Trading
By the end of the 19th century, hoardings covered with brightly-coloured posters were a familiar sight. Many of these posters advertised convenience foodstuffs like dried (desiccated) soup, cocoa powder, tinned sardines and bottled sauces, reflecting new consumer demand and retail practice. Advertisers like Samuel Benson, whose firm S.H. Benson (established in 1893), produced this poster, developed techniques of branding and total campaign management to exploit new markets.



Subjects Depicted
Designed by Louis Weierter, head of the studio of S.H. Benson, the homely cook depicted on this poster was so successful that she later appeared on the product's packaging. Samuel Benson described her in an interview in 1909: "She was 'born' in our studio ... and in various shapes and attitudes has been a feature ever since. She is now a popular character in music-halls and at fancy dress balls; and so closely was she associated with the soup itself that the wrapper it is packed in now carries her portrait. This is a typically good poster for its purpose. It was ... very effective in colour treatment. It had a homely element, it brought the article in view in an appetising way, and was so arranged that the name was at once associated with the article ... everyone knows that the old woman cook is carrying Edwards' DesicCated Soup."



Object Type
This print is a colour lithograph. A lithograph is a picture made by printing from a flat surface (traditionally stone, now often a metal plate) on which the artist draws or paints the original design with a greasy substance like chalk. The surface is next prepared, moistened and inked; the greasy printing ink adheres to the design, which is then printed onto a sheet of paper. To make a colour lithograph, a separate printing surface is required for each colour.