A Fit or No Sale" [Cover title for Crack-a-Jack Brand Tailoring Fabric Sample Book]

Chicago: Danforth Mills Company, 1914. Very good. 16¾" x 17¾". Faux leather over boards. 32 thick-card leaves with 312 product samples. Very good: moderate wear and staining to boards; most pages with small bits of surface loss; lacking five fabric samples.

This is a massive promotional for the Crack-a-Jack Brand Tailoring company. Per contemporary newspaper mentions, the company existed as early as 1907 with the latest mention in 1920. Crack-a-Jack apparently licensed distributors throughout the midwest who peppered newspapers with advertisements such as:

"Crack-a-Jack Brand Tailoring is a strictly custom made service with all the mind-consolation and body-comfort that go with clothes you get from a high priced tailor, but you don't have to pay the excessive tax."

This book is filled with over 300 product samples for the company's 1914-15 Fall/Winter line. In addition to suits, it provides information on overcoats, tuxedos, collars, cuffs, belts, hats and other suit-adjacent products. The text also lays out the firm's guarantee, pricing structure and a multi-page pitch as to the firm's superiority. Opposite most pages with fabric samples are large illustrations depicting dozens of individual suit styles. One of them markets the "Mannish Ladies' O'Coat."

OCLC locates no copies of this book, but does find one issued by the company in 1920.