1891 – Advertising material for the Detroit International Fair and Exposition
Detroit, Michigan: 1891. Envelope or Cover. This lot consists of an attractive illustrated advertising envelope featuring a large illustration of the ornate building that housed the Detroit International Fair and Exposition. The cover notes that the exposition “Opens Aug. 25th / Closes Sept. 4th 1891.” It is addressed to a potential exhibitor, M. G. Snow of Hanover, Michigan. It is franked with a carmine two-cent Washington stamp (Scott #220) that was cancelled by a duplex Detroit postmark dated May 22, 1891. Also included is a large (8” x 14”) mimeographed letter describing the fair in detail and touting the success of the fair in previous years. Both are in nice shape.
The letter reads in part:
“The [Third Annual] Detroit International Exposition for 1891 will devote most of the ground floor of its immense main building (the largest Exposition building in the world) to the display of the most important and interesting manufacturing machinery in operation, and [on the second] the most elegant finished products of the great manufacturing industries. . .. It has exhibits from every State in the Union and every settled province of Canada. . .. In 1889 it was visited by 222,011 people; in 1890 by 342,800. . .. The attendance at the Exhibition of 1891 is expected to be larger . . . and probably exceed half a million people. . ..
"This year . . . will be a great race meeting upon the elegant track in the Exhibition grounds . . . $2,500 in special purses [for] trotting, pacing, running and hurdle races.
"There will also be the most magnificent display ever shown in America of all the latest and most wonderful inventions in Electricity – lighting, motors, telephones, telegraphs, railway systems. etc. . ..
"In short, the manufacturer who exhibits in the Detroit International Exposition of 1891 will be sure of displaying before the largest number of the best people from all over this continent. . ..”
. Very good. Item #010123Price: $150.00