POSTCARD: "WHAT'S YOUR CREST?" ENGLISH, CA. 1908-1910. Gift of Michael H. Hoeflich. Lawyers were a favorite subject for parody in popular art, and postcards were often a favored medium for such art. In England, as in the United States, lawyers were particularly subjected to criticism about their fees and about the delays in litigation which often produced huge fees. The problems of probate were parodied frequently in both literature and visual art, including the most famous of such accounts in Charles Dickens' BLEAK HOUSE. This postcard is typical of such a parody. It also satirizes lawyers' social pretensions by putting the parody in the form of a coat of arms. Such satiric arms are found for lawyers in popular art going back to the eighteenth century.
POSTCARD: "WHAT'S YOUR CREST?" ENGLISH, CA. 1908-1910. Back view. Gift of Michael H. Hoeflich.
POSTCARD: "PRACTICING AT THE BAR." AMERICAN, CA. 1916. Gift of Michael H. Hoeflich. Postcards featuring "little Dutch children" were exceptionally popular during this period. Most of these were romantic, as this is, but often also had a hint of satire. Particularly interesting about this example is that the sender penciled in his own comment after the printed legend.
POSTCARD: "PRACTICING AT THE BAR." AMERICAN, CA. 1916. Back view. Gift of Michael H. Hoeflich.
POSTCARD: "VINEGAR VALENTINE." AMERICAN, 1911. Gift of Michael H. Hoeflich. Illustrated postcards enjoyed widespread popularity in the United States and Europe from the turn of the twentieth century until the 1950s. One of the most interesting types of postcards were those known as "vinegar valentines." These were satiric postcards designed to be sent to one's loved one. Often the topic was occupational, and such vinegar valentines may be found parodying a broad range of professions including doctors, nurses and accountants. One of the most popular subjects was lawyers.
POSTCARD: "VINEGAR VALENTINE." AMERICAN, 1911. Back view. Gift of Michael H. Hoeflich.
TRADE CARD: "KEYSTONE IMPROVED SILVER WATCH CASES." AMERICAN, CA. LATE 19TH CENTURY. Gift of Michael H. Hoeflich. A now-forgotten form of nineteenth-century commercial art was the trade card. These were a popular form of advertising and would be handed out to potential customers or clients. Occasionally, lawyers figured in these cards. This card uses an image of a lawyer to demonstrate the importance of keeping good time. The lawyer in the illustration is holding a book by Sir Edward Coke.
TRADE CARD: "KEYSTONE IMPROVED SILVER WATCH CASES." AMERICAN, CA. LATE 19TH CENTURY. Gift of Michael H. Hoeflich. The back view of this trade card contains a detailed explanation of the superior construction of Keystone Improved Watch Cases.
TRADE CARD: "TARRANT'S SELTZER APERIENT." AMERICAN, CA. LATE 19TH CENTURY. Gift of Michael H. Hoeflich. This card was produced as one of a series by a popular health drink of the late nineteenth century. Here, a lawyer named Keepwell says "I keep my blood cool and brain clear by the use of Tarrant's Seltzer Aperient." This illustration is particularly interesting for it is one of the few contemporary illustrations of what a lawyer's office looked like at the time.
BUSINESS CARD / CARTE DE VISITE. AMERICAN, CA. 1880-1890. Gift of Michael H. Hoeflich. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, most members of the middle class used "visiting cards" as a means of letting people know that they had visited or were visiting. Quite early on, professionals recognized that such visiting cards could also be used as a form of advertising. This card was undoubtedly prepared without a name or address, and supplied to local print shops where details could be printed onto the blank stock. This example is interesting on two counts. First, the subject of the card is one commonly used by ladies for their visiting cards rather than by lawyers for professional purposes. Second, the card obviously advertises not only Mr. Knapp's legal practice but his mortgage brokering business. It is, in effect, an early example of multi-disciplinary practice!
CIGAR ART: "JUDGE BEST." AMERICAN, CA. 1880-1900. Gift of Michael H. Hoeflich. Victorian America held the legal profession in high esteem. The image of a (fictitious or real) judge or lawyer called to mind qualities of sobriety, diligence, learning, and wealth. As such, images of lawyers and judges were commonly used to advertise luxury items for sale to men, along with risque images of women, sports, and the Wild West. The high status of the legal profession and the sale of cigars both reached their peaks in the late nineteenth century, making law-related cigar art quite common. Cigar box labels featuring glorious color and rich embossing were produced by chromolithography. "Judge Best" invites the potential cigar smoker to try the cigar that he will most likely "judge best" among all others.
CIGAR ART: "GABLER'S JUDGE." AMERICAN, CA. 1880-1900. Gift of Michael H. Hoeflich. "Gabler's Judge" features the image of a successful lawyer enjoying a cigar in the company of a favorite law-related prop, a book.
SHEET MUSIC: "PLEADING AND PRACTICE GRAND MARCH." NEW YORK, 1896. Purchased in honor of Michael H. Hoeflich. In 1896, the Edward Thompson Publishing Company announced a new legal publication, the ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF PLEADING AND PRACTICE. The Encyclopaedia, which was sold by subscription only, eventually spanned 23 volumes when the last one appeared in 1902. (A four-volume supplement covering the period 1903-1909 was published thereafter.) To advertise the new Encyclopaedia, the publishing house engaged George H. Bishop to compose this Grand March. The extravagant and comical cover illustration features the brand-new Encyclopaedia volumes riding in a horse-drawn cart, with a motley rabble of "old style law books" with heads, faces, sour expressions and skinny legs following along behind.
SHEET MUSIC: "PLEADING AND PRACTICE GRAND MARCH." NEW YORK, 1896. Page 1. Purchased in honor of Michael H. Hoeflich.
SHEET MUSIC: "PLEADING AND PRACTICE GRAND MARCH." NEW YORK, 1896. Page 2. Purchased in honor of Michael H. Hoeflich.
SHEET MUSIC: "PLEADING AND PRACTICE GRAND MARCH." NEW YORK, 1896. Page 3. Purchased in honor of Michael H. Hoeflich.
SHEET MUSIC: "PLEADING AND PRACTICE GRAND MARCH." NEW YORK, 1896. Page 4. Purchased in honor of Michael H. Hoeflich.
SHEET MUSIC: "PLEADING AND PRACTICE GRAND MARCH." NEW YORK, 1896. Back cover. Purchased in honor of Michael H. Hoeflich.
