The first promotional calendars popped up in the middle of the 19th century. With better and better printing, all kinds of calendars became available. While the printers invested in advanced technology, they also tried to avoid the risk of being without business. Printing books and newspapers simply wasn't enough. Advertising calendars (and similar items with printed logos) fast evolved into a promising business.
In the late 1880s, several printers began to combine artistic pictures with calendar pads. They used two or three colors for printing to be enough attractive for a customer who should be satisfied enough to put the calendar on the wall or use the item with advertising material otherwise. Themed calendars were a specific niche and this calendar illustrated by Blanche McManus is a fine example of such a product.
The Sov'rane Herb and The Smoker's Year, a calendar for 1904, is interesting for several reasons:
- Boston, L. C. Page & Company hired Blanche McManus, an already established illustrator for the job, where we can find many other important artists of the time (like Jessie Willcox Smith, Walter Crane, Kate Greenaway, ...)
- The subject is tobacco, then already known as a product with a negative impact on health, yet not so seriously taken as it is today (heroin, after all, was a legal drug until 1924 in the USA).
- The book is full of amusing tidbits about smoking, tobacco, and tobacco accessories, especially pipes (smoking cigarettes was widespread through the 20th century and was at the beginning reserved almost exclusively for men), making this controversial product a bit romantic. All the quotes and other text included on pages with calendar sheets are still here.
- Graphics by Blanche McManus show almost stereotyped smokers in typical situations thus presenting an interesting piece of world history from a very specific point of view.
- The text was written by Francis Miltoun, Blanche's husband. This pair collaborated on numerous occasions, especially at so-called travelogues.
- The same calendar was offered in the form of a book mostly as a gift for smokers in cloth and leather binding with a decorative imitation of cigar ribbon in the years 1904 and 1905.
We couldn't find a satisfying explanation of the phrase sov'rane herb. We can speculate about the word smokers who, in several languages, like in Russian, Macedonian, ..., represent smokers of the world - some kind of universal parliament or sobranie (sov'rane). But it's only a speculation. If you have a better idea, please read it.
Now for the illustrations by Blanche McManus:
The Dutch have always been great smokers ...
Did you notice how cleverly Blanche McManus used the limitations of printing (just red and green colors, to create the holiday feeling with Christmas colors?
Charles Lamb hymned to the praise of "Bacchus' black servant Negro fine," ...
"Open the old cigar-box; let me consider awhile ..."
"A papelitos (cigarette), a glass of water, and a kiss of a pretty girl will sustain a full day ..."
"I owe to smoking more or less, Through life the whole of my success ..."
As a nation of smokers the Germans have ever carried the palm ...
China is the land of small-bowled pipes and jade mouthpieces ...
The 'Hookah' of India is an outgrowth of the still earlier 'Hookah', or 'Hubble-Bubble' of Persia, where the fumes from the tobacco are clarified by passing through water ...
"Magnificent in Stamboul, but less grand, though not less loved, in Wapping or the Strand ..."
"The ubiquitous - the indispensable element of all idle and elegant life; the man who does not smoke cannot be regarded as perfect ..."
"The savage warrior of North America enjoyed the blessing of a pipe before we did, and to the pipe may be ascribed the wisdom of their councils ..."
This concludes the calendar part of Blanche McManus' vintage book calendar. If you are looking for a new one, you may want to know how to do it. Here you can get loads of blank calendar templates:
Enjoy the vintage art and be creative!
