[Poster for The Chap-Book, May 1894]. Two stylized women with bouquets. Two-color lithograph: red and dark green. Chicago: Stone & Kimball, published May 1894. Signed lower left: WILL H | BRADLEY ’94. 14" w. x 20 1/2" h.

Bradley’s first poster for Stone and Kimball’s publication The Chap-Book, was also known as ‘The Twins.’ His women were distinctly styled after Aubrey Beardsley’s Yellow Book work, his style new and different—and criticized by the press, “the very funniest thing out is the ‘Chap-Book’ poster. No mortal man can possibly tell without deliberately investigating, what it means or what it represents. Ten feet away one would be willing to make an oath that it was a verry, very red turkey gobbler very poorly represented. On closer inspection it seems to have been intended for two human beings, one at least being in a red gown very short at both ends. The remaining characteristics are very lightly outlined, hence the turkey gobbler aspect when seen a few feet away.” (American Printer, Dec 1894)

Ref: Union, 8; Bolton, pg 4; MCMA, 23; Whitehead, pg 8; Echo, 152; Bradley, 20; PAFA, 20; Bella 2, 18; Reims, 1139; La Forgue, pg 171; Sponsel, pg 198; DFP, 157; Wong, 1; Keay, pg 41; Margolin, pg 97; Lauder, 13; Bambace, pg 157.

[Poster for The Chap-Book, May 1894]. Color variation. Two-color lithograph: red and dark green on yellow paper. Chicago: Stone & Kimball, published 1894. Signed lower left: WILL H | BRADLEY ’94. 14" w. x 20 1/2" h.

Color vairiation in red and dark green on yellow paper.

Ref: DFP, 152; Hornung, pl 1.

[Poster for The Chap-Book, Month 1894]. ‘The Blue Lady’ stands in a wood, holding a pair of skates. Two-color lithograph: red and blue. Chicago: Stone & Kimball, published Month 1894. Signed bottom right: BRADLEY. 14" w. x 20" h.

Bradley’s second Chap-Book poster, also known as “The Blue Lady.”

Ref: Union, 9; Bolton, pg 4; MCMA, 24; Whitehead, pg 8; Echo, 153; Bradley, 21; PAFA, 21; Richmond, 18; Reims, 1136; Sponsel, pg 197, DFP, 157; Wong, 3; Hornung, 9; Keay, pg 41; Margolin, pg 105; Lauder, 14; Bambace, pg 157.

[Poster for the book by Thomas Winthrop Hall]. Nymph and satyr among grapevines. Two color lithography: vermilion and green. Chicago: Stone & Kimball, published May/Jun 1894. Signed lower left: WILL | H | BRADLEY. 14 1/8" w. x 17 3/16" h.

The first Bradley poster for a Stone & Kimball book. Hillier incorrectly stated that this poster was produced by 1890, an error that would later show up in DFP and Keay, but Tom Hall’s book of verse was not published until Mar 1894. Bambace dated the poster as ‘midsummer [1894] to advertise the second edition,’ and Hornung dated it as Dec 1894.

Color variation with green foliage.

Ref: Union, 11; Bolton, pg 4; Quincy, 12; MCMA, 22; Whitehead, pg 8; Echo, 151; Bradley, 27; PAFA, 27; Reims, 1150; DFP, 150; Wong, 22; Hornung, pl 2; Keay, pg 43; Margolin, pg 138; Lauder, 14; Bambace, pg 157.

Thomas Winthrop Hall. When hearts are trumps. Chicago: Stone & Kimball, published 15 Mar 1894.

[Poster for the book by Thomas Winthrop Hall]. Color variation. Two color lithography: vermilion and light grey-blue. Chicago: Stone & Kimball, published c.1894. Signed lower left: WILL | H | BRADLEY. 14 1/8" w. x 17 3/16" h.

Color variation with light grey-blue foliage.

