Friday, September 7, 2012

Drumhead Cabbage & Friends

Most of us don't have a local seedsman these days where we can buy our seeds. We're more likely to buy them at nurseries or hardware stores. These cards were all produced by Richmond & Co/Clay & Richmond of Buffalo, New York in the 1880s/90s.





15 comments:

  1. Where's Alice? They all seem like characters from a Lewis Carroll story! Wonderful cards although Beet-man (is that a beet?) is a little frightening!

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  2. I don't think he's a beet. I think he's a mangel-wurzel; regardless, he's the stuff from which bad dreams are made!

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  3. Charming! Almost makes me want to plant vegetables....

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  4. Replies
    1. Yes, you're absolutely right! I had forgotten about him.

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  5. Excellent pre-computer graphics fun. Cabbage man has a bit of a 'Where the Wild Things Are' feel to me- hope the kraut boys don't eat too much and get sick. Watermelon man made me think of the 'Body Worlds' exhibit, although I don't think any of the plasticized beings there had any seeds. And the beet/mangel/turnip man is indeed bit creepy, sort like the Czech movie 'Little Otik' that it reminded me of, where a 'baby' comes from a tree root. Flower lady has a huge head and her body is way too long, but creative none the less and not as cartoon-ish as the other cards.

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  6. Now THESE are my kind of postcards. I mean, YOU can make even the most mundane street scene seem fascinating by all the background you provide, but vegetable art is hard to beat. I often think this about etegami postcards too. :)

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  7. As a kid planting these seeds would give me nightmares. Every morning I would look if a melon-man sticks his head out of the ground.

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  8. The cabbage is my favorite, but he is a little scary. Those kids will be sorry if they eat too much sauerkraut!

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  9. I saw some more seed cards here:
    http://www.cambridgephoto.com/blog/

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  10. Postcardy,
    Thanks, those are great cards. Makes me want to start collecting vegetable people.

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  11. Oh Christine: you beat me to the seed people! I just got a bunch that were cut out and framed by some crafty Victorian, and I was going to post them soon. I have the last one you listed (turnip? radish?) a couple of potato men, a red onion guy, a lettuce lady, and a little girl in a celery bunch. I found the framed collage in an 1800s farmhouse way out in the countryside; it had been hanging on the parlor wall for over 100 years! I'll have to get it posted soon.

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