Exceptional early woodtype printer’s block that features Century of Progress International Exposition , which was the name of the 1933 World’s Fair held in Chicago, IL. The exposition was held in Chicago to celebrate the cities centennial for the years 1833 through 1933. This rare and hard-to-find cut would have been used to print newspaper advertisements and / or World’s Fair posters and prints. The face has the text: A Century of Progress, 1833 – 1933, Marshall Field & Co., Chicago. It is a solid boxwood block with detail on the raised graphic. The block measures 2 5/8” x 2 5/8” and is “type-high” (.918 inch).

This was the second world's fair that Chicago had hosted and was visited by nearly 40 million people. As was the case with the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition , the Century of Progress Exposition was proposed in an atmosphere of economic, political, and social crisis, shaped this time by the economic recession that followed America's victory in World War I, the ensuing Red Scare, Chicago's 1919 Race Riots, and Chicago's notorious gangster violence. These threats to social order led Chicago's political and cultural authorities to organize the 1921 Pageant of Progress along the Municipal Pier. The festival's success in attracting over a million visitors during its two-week run inspired a diverse group of Chicago's business and civic authorities to propose another world's fair that would build confidence in the fundamental soundness of the American economy and political system. A decade later, the fair they initiated assumed national importance during the Great Depression, the nation's worst crisis since the Civil War.

The Century of Progress Exposition was held from May 27, 1933 until 1934. The base theme of this World’s Fair was technology and innovation. It's stunning architecture was built up on 427 acres along the shores of Lake Michigan. The fair buildings were constructed with beautiful art-deco designs and were multi-colored, as opposed to what was called the “White City” for the in 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The German airship Graf Zeppelin visited the fair on October 26, 1933. The American automobile manufacturers displayed their dream cars including the V-16 powered Cadillac Limousine. Visit the above link for the exposition and enjoy some of the other great events of the fair.