Category talk:Instructions for using electric lights

Dating

These are apparently from the 1870s and 1880s,[1] though I'm sure some are more recent. Apparently some (very different-looking ones) are from the 1920s and 1930s, according to... a font analysis on Reddit.[2] There's some more: a nice clean image, scanned from a book, low-res, an oval one. Some are enamel. Not sure if these count as functional articles exempt from copyright, but from Commons:Licensing, the copyright has expired anyway for anything published in the US before 1926. If we can clearly date any of these to before that date, do upload them or leave a note pinging me here. HLHJ (talk) 02:35, 5 September 2021 (UTC)

@HLHJ: I only see two files in this cat ATM. In File:"This Room is Equipped With Edison Electric Light" (11594766965).jpg, the two lines beginning with “Do not attempt …” are in the rather distinctive typeface Hobo, so it must be later than 1910. The display text on the other signs (identical in several cases) looks to me generally consistent with the late-Victorian Arts & Crafts style. I don’t know about the underlined-script Edison logotype in those, but it might be separately datable. Regarding their being functional objects, I would say definitely not. OTOH the texts are probably too short and non-creative to be copyrightable, and the designs, even including the decorative borders &c., may also be below the American TOO.—Odysseus1479 (talk) 03:32, 5 September 2021 (UTC)

@HLHJ and Odysseus1479: File:"This Room is Equipped With Edison Electric Light" (11594766965).jpg was printed in Canada.   — Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me} 01:18, 6 September 2021 (UTC)

@Jeff G.: yes; although it’s not evident whether it’s a reproduction per se or a re-creation, the underlying design presumably originated in the USA. The sign itself can be no older than 1971, probably the ’80s or ’90s. FWIW the museum appears to focus on the ’20s, so I expect their original to have come from that period.—Odysseus1479 (talk) 02:16, 6 September 2021 (UTC)

@Odysseus1479 and Jeff G.: Thank you both, that's helpful. It seems the museum has a print shop with a restored printing press, so I'd suspect a loose re-creation using period methods, including that very distinctive typeface, which seems from what you say to be the sort of thing a museum focussed on the 1920's might acquire. If they allow photography in the museum, I think there's unlikely to be legal objections to Commons hosting that image. Maybe I should ask at the reference desk about the older fonts (which do all look the same, down to the kerning). I'll go with the preliminary guess that the Art&Crafts-looking ones are probably OOC and can be uploaded, but I'll try to confirm it. HLHJ (talk) 00:23, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

@HLHJ: that was my guess too; quite a few newspapers’ and commercial printers’ cold-type equipment ended up in museums (or as recycled metal). It’s less common for them to be used, though! FWIW I believe the Edison name on the museum sign is Century Oldstyle, 1909–15; the sans-serif type for “The use of …” strikes me as a post-WWI style with Geometric or London Underground influences.—Odysseus1479 (talk) 02:16, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

@Odysseus1479: , I've seen some fairly ancient presses in current use in artist's studios, and even in an actual working printshop, which kept a few relics running for non-commercial reasons. Given a competent parts machinist, you can keep them going indefinitely, which is more than can be said for many modern presses. I've posted at w:en:wikipedia:reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2021 September 12#Fonts on sign for date, and tagged the image by font. Thank you for the information. HLHJ (talk) 21:42, 12 September 2021 (UTC)

@Odysseus1479 and Jeff G.: The Refdesk found one dated by a museum as a 1892 original (uploaded), and the most of the others are far too similar to create a new copyright. So all is well! HLHJ (talk) 02:42, 15 September 2021 (UTC)