Extremely Early Printing on Plastic

This trade card, measuring 95 x 55 mm, printed in gold on red translucent Parkesine, is one of the earliest surviving examples of printing on plastic--a substance that in the 21st century is about as widely printed upon as paper for packaging and all kind of products. 

The thin plastic card was produced for the Italian book, map and paper dealer, Giovanni Gallarini about 1865. In the 1850s British metallurgist Alexander Parkes developed the first thermoplastic, which he called Parkesine, by treating cellulose with nitric acid and a solvent to form a transparent and elastic material. Parkes patented Parkesine in 1856, and unveiled it at the 1862 Great Exhibition, where it won a bronze medal. Parkes attempted to develop Parkesine commercially, but failed due to the high cost and general production difficulties. The introduction of Parkesine is generally regarded as the birth of the plastics industry. However, the Parkesine company went out of business in 1868.

Gallarini appears to have been active on the Piazza di Monte Citorio in Rome for over thirty years and was also an active print publisher from the 1830's onwards. He issued a 450 page 15,000 book catalogue containing many great rarities in 1856: Catalogo delle Opere Antiche et Moderne...che sono vendibili nella Libreria di Giovanni Gallarin in Roma. Content molte Edizioni Rare, o Rarissime dei due Primi Secola della Stampa, e de' Seguenti.