JOHNSTON PAINT COMPANY, R.F.  JOHNSTON'S DULL KOTE PAINT

 

(TRADE CATALOGUE)  JOHNSTON PAINT COMPANY, R.F.  JOHNSTON'S DULL KOTE PAINT.                                                

Cincinnati: 1912. Folio. Decorated wrappers. 32 pages, with past-down pictures.

First edition of this exceedingly rare catalogue providing an invaluable guide for the Arts & Crafts color schemes of Dull Kote Johnston paints for kitchens, bathrooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, banks, public rooms in pool houses and private clubs, schools, colleges, and office buildings.  The original color chips of this interior line of durable paints have remained true.  The R.F. Johnston Paint Company was founded in 1883, and after surviving the devastating flood of March, 1913, continued to operate under its own managament until 1931 when it was purchased by Foy Paint Company, which still survives under the name of Cintech Industries.  There are no copies of this catalogue listed on OCLC, and it appears that the 1913 flood could be the culprit since the entire ground floor of the building was flooded in March of 1913 wiping out records, sales brochures, and more.  The Arts & Crafts elements adopted from the work of Dard Hunter at the Roycrafters is quite striking.  With elaborate Roycroft-inspired decorative painting motifs, including eleborate red and black woodcut head-pieces, decorative rubicated initials, numerous stencil ornamental samples printed in red in the text, and many text illustrations.  With eight tipped-in color plates (with some offsetting on facing pages from glue marks), with 24 actual paint samples tipped-in to large double-page spread (page 13-14 lacking).  Original color illustrated soft wrappers, yapp edges, ribon sewn as issued at spine (chipping and edgewear to fore-edges), still a remarkable good example.

 

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