Ref:

[o.p.f. Stone & Kimball, 1894, B 1]. Two-color lithographic reproduction: red and green. Paris: Imprimerie Chaix, 1897. Signed in image, lower left: WILL | H | BRADLEY. Image: ?" w. x ?" h. Sheet: 11 1/4" w. x 15 1/2" h.

‘The Masters of the Poster’ series was originally issued in monthly installments by Imprimerie Chaix, the lithographic studio of Jules Cheret, from 1895-1900. Small reprodu ctions of popular posters were offered in a more manageble — and affordable — standardized format for collectors. Subscribers received four prints a month, for a subscription price of $3.00 a year.

Les maitres de l’affiche, issue 13, plate 52 (Paris: Imprimerie Chaix, Dec 1896).

Ref: Maitres, 52.

[o.p.f. Stone & Kimball, 1894, B 1]. Two-color lithographic and letterpress reproduction: vermilion and green. Paris: G. Boudét, 1897. Signed in image, lower left: WILL | H | BRADLEY.Image: 6" w. x 9" h. Sheet: 8 1/2" w. x 13" h.

Ref: Maurice Bauwens, Tadamasa Hayashi, Jules La Forgue, Julius Meier-Graefe and Joseph Pennell, Les affiches étrangères illustrées, G. Boudét, editor, (Paris: G. Boudét, 1897).

[Theatre poster for The Masqueraders, Sep 1894]. Three masked pierrots, a pan-playing satyr and a woman in white. New York: Charles and Daiel Frohman, published abt Sep 1894. Signed. 28' w. x 10' h.

“Will Davis, manager of the Columbia Theatre...introduces you to Dan Frohman who commissions you to design a twenty-eight sheet stand for his brother Charles, who is about to open the new Empire Theatre in New York. So you design a poster for The Masqueraders, by Henry Arthur Jones. This is probably the first signed theatrical poster produced by any American lithographer. Then Dan suggests that you visit New York. You do, and meet Charles. Dan takes you to the Players for lunch. There you see show-bills set in Caslon. They influence all of your future work in typography.” (Will Bradley: notes toward an autobiography, 1955)

Ref: Bambace, pg 157.

[Poster for the Chicago Tribune, Dec 1894]. Woman in swirling floral garden, with hour-glass in background. Lithograph. Chicago: Tribune News, published Dec 1894. Signed bottom left: BRADLEY. 17" w. x 23" h.

Artwork used on the cover of the Chicago Tribune’s Sunday Art Supplement, as well as for the poster.

Ref: Bambace, pg 157.

[Poster for The Chap-Book, Jan 1895]. Poet reading to woman in forest. One-color lithograph on cream-colored paper: black. Chicago: Stone & Kimball, published Jan 1895. Signed lower right: WILL H BRADLEY — 1895. 14" w. x 20 3/4" h.

The third Chap-Book poster, also known as ‘The Poet and his Lady.’

Ref: Union, 10; Bolton, pg 4; MCMA, 25; Whitehead, pg 8; Echo, 154; PAFA, 22; Richmond, 13; Reims, 1135; DFP, 155; Wong, 5; Lauder, 16; Bambace, pg 157.

[Poster for The Chap-Book, 1895]. ‘The Pipes.’ Forest nymph with pan pipes. Three-color lithograph: orange, green and black. Chicago: Stone & Kimball, published 1895. Signed upper right: WILL H | BRADLEY. 15" w. x 21 3/8" h.

Bradley’s fifth Chap-Book poster, also known as “The Pipes.”

Pegasus

[Poster for Victor Bicycles, 1896]. ‘In Purple and White.’ Woman in forground watches another on bicycle,with white flowers in background. Four-color lithograph: light purple, purple, red and black. Boston: Overman Wheel Co. [Boston: Forbes Co., printer], 1896. Signed upper right: BRADLEY. 40 3/4" w. x 27" h.

Ref: Richmond, 30; Reims, 1148; DFP, 165; Lauder, 27; Bambace, pg 164.