertisement. The advertisers generally traded under some fine-art title. It is said
that the success of one of these firms was so great, that each day's post-office orders, when
stuck on an ordinary skewer file, measured several feet in height, and that the bankers
with whom the firm had opened an account in beginning its trade, could not put up with
the trouble of collecting them, and promptly closed it ; while another banker, who under-
took to do the business, charged a special commission for the extra trouble involved.
The writer from time to time had impressions sent to him, with requests that the system
might be exposed in a technical journal with which he is connected ; but while the rage
lasted the sales went on in spite of protest. Competitors multiplied, and no doubt
altogether some millions of these trashy prints must have been disposed of. The pro-
prietor of a paper of some position, who allowed these advertisements to be inserted, was
written to on the subject, and replied—no doubt truthfully and honestly—that he had
seen specimens of the prints in question, and that they were all they were represented to
be, and worth a guinea each, and he could not tell how they were produced for the money.
This was a dreadful staggerer, but an almost worse was to follow. While the writer was
one day concluding a purchase in a print-shop, where he was well known, a gentleman
entered, and explained that he had been fortunate enough to secure a guinea print for
fifteenpence, and that he wanted it tastefully framed, for which he was quite ready to pay
a guinea. The possessor of this foggy treasure had the appearance of being an educated
man; and when he had left, the writer learned that this was by no means a solitary order
of the same description that had found its way to this shop. However, people at last got
25 to