Vick's Garden and Floral Guide, Rochester, NY, 1910

Seed catalogs progressed slowly from a simple listing of seeds through a gradual improvement in descriptions and the inclusion of engraved black and white illustrations to, beginning in the 1880's, the full-blown beauty of color lithography. Setting the standard in catalog illustration was Vick's Seed Company of Rochester, New York, whose founder, James Vick, was a printer, editor and publisher before establishing his company in 1860.