How to Obtain a Patent

This half-tone engraving advertises Copp & Co., a Washington, D.C. patent law firm. Six portrait medallions frame an image of the U.S. Patent Office building, likely depicting the firm's principals or notable clients. The composition exemplifies late-nineteenth-century commercial printing techniques, combining classical architectural imagery with photographic portraiture. Such professional advertisements, distributed in newspapers and trade publications, helped establish the visual conventions that would define early commercial illustration and advertising design in America.