Historical information

This sales catalogue was developed by Carl Axel Nobelius to market the variety of nursery stock he had for sale. It was printed by D. W. Paterson Co, a printing firm based in Melbourne, and then distributed widely both interstate and overseas. This particular copy was owned by Gus Ryberg, past Nobelius Heritage Park curator between 1983 and 2000. Gus donated this issue to the Museum, where it is enjoyed as part of a larger set of illustrated sales catalogues. This example is one of the 16 such illustrated sales catalogues in the Emerald Museum collection. They date between 1898 and 1939 (1898, 1903, 1906 x2, 1907, 1909, 1911, 1913, 1918, 1922, 1926, 1928, 1929 x2, 1931, 1933 and 1935). This issue was chosen because it illustrates the nursery sales at the height of its success, just prior to WWI, and is one of the few examples with the tear-away order form and return envelope intact.

Other identified examples of Nobelius Nursery illustrated sales catalogues are held at the National Library of Australia (1936 issue), the State Library of Victoria (1934 issue) and the Latrobe University Library (1898 issue). The existence of another 1913 catalogue has yet to be identified in a public collection. Other nursery collections also contain sales catalogues of their own.

Significance

The sales catalogue is of historic, artistic and scientific (research and horticultural) significance. It was produced and distributed by Carl Axel Nobelius of Nobelius Nursery, contributing to understandings of how Nobelius’ client networks were expanded and maintained by promotional activities. The catalogue also demonstrates the integrity and reliability of Nobelius as a distributor who actively engaged with his clients, evidenced by an open letter within the catalogue, which states “…if I make a mistake I will replace the planting”. The catalogue therefore contributes to understandings of how the Nursery gained its success.

Physical description

The light green catalogue cover features the same image on its front and back, comprising a botanical illustration of a blossoming fruit tree branch. The title and descriptive detail comprises the following text running along the top: ‘CATALOGUE OF FRUIT TREES 1913’, with further smaller, detailed text in the middle, followed by ‘C A NOBELIUS’ printed along the bottom. All text on the cover is in a red/pink font. The catalogue contains 68 pages of black and white text, as well as colour and black & white image plates. The catalogue opens with a tear-away order form and return envelope, a ‘General Remarks’ section written as an ‘open letter’ to clients by Nobelius, and then in its remaining pages, listings of the different varieties of stock available for sale over that calendar year.)