Brooks 1935 Advertisement — Specify and Insist, and Quality Cycle Saddles with Challenge and Kaydex

Two Brooks trade advertisements of 1935, clipped from the cycling trade press and mounted on one sheet by the IceniCAM Information Service, which catalogues them as JB/B/02 and dates them 13 July 1935 and 15 August 1935.

WHY THIS SHEET MATTERS. Post 1111 states that Challenge, Flexal, Legion and Royal received no coverage whatsoever in any available Brooks-brand collateral. Both of these advertisements are Brooks-brand collateral and both name the Challenge. The first says outright that CHALLENGE and KAYDEX saddles are also made by Brooks. The second gives the Challenge a model number, C 30, an illustration, a construction description and a place in a three-step price ladder beneath the B 18 Brooks and above the K 3 Kaydex. The claim therefore fails for Challenge on printed evidence, and it fails three times across thirty-five years when these are read beside the two earlier findings in this run: Challenge is a Brooks name on tool bags in the 1900 catalogue, and THE CHALLENGE is a printed stag trade-mark device on the Zapho pages of the 1901 catalogue.

ON THE DATING. Neither clipping carries a masthead or a printed date. The two dates are the IceniCAM cataloguer’s annotations, set in a script face at the left of each clipping, and they are recorded here as that host’s attribution rather than as something the artifact itself states. The surrounding column text on the first clipping mentions Olympic conditions and riders finishing a course inside a specified time, which is consistent with a cycling weekly, and the second clipping’s neighbouring text mentions Ralston of New Zealand and Australian Cycling.

A SMALL INCONSISTENCY, RECORDED AS PRINTED. In the second advertisement the label beside the third saddle reads K 3 KADEX while the body text and the saddle’s own cast badge both read KAYDEX. The label was read at high magnification and carries no letter Y. Nothing turns on it, but the archive records what is printed.

— Sheet 1 —

[One sheet carrying two newspaper clippings mounted one above the other, with the host’s catalogue block printed at the top right. The clippings are trimmed irregularly and reproduced with a drop shadow against white.]

[Host catalogue block, top right.]

Catalogue number JB/B/02
Price code A
Date 1 Jan 2009

IceniCAM Information Service

[First clipping, annotated 13 July 1935. A halftone of a sprung leather saddle sits above a banner running diagonally across the head of the advertisement.]

DON’T BE CONTENT WITH JUST A SADDLE

SPECIFY & INSIST on the WORLD’S BEST made by BROOKS

REGISTERED TRADE MARK

Time will Tell

and a Brooks Saddle will be just as good after Ten years’ use.

CHALLENGE & KAYDEX

Saddles are also made by Brooks for those who require a really good article at a competitive price.

MILLIONS IN USE THE WORLD OVER

[Second clipping, annotated 15 August 1935. Three saddles are stacked down the left in halftone, each labelled, with the descriptions ranged beside them.]

Quality Cycle Saddles

B 18 BROOKS

C 30 CHALLENGE

K 3 KADEX

B18.-This Saddle is the World’s Best, with solid Butt Hide Top, and no matter what price you pay, it is impossible to get one of better quality.

C30.-The CHALLENGE has a solid leather top, and costs less than the B18, but is excellent value for the money.

K3.-The KAYDEX is faithfully built to suit those who require a lower-priced saddle which will give wonderful service.

MANUFACTURED BY

BROOKS

REGISTERED TRADE MARK

MILLIONS IN USE THE WORLD OVER