Of the more than 50 quality Independence Day Sets of postcards published in the early years of the 20th century by two dozen or so American and European firms, some of the most patriotic were by Fred C. Lounsbury and his Crescent Embossing Company.
As a young man, Lounsbury (1857-1917) spent nearly 20 years in the paper novelty business, mainly as a salesman, innovator and advertising specialist. Then, in 1896, he founded the Crescent Embossing Company in Plainfield, N.J., and became a maker and supplier of all sorts of cardboard goods to the trade.
Within five years, the firm was working out of a large building of more than 10,000 square feet and employing close to 50 people. Products included calendars, labels, advertising goods, and by 1907, souvenir postcards.
Most of Lounsbury’s postcard sets have four cards each, a very unusual number and a radical departure for what was a common practice by publishers on both sides of the Atlantic. For those sets that are numbered, and many Lounsbury sets are not, such designations are found on the picture side. The series number is followed by a dash and the card number.
In 1903, Lounsbury sold what may well be not only his first postcard for the Fourth of July, but one of the earliest produced by any postcard publisher for the holiday. Unnumbered, it depicts Betsy Ross at work sewing the first United States flag. A companion card issued the following year, “Contemplation,” shows a seated woman and a sword resting against a table. This card possibly was intended for Memorial Day, a holiday then gaining in popularity.
Lounsbury copyrighted his postcard designs in his own name (several hundred), but they were published by Crescent, though often this fact was not imprinted on the card. Until 1985, when researcher and writer George Miller uncovered the Lounsbury story in a piece of investigative journalism, it has long been thought that Lounsbury not only published the postcards in his name but that he might well have been the artist. We now know that Lounsbury was not the illustrator of any postcards, just the copyright holder and publisher.
Series 2020, titled “Memories of the War for Independence,” is a set of four cards depicting famous Revolutionary War events. Released in 1907, the artist remains unknown. Depicted were the battles of Bunker Hill and Trenton and the surrenders of Burgoyne and Cornwallis, all with the appropriate dates.
Also in 1907, Lounsbury published an embossed, unnumbered Fourth of July series, perhaps his best. All four cards pictured Uncle Sam, and they wholesaled, as did “Memories of the War,” to retailers at $1.25 per hundred postcards.
Perhaps the best card of this series is the illustration of Uncle Sam surrounded by five celebrating children. Each child represents each of the following: Guam, Hawaii, Cuba, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. Besides selling to the trade, Lounsbury also sold his cards to large and small businesses as a medium for advertising. Thus, some of these Uncle Sam postcards show up now and then with an imprinted advertising message. Some of the more collectible of these are by fireworks and flag stores.
Arguably the most interesting of Lounsbury’s three Fourth of July sets, Series Number 2076, was marketed in 1908. With artwork done by C. Bunnell - and signed by him, this set is one of the few by Lounsbury to carry the artist’s signature. The theme is comedic, similar to Gene Carr’s set for Rotograph Co. The artistic style is strikingly similar to that found in the Sunday newspaper comic strips, then widely popular.
Bunnell did other sets for Lounsbury in 1908. His name appears on Series Number 2083 (Decoration Day) and Series Number 2098 (St. Patrick’s Day). He was a freelance artist and also did an Independence Day set (Series 9507) sold by Paul Finkenrath (PFB), the German publisher.
Bunnell’s sets for both companies are distinctly similar in drawing technique and philosophical approach. Even the titles are remarkably alike. PFB calls theirs “Ye Glorious 4th,” and Lounsbury’s is “Ye Fourth Of July.” In looking at the illustrations, it’s easy to see that a cartoonist with a slightly “cracked” sense of humor was at work.
The Lounsbury set portrays George Washington thrashing the British, particularly King George III and Lord Howe.
Though Fred C. Lounsbury published many extraordinary postcards, most of them in sets, he truly excelled when it came to the Fourth of July. His postcard celebration of America’s most glorious and inspiring holiday was superb.