Prospectus &c. for "Penton's List" second-hand tool exchange

6 items, including original mailing envelope addressed to Springfield Cupola Co. in Springfield, Ohio. Sent in advance of the first issue, the mailer includes general prospectus information, a blank form for submitting "Wants" and subscription slip. Postmarked January 26, 1900, it was cutting close to their expected February debut. The dedicated classified publication reflected the proliferation of new enterprises and manufacturing operations at the turn of the century, and the ingenuity of John A. Penton.

"Realizing that in this country there are thousands of manufacturing establishments who are constantly in need of a secondhand machine or appliance of some kind, and that there are, again, thousands who have something of that character to dispose of, without any medium existing for the sole purpose of bringing both buyer and seller together, we have decided to commence, about February 1st, to issue a publication devoted to that purpose."

Penton immigrated from Canada to Detroit as an ironworker, eventually becoming president of the Machinery Molders' Union and editor of their journal, Foundry, in 1892. He moved from Detroit to Cleveland in 1901 and established Penton Publishing in 1904, bringing together three local trade magazines: Iron Trade Review, Foundry, and Marine Review. The company grew to become one of the largest trade magazine publishers during the 1920s and survived, in various forms, into the 2010s. 

NYPL records copies of Penton's List from 1907-1913 and notes it was consolidated into the Iron Trade Review in 1914. NYPL has the only holdings under the title. Back issues of "Penton's List" are listed in the 1909 Library of Congress "Want List of Periodicals." 

(Ref. "Penton Media," Case Western University Encyclopedia of Cleveland History online)