A History of Dental Trade catalogs

Trade catalogs Defined

A sales or trade catalog is a print product, mostly in book form, hardcover or paperback, or - more rarely - stitched or manufactured as a collection of loose sheets. In it, the range of items on offer by a merchant or manufacturer is presented more or less comprehensively. The catalog proposes to make the product range accessible and transparent to the seller’s clientele, to explain it, possibly illustrate it with pictures, and motivate customers to buy. Customarily, sellers have used trade catalogs for two basic and distinct purposes. In the first case, the trade catalog stays in the seller’s hands, whether he is the product’s manufacturer, a merchant, middleman or a workman. The customer wishes to consult with the seller before making a decision to buy, whereupon the seller refers to the catalog for presenting his range of products. These catalogs require only a limited print run, as they are intended for a calculable circle of users. In the other case, the catalog serves primarily as an advertising medium intended to appeal to existing or potential buyers residing far from the seller’s place of business. This variety of catalog is distributed in great numbers over large areas. Today, these catalogs are a part of everyone’s daily experience. They flutter unsolicited into our houses in vast numbers, and frequently are put aside or thrown out after a very quick perusal. Their presentation conforms to the findings of modern sales psychology, as they are intended to entice rather than inform. Many mail-order catalogs familiar to us today have a very brief shelf life, as both the product range and the corresponding prices are subject to rapid change. Regardless of the life cycle of such a catalog series, or the extent to which its products are specialized: as a rule, the catalog itself always gives a more or less comprehensive overview of the entire range of a given group of products. This applies whether the catalog is intended to sell computer equipment, office supplies, promotional gifts, or the dental trade items discussed herein. Catalogs eliminate the drive to a specialty store, the occasional laborious hunt through endless store shelves for just the right product, and finally, the time-consuming conversations with sales personnel of questionable expertise. The decision to buy may be reached at home at any hour; any unanswered questions can usually be resolved on the phone; and a comparison with catalogs of rival businesses provides clear insights into pricing. At the same time, one does not have to expose oneself to the occasionally unpleasant situation of finally leaving a helpful and very enthusiastic seller without making a purchase. When using sales catalogs, everything takes place more or less anonymously, and personal relations between buyer and seller become the exception rather than the rule. Many present-day dentists buy their materials thus anonymously and in bulk from one of the large mail-order houses for dental supplies. For others, catalogs are merely a means of comparing different products in peace, from whence they proceed to actually purchase the items through their local dental equipment retailer.

The classic dental trade catalog was no mass product like today’s old stand-by, the German Quelle-Katalog, or its US equivalent, the Sears catalog – it was much too precious a print product for that. Such a catalog, meaning the kind that came into circulation in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, was initially handed out to a traveling salesman. In the course of routine visitation, the salesman would then show it to his clients in the dental trade – whether they planned to merely buy a new pair of extraction forceps, or to set up an entire new office. Of course, catalogs were also given out to interested customers for continual reference, as well as sent out by mail upon demand. In perusing successive new editions of the large catalog series published by C. Ash & Sons, S.S. White or Geo Poulson, it becomes evident that the catalogs had a life cycle of several years.

At this point, it is worth noting that quite a few of the titles included in the present volume do not meet the criteria of a catalog in the strict sense of the word (comprehensive product range, hardcover or paperback) but actually fall under the category of „brochures." Nevertheless, the transitions are seamless, and even a publication of just a few printed pages may be of importance in a bibliographical sense. That is why company publications of this kind have been included in the list of titles. Nor were all listed titles intended exclusively for dentists. Some catalogs addressed themselves to the hairdressing or barber trade (whose members occasionally dabbled in dental treatments), while others contain primarily surgical instruments, with dental items included on the side.

The Mail-Order Trade and First Sales Catalogs

The mail-order trade with its associated product catalogs, such a familiar part of our everyday life today, is by no means an achievement of the modern age. The Industrial Revolution, and the standardized mass products that pervaded daily life in its wake, required channels of distribution that in some regions exceeded the capacities of both local businesses and traveling salespersons. The manufacture and spread of industrially produced medical, dental and dental-mechanical mass items began around the middle of the nineteenth century. Hitherto, individual instrument makers had produced such items by hand. But rapidly increasing numbers of treatment providers, and great improvements in treatment techniques soon necessitated more efficient methods of production and distribution. First manufactories and retailers of dental and dental-mechanical equipment were established during this period. Dental practitioners were spread very thinly at the time, making it impossible to periodically send sales representatives to each and every practice. At the same time, the as yet undeveloped traffic infrastructure prohibited dental practitioners from regularly visiting one of the existing dental trade stores. For illustrative purposes: in 1850, the total number of qualified dentists practicing in the entire region later known as the German Reich (i.e. not including Austria) was only around 250. In addition, there were a number of unqualified practitioners (e.g. "dental artists","dental operators" etc.), who often practiced their profession "on the road" and whose exact numbers are unknown. Under these circumstances, the trade catalog proved the ideal medium for maintaining contact not only between the manufacturer and the retailer on the one hand, as well as between the end use and the retailer on the other. Rapid scientific and technological advances led to a quick increase in the number of dental practitioners, giving rise not only to an increase in manufacturers and specialty stores for dental instruments, but also in the number and scope of published catalogs. This can shown very briefly using Germany as an example: After 1850, the number of approved dentists in the German Reich had swelled to 2,667 within 60 years, while the ranks of dental technicians had grown to 7,214. by 1926, there were 7,678 dentists (13173 dental technicians) and by 1933 10,885 dentists (approx. 18,000 dental technicians). With all due caution, it can be alleged that conditions were similar throughout the remainder of Western Europe, and probably not much different from those on the North American continent.

© Copyright PelicanPublishing 1999

The printed introduction comprises 13 pages and contains numerous footnotes