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Huntley & Palmers Biscuits

Poster
1891 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Design & Designing

Biscuit manufacturers were among the first to introduce branding to distinguish grocery products. At this time most biscuits were supplied to retailers in large tins and then sold loose. The branding was therefore for display in the shop, identifying the goods. Huntley & Palmers used a distinctive ‘girdle and buckle’ trademark, which was soon imitated by other companies.


Subjects Depicted

By 1900 Huntley & Palmers was the largest biscuit manufacturer in the world selling their products in 172 countries. This international reach was exploited in series of advertising leaflets featuring scenes from around the world. This poster shows a scene in India and the end of a tiger hunt, in which the European participants have stopped to take refreshments.


People

Thomas Huntley, who had previously helped his father Joseph run a confectionary shop in Reading, founded Huntley & Palmers in 1822 with his cousin engineer George Palmer. The company pioneered the use of the biscuit tin in the 1830s, manufactured by tinsmith and ironmonger brother Joseph (whose firm became Huntley, Boorne and Stephens). Tins allowed their products safe transport initially to supply stage coach travellers staying at the Crown Inn in Reading but also enabling transport further affield.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleHuntley & Palmers Biscuits (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Colour lithograph on paper.
Brief description
Poster for Huntley & Palmers biscuits, colour lithograph, printed by W.H. Smith, 1891.
Physical description
Poster for Huntley & Palmers biscuits representing India, showing men riding and guiding elephants after hunting tigers. A group of men rest on boxes eating biscuits with the Huntley & Palmers biscuit tins and an open hamper in the foreground, left.
Dimensions
  • Height: 54.1cm
  • Width: 74.5cm
Dimensions taken from: Summary Catalogue of British Posters to 1988 in the Victoria & Albert Museum in the Department of Design, Prints & Drawing. Emmett Publishing, 1990. 129 p. ISBN: 1 869934 12 1
Marks and inscriptions
  • HUNTLEY & PALMERS / BISCUITS
  • (MANUFACTURERS TO THE QUEEN) / READING & LONDON
  • W.H. Smith & Son, Printers, London, W.C. 5788-791 (Bottom right corner)
  • H AND P / READING / AND/ LONDON (On packing boxes in image)
  • [HUNTLEY & PALMERS TRADEMARK] (On biscuit tins in image)
Gallery label
(12/2012)
British Galleries:

HUNTLEY & PALMERS BISCUITS

1891

Biscuit manufacturers were among the first to introduce product branding. This poster makes a feature of the Huntley & Palmers tins with their recognisable ‘girdle and buckle’ trademark. Huntley & Palmers pioneered the biscuit tin which enabled their products to travel all over the world. The colonial imagery of this poster suggests the brand’s wide geographic reach.

Colour lithograph, inks on paper

Printed by W.H. Smith and Son, London

Given by Ogilvy Benson & Mather Ltd

Museum no. E.906-1973
Credit line
Given by Ogilvy Benson & Mather Ltd.
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Summary
Design & Designing

Biscuit manufacturers were among the first to introduce branding to distinguish grocery products. At this time most biscuits were supplied to retailers in large tins and then sold loose. The branding was therefore for display in the shop, identifying the goods. Huntley & Palmers used a distinctive ‘girdle and buckle’ trademark, which was soon imitated by other companies.


Subjects Depicted

By 1900 Huntley & Palmers was the largest biscuit manufacturer in the world selling their products in 172 countries. This international reach was exploited in series of advertising leaflets featuring scenes from around the world. This poster shows a scene in India and the end of a tiger hunt, in which the European participants have stopped to take refreshments.


People

Thomas Huntley, who had previously helped his father Joseph run a confectionary shop in Reading, founded Huntley & Palmers in 1822 with his cousin engineer George Palmer. The company pioneered the use of the biscuit tin in the 1830s, manufactured by tinsmith and ironmonger brother Joseph (whose firm became Huntley, Boorne and Stephens). Tins allowed their products safe transport initially to supply stage coach travellers staying at the Crown Inn in Reading but also enabling transport further affield.
Bibliographic reference
Dimensions taken from: Summary Catalogue of British Posters to 1988 in the Victoria & Albert Museum in the Department of Design, Prints & Drawing. Emmett Publishing, 1990. 129 p. ISBN: 1 869934 12 1
Collection
Accession number
E.906-1973

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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