Stock, clip or cliche art was (and is) a small big business in the graphic arts field. Even Paul Rand initially worked for a stock picture company, scratching out scratch board drawings of objects and vignettes. All the top type foundries offered them, and some graphic arts companies specialized in them. There wasn’t any one country that had a monopoly, but some of the most visually interesting were produced in Germany for advertising and editorial use. The ones here are from Die Gebrauchs-Vignette in neuem Gewande! (Advertising Vignettes in New Garb!) catalog of the Schriftgiesserei Brüder Butter in Dresden from 1922. The selection is delightful, the prices were moderate.
