Union National Bank and safety deposit vaults, Salt Lake City before 1885

This is a page from a city directory, printed sometime in the late 19th century. The book would have been made with movable type, a laborious process of setting individual letters, and then printed on paper. Consider the range of hands involved. Writers, editors, typesetters, printers, and binders. All these people would have worked to produce this book, which is in itself an index of commerce and industry. This page advertises the Union National Bank, whose product is security, sold with an image of a formidable vault. Note that they also 'transact a general banking business,' so the vaults are as much for show as they are for safekeeping. In the bottom left corner, another ad appears, for 'Little, Roundy & Co.' who offer a 'very nice Line of Presents for Weddings, Birthdays, etc.' In the late 19th century, gifts were often carefully handmade. The juxtaposition of these two ads is telling. While one offers financial security, the other speaks to the power of sentimental exchange. It makes you wonder, what the printers really valued.