“Jacob Haehnlen’s Steam Power Lithographic & Letterpress Printing Rooms,” in Edwin Freedley, Philadelphia and Its Manufactures: A Hand-Book Exhibiting the Development, Variety, and Statistics of the Manufacturing Industry of Philadelphia in 1867 (Philadelphia: Edward Young & Co., 1867).

 

According to American trade historian Edwin T. Freedley (1827-1904), by 1867 the printing rooms operated by Jacob Haehnlen (1824-1892) were “the most extensive in Philadelphia, and probably in the United States.” Multi-storied, utilizing steam power, and containing specialized production departments, Haehnlen’s establishment epitomized the evolution of the trade from printing shops to factories. Haehnlen not only lithographed show cards, trade cards, certificates, and labels, but also advertised himself as a letterpress printer with a separate department for “pamphlets, hand-bills, and other such works.”

 

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