Format: Twenty-five (25) chromolithograph or lineblock with letterpress advertising leaflets, some 1p, others 4pp, sizes range from sizes range from 21.4 x 13.8cm to 26.7 x 21.4cm.

Pears’ Soap, under the direction of innovative marketing manager Thomas J. Barratt, emerged as a pioneer of mass-marketing through the strategic deployment of high-quality fine art commissions, celebrity endorsements, and expansive advertising campaigns.

This collection documents several of Pears’ most celebrated campaigns: Bubbles, after John Everett Millais’ portrait of his grandson, which achieved near-universal brand recognition; the contentious Washing the Blackamoor White advertisement; and the so-called ‘colour-blind’ test cards, a precursor to a magic eye optical illusion.

Several testimonials from prominent socialites and public figures of the period were employed to sell Pears’ soap products, and these are reproduced througout these leaflets. Examples include Lillie Langtry, Adelina Patti, and Mary Anderson. Notably, Lillie Langtry, celebrated actress and socialite, is widely regarded as the first individual to lend her name to the commercial endorsement of a product, anticipating today’s media landscape.

Pears remains a household name, and this original printed collection offers an insight into the history of brands and advertising – a focal point for where art, commerce, celebrity, and mass imperialist values converged to create the template for modern marketing.

Full list available on request.

Minor foxing, some with paper remnants, offset, or tears and staple holes to edges.