Pop Art Edition Limited to 75 Signed and Numbered Prints.
If you're from the town of Le Roy, New York, you know that the popular dessert known as Jell-o has its origins in your hometown, but you may not know how far back the history goes. In 1897, a LeRoy carpenter and cough syrup manufacturer named Pearle Bixby Wait trademarked a gelatin dessert that he called Jell-O. The rest is, as they say…history.
Because there are seven colors in the design, each of these prints requires seven separate and highly accurate passes through my treadle-operated 1863 Gordon Old Style Jobber letterpress printing press. The printing of each color requires approximately two hours of preparation, printing and clean-up time. I am a second generation printer and I crafted this beautiful art print using techniques and technology that were current when Mr. Waite had packaging printed for his original Jell-O dessert product. Rather than being an exact facsimile of an antique advertisement, however, these 7”x5” prints include several anachronistic touches that make them more than simple copies. One could consider them in the popular, or “pop” art tradition because of the choices I made in designing and printing them.
The dominant portion of the print is the “Jell-O” wording. Although several wordmarks of the brand name are extant, my print features ten-line Concave Tuscan Condensed wooden types that were produced in the United States circa 1880. You can see the actual wooden characters in two of the accompanying photos. This was not the exact font that Mr. Wait chose for his packaging, but it is reminiscent of late 19th Century display typography. I printed each letter in a purple-green-blue-orange-yellow-red ink color sequence that evokes the various delicious flavors of this timeless treat. Additional wording appears in black ink.
Jell-O benefitted from several advertising slogans, but for this print, I chose the wording that a 1904 edition of the Ladies Home Journal used to describe it: “America’s Favorite Dessert.” The word “favorite” includes some 19th Century typographical ornaments cast in lead, most likely by American Type Founders. For “America’s” and “Dessert,” I set the words in 30 point Swing Bold, a reliable advertising font from the 20th Century that some will recognize as similar to the font used by the Sealtest Dairy Company. As a reminder of the product’s origin, “Le Roy, New York” appears in a 2010 casting of the Thunderbird font, a 1920 revival of classic American Wild West typography.
All of the materials used to produce these prints are in my possession at The Norlu Press, which although currently located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, was established by my father in 1937 in Fairport, New York. It is unlikely that any printer could assemble each of the requisite pieces from any single collection to produce a similar print. These are authentic letterpress prints, and as such, reflect the variations in tone and impression of their era. You will see the indent (debossing) on the back of the card, but since I print with antique metal and wood types and not modern photopolymer plates, they do not have the "deep" impression of some currently available letterpress printing. Paper is Mohawk Via 80lb cover. Its natural tone and smooth finish accentuate the antique look of the prints. Even better, the paper is acid-free for archival quality, Green-e and Green Seal and Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC®) certified. It features 30% post-consumer recycled content and certified fiber.
The prints are beautifully suited for framing and fit perfectly in a 7"x5" frame, but will be mailed to you flat and unmatted, so that you can choose the frame that complements your décor. I will sign your print in pencil (as shown in the framed examples of this listing). Let me know when you check out if you desire a specific number and I will do my best to get that print to you.
