Poultry Breeds Journal — F.B. Mills 1904 Seed Catalogue

In the spring of 1904, farmers across the northeastern United States opened their mailboxes to find a catalogue from F.B. Mills of Rose Hill, New York — not merely a commercial document, but a work of popular art that gave the Buff Orpington and the Barred Plymouth Rock the kind of vibrant, carefully observed portraits that natural history illustrators reserved for exotic birds in expensive scientific volumes.

The front cover reproduces F.B. Mills's chromolithographic portraits of twelve heritage chicken breeds — Buff Orpingtons, Barred Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Wyandottes, Light Brahmas, and Sebright Bantams — each rendered in profile with the distinctive features of the breed clearly delineated, from the F.B. Mills Seed Catalogue, Rose Hill, New York, 1904. The back cover presents the F.B. Mills Poultry Farm advertisement featuring White Leghorns, Blue Andalusians, Silver Spangled Hamburgs, and Black Minorcas alongside a bird's-eye view of the Mills farm facilities — the confidence and pride of the early 20th-century American poultry industry at its most vivid.

Product Details

• Format: 5.75 × 8 in (14.6 × 20.3 cm)
• Pages: 150 lined pages (75 sheets)
• Perforated pages — tear out cleanly without damaging the binding
• Paper weight: 90 gsm, suitable for fountain pens and pencils
• Hardcover with matte finish, casewrap sewn binding
• Weight: 400 g (14.1 oz)

Perfect For

• Chicken keepers, backyard poultry enthusiasts, and heritage breed admirers
• Homesteaders and small farm operators documenting flock records and farm notes
• Vintage seed catalogue and American agricultural ephemera collectors
• Students and researchers of American agricultural history
• Everyday writing, field notes, and daily planning
• Thoughtful gifts for anyone captivated by the beauty of the American farmyard

Read more: F.B. Mills and the Art of the American Seed Catalogue