{"id":1396,"date":"2025-10-24T16:23:27","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T16:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/?page_id=1396"},"modified":"2026-05-29T07:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:48:18","slug":"on-line-exhibition-chapter-9","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/on-line-exhibition-chapter-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Label Design : marketing and selling matches"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Matchbox label, 1880s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Period covered : 1861 to 1914<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Great Exhibition<\/strong><\/a> of 1851 acted as a catalyst to the match industry, promoting the still-new products to the general public, and the demand for matches increased dramatically from that point onwards, not just in the UK but globally too. Competition between match manufacturers increased, each trying to make their products more attractive to the consumer than their competitors.<\/p>\n

Matches needed a container (the match box) which then needed a strong identity (the matchbox label) to persuade people to buy it, both of which gave opportunities for innovative designs.<\/p>\n

Packaging \u2013 the boxes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

John Walker sold his matches loose, first in tins and later in the cheaper cardboard boxes, though as far as we know he didn\u2019t label his products.<\/p>\n

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19th century matchsticks, Phil Stringer collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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It was impractical for the new manufacturers to sell their matches loose, they needed a robust container, a match box or maybe a fashionable Vesta Case.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Both choices opened up the opportunities for the manufacturers to personalise their products, to brand them, to create attractive packaging that demonstrated the matches uniqueness, their brilliance, their reliability, their safety, their honesty and all the other good qualities that marketing people attribute to inanimate objects to persuade people to buy their products.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Two sports-themed 19th century all-round-the-box labels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The opportunity to design labels for matchboxes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It was really with the emergence of the Safety Match in the 1850s, sold in (usually wood) boxes with a sliding tray, that the match labelling process could become industrialised too.<\/p>\n

And so began the quest to create attractive, distinctive, compelling designs which could be used on the matchboxes and in advertising campaigns. Designs which would tell the public that these matches could change people\u2019s everyday lives for the better and were indispensable.<\/p>\n

Of course, there was a fashion dimension to all this design \u2013 our seemingly unquenchable need to be seen with the latest, newest, sexiest products.<\/p>\n

But there is no getting away from the fundamental truth that the easy availability of reliable and affordable matches to Victorian society changed people\u2019s lives forever.<\/p>\n

Labels were carefully designed, printed and then stuck onto the boxes, sometimes just on the top of the box but often in the all-round-the-box style favoured by Bryant & May amongst others.<\/p>\n

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Royalty labels, Roger Fennings collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Endless choices for marketing images<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Some manufacturers simply put their name on the label, while others created brands with interesting designs and promoted these. Many showed the Medals awarded to the manufacturers at Exhibitions and World Fairs.<\/p>\n

Royalty, contemporary figures and events were often harnessed to sell matches \u2013 Captain Webb\u2019s swimming the channel in 1875 can been seen on many boxes of the time, similarly General Gordon\u2019s failed campaign at Khartoum in 1885 was used.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n

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Maharajah labels, Joan Rendell collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The number of label designs is almost infinite, but some labels are perhaps more beautiful than others. One particularly attractive series is the glazed set of \u201cMaharajahs\u201d from Austria.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These design trends can be seen across many of the European countries, and especially in France, Italy and Spain the graphic design skills employed on the labels were among the most advanced in the world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Interestingly, the match manufacturers in Spain produced a large number of political labels, often parodying the politicians of the time, and allowing the general public to receive news quickly that was perhaps portrayed in a different manner in the newspapers \u2013 early examples of propaganda.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_1_placeholder\n

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Swan Vestas shop sign, \u00a9 Bryant & May<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Targeted marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Although the corner shops in Victorian Britain were very different to what we know today, the match companies encouraged them to stock their own products, and we can still find enamel advertising signs and many newspaper adverts which depict popular brands of matches.<\/p>\n

One particular community that the match makers targeted was smokers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Alan High collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It seemed that everyone in Victorian society smoked, and they clearly needed an easy way to light their cigars and pipes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brands like \u201cCigar Lights\u201d, \u201cCigarettes Matches\u201d and \u201cSwan, the Smoker\u2019s match\u201d became very common and successful \u2013 another tribute to the power of good design.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Motor Matches advert 1904, \u00a9 Bryant & May<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another community was motorists<\/strong>, Bryant & May developed a special Motor Match for them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Phil Stringer collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Innovation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There was a wide variation in the sizes of matchboxes in the mid 19th<\/sup> century, but gradually the box sizes became more standardised, especially as mechanisation increased. Which, in turn, brought more standardisation to label sizes, encouraging the manufacturers to be more innovative in their designs. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Pillbox and Ocean Lights box and matches, Phil Stringer collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some companies experimented with unusual designs of the matchboxes and the matches themselves, like this pillbox and the double-headed Ocean Lights from Moreland’s.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Novelties<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Many more innovative match and matchbox designs emerged, click on the button to learn more about some of these.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>
Two inner pages of “Fun among the Matches” from Bryant & May<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Front page of “Fun among the Matches” from Bryant & May<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Match puzzles<\/h2>\n

For childrens\u2019 amusement some match companies devised tricks and games to play with matches, in the form of puzzles.<\/p>\n

These became very popular with families (and of course, helped to sell more matches).<\/p>\n

Bryant & May issued a number of these puzzle books in the early 20th century.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Canadian bookmatch with tax stamp, Fern\u00e1n Pacheco collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taxing a booming industry<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Governments across the world recognised the significant economic impact of the match industry, and many chose to impose a Tax on matches in the late 19th<\/sup> century, to boost the funds in their Exchequers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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French matchbox with tax stamp, Fern\u00e1n Pacheco collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Cuban matchbox with tax stamp, Fern\u00e1n Pacheco collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Match Tax Stamps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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A few countries, like France and Spain, later nationalised the industry. However, after the debacle of the 1871 failed attempt to tax the UK match industry, it would take until 1916 for the UK Government to try again.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/strong><\/a> to return to the Exhibition Catalogue.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Period covered : 1861 to 1914 The Great Exhibition of 1851 acted as a catalyst to the match industry, promoting the still-new products to the general public, and the demand for matches increased dramatically from that point onwards, not just in the UK but globally too. Competition between match manufacturers increased, each trying to make their […] Read more<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1396","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1396"}],"version-history":[{"count":120,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7700,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1396\/revisions\/7700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}