⏳ PRINTED ON DEMAND — Please allow 2–3 weeks for delivery

This book is printed one copy at a time when you order it. There is no warehouse shelf of these — your copy goes on the press after you check out. Please allow 2–3 weeks from order to delivery.

About this book

Behind every great gold-leaf glass sign of the 1890s stood the glass itself — and this 1895 Rawson & Evans trade catalog is the sign trade's window into the decorative glass of the era: chipped, ground, enameled, and embossed glass in all its variety. Glue-chipped glass, with its frosted fern-like patterns, was the prestige background for gilded lettering; enameled and embossed sheets gave the sign maker textures and borders no paint could imitate.

As a trade catalog it shows what the working sign and glass man could actually order: the patterns, finishes, and treatments available to dress up a storefront, a saloon window, a transom, or an office door. For the modern gilder and reverse-glass artist it is a reference for period-correct backgrounds and borders — the authentic textures behind the gold.

It is also a document of the 1890s glass industry at its most decorative, when every storefront competed for attention and figured glass was part of the commercial language. Collectors of trade catalogs and students of the sign trade will find it a rich browse.

For gold-leaf glass sign artists, reverse-glass painters, restoration glaziers matching 1890s storefronts, and collectors of antique trade catalogs. The glass behind the gold, catalogued in 1895.

Details: 6×9" paperback, black and white interior, cream paper.

⚠️ Please read before ordering — about print quality

This is a print-on-demand reprint of a scanned historical document. The pages were scanned from an original 1895 printing, and the print quality of your book reflects the condition of that original scan.

What that means in plain terms: you may see faded text, uneven inking, age spots, show-through from the back of pages, and other imperfections that were in the 1895 original or introduced by the scanning process. These are preserved as-is — they are not printing defects, and they are not something we can fix.

We are not responsible for the condition of the original source material. If you want a pristine modern typeset book, this isn't it. If you want the actual 1895 book with all its character intact, you're in the right place.

Printed on demand by IngramSpark. One copy at a time — no inventory, no waste.