THE EPHEMERA OF BUSINESS

Hope you enjoyed these billheads while you ring in the new year!

Historically, the trademark was simply a sign or mark used to identify the origin or ownership of of the goods its was affixed. At first these marks were not adopted in the maker's own interest but was put upon the manufacturer so that its product could be identified if it was of poor workmanship or inferior. Eventually, the trademark came to be regarded as a sign of quality and good reputation. Just a few images of trademarks used as a graphic on some billheads.

While color trade cards abound and the black and white versions are rarer, that is the exact opposite for billheads. As the popularity of trade cards died out, color became more popular on billheads. Also probably due to the decreasing cost of using color and the increasing importance o billheads as a means of advertising to companies. See below for some neat examples.

As promised from by last post, here are some examples of Australian billheads I found on the website Print and Printmaking Australia Asia Pacific . Based on the Australian print collection at the National Gallery of Australia there is free online access to over 22,000 images. The databases can be searched by artist, subject or print techniques such as etching, woodcut, wood-engraving, linocut, lithograph, screenprint, monotype and other print related processes such as posters and artists books. Index to online information on printmakers, print workshops, print publishers, print galleries and public and private collections.