NOT FAIR, NO FAIR IN SEPTEMBER 2020, so like others I am looking back at what I bought 12 months ago. And finding some joy. It seems longer ago and perhaps for that reason the first item to revisit is this pocket calendar 7.5x7cm folded. Plenty of nice detail on the cover and no wonder given it is a promotional item for a printer and embosser.
E. Whitehead & Co were a very well-known Melbourne printer. Was this the origins of the business?
NOTICE-With reference to an advertisement in The Argus, intimating that J W Pearson and Co have “removed to 3 Collins street west,” the PUBLIC are hereby CAUTIONED and informed that such is not the case, the business being still CARRIED ON at the old premises, No. 67 Collins street east, by E. WHITEHEAD and Co., the succeeding partner of the old firm who only were awarded the prize medal for Engraving, Heraldic Printing, Embossing, &c.
Argus (Melbourne), Monday 15 April 1867, page 7
Maybe they were a significant printer as they did not warrant an entry in The Development of the Printing Industry in Australia by Herbert Norman, and self-published in 1934 available online with interesting short notes about 10+ Victorian printers.
UPDATE: Thanks to Roma G. See Printers of the Streets and Lanes of Melbourne, Don Hauser. Published 2006, Nondescript Press. Informative entry on E.W.Whitehead.
Gold was a shopping theme
These ‘MILO’ Cigarettes made by Sniders & Abrahams Pty Ltd are cigarette cards are 6.5x4cm. They are not numbered and they are not identified as part of a series. A google search shows that another collector has documented these as a series:
Actresses Series 1 (Talma – Gold background) | 1904-1908 | 30 cards |
If you don’t know David Elliott’s fabulous site Australian Cards and Stickers useful website, start by checking out the Sniders & Abrahams’ entry check it out here.
The uniformed Miss Pansy Montagu was known as ‘La Milo’ because of her statuesque physique. We quote from the (Australian) National Portrait Gallery.
Pansy Montague, ‘La Milo’ (c 1885-unknown) appeared as a chorus girl and actress in Melbourne from about 1898, and in 1901 understudied Nellie Stewart in Sydney. In 1905 she appeared in Melbourne and Sydney for Harry Rickards’ Variety Theatre as ‘The Modern Milo’ in a series of poses plastiques described as a ‘Fac-simile of Ancient and Modern Statuary and Sculpture’. Read more on their site.
Miss Agnes Kelly has been harder to find out about. Could this be her?
Miss Agnes, of Kelly & Agnes, the comedy team now appearing with Rickards, is a Sydney girl, and was recently married to Kelly.
Note in ‘Mummerings’ in Gadfly (Adelaide), 7 March 1906, p. 22.
The marriage date of 1906 fits with David Elliott’s date range for the series of 1904-1908.
Comedy sketch teams are always a welcome addition to a vaudeville programme, and in Kelly and Agnes two excellent performers are promised. Mr. Kelly is stated to be a wonderful acrobatic dancer, full of strange tricks—a dancer not only dependent upon his legs and feet, but one who seems to use every part of his body. Miss Agnes has the reputation of being an excellent singer and dancer, and serves as a useful foil to Kelly’s fun.
Note in Evening Journal (Adelaide), 22 February 1906, p. 3.
Any thoughts, suggestions et cetera welcomed. the last purchase on the gold theme in September 2019 was a golden jubilee passbook. Sadly with the cancelled stamp used very liberally.
roma guerin says
FYI. See “Printers of the Streets and Lanes of Melbourne”, Don Hauser. Published 2006, Nondescript Press. Informative entry on E.W.Whitehead.