[New Orleans Business & Trade]

An interesting and unusual album consisting of photographic reproductions of all four pages from the September 1, 1880 issue, followed by all 26 pages of the Annual Review of Commercial New Orleans, published as a supplement on the same day. The photographs chronicle an immense amount of advertisements for the business houses, stores, and companies active in New Orleans at the time, including ads for photographers T. Lilienthal and W. W. Washburn. Also present are ads for various insurance agencies and banks; dealers and importers of everything from musical instruments, barbed wire, French plate mirrors, and fireworks to furniture, books, stationary, and dry-goods; and of course odd-ball promotions for bizarre 19th-century miracle cures such as "Kidnegen: The Great Kidney Regulator and Ditretic" and Reed's Tonic, "a thorough remedy in every case of Malarial fever." Also advertised are products and companies still recognized today such as Lea and Perrins Genuine Worcestershire sauce, and Procter & Gamble Soaps. At least 2 pages are dedicated solely to the Cotton trade in the region and dealers in "Plantation Machinery."

Meandering in-between the company advertisements are brief reports on the current state of trade in all manner of business sectors; Lumber, Freight, Paper-making, Leather manufacturing, Land prices, Mineral resources, and many, many more.

The greatest mystery here is why the album was produced in the first place; perhaps as a means to later reproduce the list of businesses--a sort of Yellow Pages. It is fairly likely that the photographs were produced by either Lilienthal or Washburn, due to their inclusion in the directory. Another point of curiosity is the size of the album. While the minuscule text is mostly legible under magnification, the miniature quality of the advertisements does not exactly suggest every day use!

The photographs are mounted recto/verso to 15 cards, which were formerly attached to the present gilt-decorated morocco album. The cloth hinges have fully deteriorated, and the cards are loose and collated in order.