Groceries, Iron, Nails, &c. THE UNDERSIGNED having concluded to continue in business in this place, and being in receipt of a very large and well assorted stock of Goods in our line for the Fall and Winter trade, we would respectfully invite the ATTENTION of MERCHANTS for the following list of articles, which we will sell at prices as low, (considering cost of transportation,) as the same can be bought for in St. Louis.
Quincy (Illinois): Gibson & Warren, Books and Job Printers, December 1853. Folio Broadside. 560 x 405 mm. (21 3/4 x 16 inches). Text in numerous fonts and sizes. Decorative border enclosing text. Folded. Light tide marks in corners and margins, but paper quality is very good.
Very attractive promotional broadside, advertising the sale of goods to Merchants, Blacksmiths, and Farmers, which reflects the tremendous growth of the city of Quincy in the 1850's. With the spread of rail lines and the growth in river traffic on the Mississippi, Quincy became a hub of commerce and it population tripled between 1840 and the end of the Civil War. As a result, the demand for goods and services also grew and Joel Rice & Sons was strategically placed to fill the needs of a growing city and its population.
In addition to listing all the goods and services that Joel Rice & Sons provided, the company was keenly aware of its competition with St. Louis, another thriving port city one hundred-fifty miles south on the west side of the Mississippi. The broadside reads in part, "To Merchants particularly we say that there will be no necessity of your going to St. Louis this Fall for Groceries, as we think that we will be able to sell the same here at prices which will justify you in buying from us instead of in St. Louis." It also reaches out to "Our German Friends (Merchants, Blacksmiths, Farmers and other)" offering a large line of goods at lower prices than can be purchased at other places.
According the entry in the catalogue of the Historical Society of Quincy & Adams County, Joel Rice (1794-1878) came to Quincy in the 1830's and is considered one of the founders of the town. In 1836 he was elected as a member of the Board of Trustees and over the next forty years was instrumental in establishing numerous business and developing the city with the construction of many buildings used by his companies and leased out to local shopkeepers. Rice was born in Kentucky and began his business career in Cincinnati where he learned the mercantile trade. Upon moving to Quincy Rice established a pork packing plant, then a wholesale grocery and iron shop that flourished and is the subject of this attractive broadside advertisement.
Not cited in OCLC. Not cited in the library catalogues of the Newberry Library, University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana, and Illinois State Museum. See John Tillson, History of the City of Quincy, Illinois, Chicago, ca. 1906 and William H. Collins and Cicero F. Perry, Past and Present of the City of Quincy, 1905. (345). Item #345
Price: $750.00