1876 Barb Fence Glidden Barbed Wire Catalog: Washburn & Moen

This edition is an unabridged black-and-white facsimile of Barb Fence: Its Utility, Efficiency and Economy, published in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1876 by Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Co. and I. L. Ellwood & Co. of De Kalb, Illinois — the firms that controlled the Glidden barbed wire patents. It is the foundational promotional pamphlet of the American barbed wire industry, issued just three years after Joseph Glidden's 1873 patent.

Written for "the Farmer, the Gardener, and the Country Gentleman," the pamphlet recounts the early history of the invention through the patents of L. B. Smith of Kent, Ohio, and William D. Hunt of Scott, New York (1867), Michael Kelly of New York City (1868), and J. F. Glidden of DeKalb, Illinois (1873). It weighs the merits and defects of plain wire fence, presents the case for the Glidden Steel Barb Fence, and includes a period cost table comparing it against picket fence, stone wall, board fence, and Virginia rail — three lines of Glidden wire at 66 cents per rod against $8.25 for narrow slat picket. A separate section covers the Kennedy Barb of Charles Kennedy of Aurora, Illinois. Engraved plates depict the company's Grove Street and Quinsigamond works in Worcester and promotional scenes of barb fence protecting crops, gardens, and even a crowded ball ground. Every page is framed by the pamphlet's signature barbed-wire border, printed in red ink in portions of the original and reproduced here in black and white.

An essential reference for barbed wire collectors, historians of the American West, and enthusiasts of Victorian trade literature.

54 pages. 6" x 9". Black and white. Paperback.

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