About 1895
M. Louise Stowell, a painter, illustrator, craftsperson, and teacher in Rochester, NY, produced a poster for second-hand or antiquarian bookseller George P. Humphrey in his stop "At the 'Sign of the Old Book Man." The original poster measued 23 3/4 x 15 3/8 inches (60.3 x 39.1 cm). In 1897 it was reproduced in reduced format as
Les Maitres de l'Affiche Plate 76.
The poster is distinctive in many ways, including how the bookseller's right hand obscures his face, how we see the feet of a customer entering the shop which appears to be below street level, for the unusual choice of colors, which may or may not have corresponded to the decore of Humphrey's shop, and for the unusual monogram in the lower right corner of the image by which Stowell signed her work.
