“Now Give It To 'Em Hard!” — No. 3 of a Comic Series Original Victorian advertising trade card, single-color lithograph on tinted stock, c. 1880s. Approx. 4.30 x 3.10 in. A farm scene in brown ink. Pigs have broken through a rail fence and are loose in the field; a man runs up the hill after them. In the foreground a woman grips a switch behind a fence post while a barefoot boy crouches at the gap with a stick raised, both waiting to ambush the next pig through. Titled at the top: N° 3. “Now give it to 'em hard!” The reverse advertises THE NEW YORK One Price CLOTHING HOUSE — Carries the Largest and Finest Line of Goods, New Goods Daily Arriving — Julius Rees, Proprietor, Stillwater, Minn. A note at the foot explains that the card is a small copy of one of a series of very humorous pictures on display at the store, and invites the reader to call and see them. HISTORICAL CONTEXT The card is not really selling clothes. It is selling a reason to walk into the shop: the full series is on the wall, and you will have to come in to see the rest. A numbered card that admits it is only a sample of something better elsewhere is an unusually honest piece of advertising, and a clever one. The scene itself needed no explaining to anyone who kept pigs, which in Stillwater in the 1880s was most people. CONDITION Toning and age typical of the period. A crease to the upper left corner; light surface soiling; minor edge and corner wear. The printed image remains clear and the reverse text fully legible. Please view the images carefully. ABOUT THE PRINTING This card was printed from a single stone in one ink, on tinted stock — an economical choice, since the colored card supplies a second tone at no extra press pass. The design was drawn by hand in reverse on the stone, the shading built from the density of the drawn marks rather than from color. Under magnification the tone resolves into drawn line and hatching, not a mechanical screen. There is no halftone screen and no four-color rosette, which is what a modern reproduction would show. PROVENANCE This item comes from the personal collections of my family estate, accumulated over more than 200 years — including items that came west by wagon train to Colorado and later to Oklahoma. Now that my parents have passed we cannot keep all of these cherished items. They were well-educated antiques collectors/traders and continued to build their collections over more than 60 years. The vast majority of the pieces are from the Victorian Era, however there are plenty of older and newer items. Everything has been stored in a climate-controlled environment over time. DISCLAIMER Specifications and detailed item descriptions are provided as a courtesy only and are not guaranteed to be one hundred percent accurate. Please do your own research. There are generally no receipts available for any items from original purchases. Any dimensions and/or weights are approximate. The absence of a more detailed condition report does not imply there are no condition issues with the item(s). Please inspect images carefully as they are part of the official item description and best representation of the actual condition. Additional images may be available upon request depending on time and availability. Not responsible for internet mis-translations or mis-identification of maker's marks if found or assumptions of makers or materials — item descriptions will indicate if it is assumed. If you see a problem, please message us immediately and we will do our best to sort out a solution and confirm the information. With the exception of eBay rules, no returns are accepted. Ref#ADV-005