In the manner of eighteenth-century street cries, photographer Sigmund Krausz staged these photographs of peddlers, beggars, and street regulars in his Chicago studio. Original prints were used to illustrate his 1892 publication Street Types of Chicago.
Four years later, he expanded the volume to include Street Types of Great American Cities, this time illustrated with half-tone reproductions of his photographs. Portraits include the iceman, milkman, letter carrier, urchins, religious fanatics, food vendors and others.
Sigmund Krausz, Street Types of Great American Cities (Chicago, New York: Werner Company, 1896) Graphic Arts Collection (GAX), F548.9.S9 K92
Another example of modern street cries was made in China by Samuel Victor Constant, who served there as an assistant to a military attaché from 1925 to 1937. While in Peking, he studied at the College of Chinese Studies, completing his master’s thesis, entitled “Calls, Sounds and Merchandise of the Peking Street Peddlers” in 1936. A copy of the work was commercially published that same year.
In 1993, Bird & Bull Press, under the leadership of Henry Morris, revived the text with new wood engravings by Rosemary Covey (seen below). Princeton also owns the 1994 Beijing edition: Samuel Victor Constant, Jing du jiao mai tu / Samo’er Weikeduo Kangsitan zhu; Tao Li yi; Tao Shangyi hui tu = Calls, Sounds & Merchandise of the Peking Street Peddlers. (Beijing: Shu mu wen xian chu ban she, 1994). East Asian Library (Gest) DS795.2 .C6612
Samuel Victor Constant, Calls, Sounds & Merchandise of the Peking Street Peddlers with Twenty-Five Wood Engravings by Rosemary Covey (Newtown [Pa.]: Bird & Bull Press, 1993). Copy 182 of 200. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) 2003-1335N
