SUBJECTS IN THE ANTIQUE AMERICANA BOOK SERIES
SODA POP ADVERTISING
With this volume, we look at non-Coca-Cola brands in the marketplace of the pre- and postwar eras. Some of the names are familiar and even mammoth, such as Pepsi, while others live on only through the advertising artifacts they left behind.Â
You’ll see a lot of commonality between the approaches taken by these various soda companies and those employed by Coca-Cola. Some are literally copycats, while others, such as Hires Root Beer, were pioneers in their own right.Â
Like the pre-prohibition golden era of breweries in America, soda manufacturing was a huge, disparate marketplace growing out of the pharmacy and soda fountain origin story. Many of the brands were founded by pharmacy operators and grew to be important regional or even national brands through licensing deals with the growing network of independent bottlers around the country.Â
This volume focuses on the various cola and root beer brands, including the somewhat unique Dr. Pepper. A successive edition will include the various citrus / fruit-flavored drinks, which is a category of its own with its own huge variety of mostly forgotten brands.Â
COCA-COLA ADVERTISING
Developed in 1886, the Coca-Cola Company’s flagship product, Coca-Cola, is one of the most widely recognized brands and products anywhere. Bottled on a global scale, Coca-Cola has a long-standing tradition of advertising and marketing, dwarfing all of its competitors. Thousands of designs have emerged from the company’s advertising agencies throughout the years, all while retaining and evolving its classic script logo to this very day.
The company relied on a patchwork network of pharmacies for its earliest distribution methods. These businesses were plentiful and already were broadening their focus beyond patent medicines into candy and other profitable items – including what would become soda fountains. Indeed, Coca-Cola inventor Dr. John Pemberton served the first glass of Coke at Jacobs Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, combining his newly developed syrup with carbonated water to create the drink we now know as Coca-Cola.
Though Pemberton would not live to see the behemoth that Coca-Cola would become (he passed away in 1888), the new owners of the formula and brand would go on to found Coca-Cola Company in 1892 – 130 years ago as of the date of this writing – and invest heavily in expanding their distribution network, using advertising that reflected the social aesthetics of the day.
This book is a highlight collection of images from the earliest days of Coca-Cola to the early 1960s, with the majority of items coming from the 1920s to the 1950s. Not meant to be comprehensive, this volume instead focuses on key items from major advertising categories, showing the ingenuity and excellence of Coca-Cola and its ad agencies across generations.
COIN-OPERATED DEVICES
The world of coin-ops is a retrospective in classic American ingenuity. The marketing prowess, the clever delivery mechanisms, and the wide range of options for separating your coins from your pocket all add up to a fun and informative read in Antique Americana: Coin-Operated Devices.
This 96-page, perfect-bound softcover or hardcover book features more than 80 devices from the late 1890s through the 1960s, covering a range of coin-op categories: gum and bulk venders; trade stimulators; countertop games; electric shockers and drunk testers; and so much more.Â
Printed in full color on premium paper, Coin-Operated Devices is a great introduction to this ever-vibrant collecting category that will have you shaking your head in amazement at these “silent salemen” from an earlier and better time.
