HEATH & MILLIGAN MFG. CO.  BEST PREPARED PAINTS.

(TRADE CATALOGUE)  HEATH & MILLIGAN MFG. CO.  BEST PREPARED PAINTS.

Chicago: (circa 1885). Oblong 12mo. (3 1/2 x 6 3/4 inches). Printed wrappers. (2) pages, 6 color printed plates.

Established in Chicago in 1851, Heath & Milligan was a major paint company.  They issued a number of trade catalogues but they have not had a high survival rate.  The present one, for example, is listed in OCLC but with no copies located.  There is, however, a copy in the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, and four of the six color plates from it are reproduced in Roger Moss, Century of Color, (1981), plates 41-44.  Moss states: "In the 1880's Heath & Milligan Manufacturing Co. of Chicago issued sample books of 'Fashionable tints' to show 'the appearance of a house when painted with any of our shades.'"  A range of examples from the earlier of these books is reproduced here. The house selected is a relatively simple, vernacular box that has been enriched by incised decoration on the window frames, belt course, and barge boards.  The body colors range from yellow trimmed with green, through light gray trimmed with light brown, two shades of green, and dark green trimmed with olive."  Original printed wrappers with aesthetic design and border.  The register is in some cases not very good, but this just adds to their charm, and interest.  Very good.

SOLD