Atticpaper Vintage Ads & Ephemera Blog

Hey New Jerseyites! We’ve just added a bunch of 19th century antique lithographs of Asbury Park, Manasquan, Ocean Beach, and other parts of New Jersey. Views includes several old resort hotels.

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Halloween is almost here! Here are three of our favorite vintage Halloween themed ads. Have a spook-tacular holiday!

You can find these vintage Halloween themed ads in our store.

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Have spent the last couple of weeks adding old articles and antique prints to the site. We know you love the vintage ads. We’ll be adding lots more of those in a few weeks. Stay tuned! In the meantime, check out our other categories for newly listed inventory.

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We just added some antique prints of Marine & Sea Life from Brehms Tierleben and a great selection of Louis Prang chromolithographs of animals, insects, birds, mammals, sea life, etc. from the Animate Creation series.

We also recently added some antique prints of Civil War battles and officers.

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So here’s our latest creepy vintage ad. Dated 1895, this one is sort of a mini-article/ad for the John H. Woodbury Dermatological Institute. The same John H. Woodbury who invented Woodbury Facial Soap, as seen here in this great old 1929 Woodbury Soap Ad.

Here we are told, “Dr, Woodbury does make over faces.” And there are photographs to prove it. For here we see a before and after picture. The first one shows a young woman with “an abnormal Roman nose, and a large wart on her cheek.” The caption for this one reads “Matrimonial prospects very weak.” Ah! This poor woman will most likely not marry because of her big nose and her wart! And then we see the vastly new and improved woman. “Now both disfigurements are gone, and she looks so much like another person that it is almost difficult to believe that both pictures are of the same lady.” And the caption here reads: “Matrimonial prospects above par.” Hooray! Perhaps she shall marry after all! We also learn that ear operations are a specialty and a picture is shown of a gentleman with “projecting ears.” “But for his ears,” we are told, he would have been good looking. Finally we see a photo of boxer Bob Fitzsimmons who sits in the static electric machine getting his semi-weekly treatments. “The electricity passes through his system and increases the circulation, makes the muscles supple, pliable, and hard, and tones up the entire system.” You might think that’s all somewhat creepy. But the creepiest part is this: In 1908, the John H. Woodbury Dermatalogical Institute was brought to court for practicing medicine without a license. In 1911, they filed for bankruptcy protection. The four page John Woodbury ad: A Few Cases in Facial Surgery, is available in our store.

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The Volkswagen Beetle and the Volkwagen Bus have become iconic symbols of the 60′s.

Although the beloved, yet updated Beetle (also known as the Bug) is still being produced today, German production of the VW Bus with split-front windows (nicknamed the Splittie) ceased production in 1967. The bus could hold many people plus their belongings, and therefore was the ultimate transportation for the hippie counterculture, used in transporting them to concerts and anti-war rallies. The bus, in fact, was often called the hippiemobile. They were often seen with hand-painted peace signs or psychedelic murals.

At the end of the 1950′s, the ad firm of Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) was handed a difficult task in being asked to create a campaign for the Volkswagen. It was, after all, a small car at a time when larger, family style cars were all the rage. It was considered unattractive looking; even — dare we say it — ugly, by many. Not to mention that it was manufactured in Germany at a plant built by the Nazis only 15 years after WWII had ended.

But lo and behold, they managed to come up with an extremely clever but simple ad campaign that quickly won the hearts of Americans and created tremendous brand loyalty.

Both the Beetle and the Bus had one of the most prolific and recognizable ad campaigns of the 1960′s. These ads live on as a part of history. We’ve posted some of our favorites here. We also have a large selection of vintage VW Beetle and VW Bus ads available in our store.

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We have just added some really cool late 19th century magazine articles with subjects such as Coney Island (from 1897), Bicycle Racing (1897), the Salmagundi Club (1897), Hypnotism by Santanelli (1896), the Work of the Art Students League of NY (1897), and many others.

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We have just added some nice vintage catalogs: 1931 Vintage School Supplies Catalog; 1925 Bonwit Teller Gift Catalog; 1901 Montgomery Ward Mini Catalog; Antique Wheelbarrows & Scrapers Catalog; a fabulous Antique 1900 Butcher Supplies Catalog; and others.

We have also added some great old Victorian Trade cards.

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We’ve just listed a fabulous Bellas Hess 1915 Antique Fashion Catalog for Men, Women & Children.

Bellas Hess was one of the large merchandise catalogs of its time, along with Sears, Alden’s, Spiegel, and Montgomery Ward. From what we gather, it began as National Cloak & Suit in the late 1800′s and was renamed Bellas Hess around 1910. In the mid 60′s Bellas Hess fought a bid by Illinois that was trying to force it to collect state sales and use taxes. The Supreme Court ruled with Bellas Hess; that a company had to have “nexus” with a state to be liable for the tax; otherwise, the taxes could not be imposed. That decision led to a period of huge growth in the mail order business. However, in spite of all that, Bellas Hess filed for bankruptcy in 1971 and eventually went out of business.

The catalog, now a piece of history, is fully illustrated in black & white with several pages in color. It’s an absolute joy to look through. The clothing styles are fascinating to look at, as are the gift items, jewelry, accessories, and so on. A pair of shoes cost an average of $2 and a chic dress cost about $5-$9.

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We just added over 100 more vintage ads on Atticpaper.com. Some great vintage car ads from the 1960′s and various other categories. Recently listed ads always appear first.

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