Meat Is Beautiful: Art Of The Butcher’s Shop Window 1924 – 1970

“Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.”
― Robert Burns, Selkirk Grace (1794)

 

30th December 1924: A Smithfield butcher at work with many carcasses and joints hung up around him. (Photo by MacGregor/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

30th December 1924: A Smithfield butcher at work with many carcasses and joints hung up around him. (Photo by MacGregor/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Butchers at Smithfield meat market in London, circa 1935. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Butchers at Smithfield meat market in London, circa 1935. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

1938: Morley Richards gazing at meat on display in a butcher's shop window. (Photo by London Express/Getty Images)

1938: Morley Richards gazing at meat on display in a butcher’s shop window. (Photo by London Express/Getty Images)

T. Wall & Sons Ltd, a well-known butcher's shop at 113 Jermyn Street, London, 26th May 1970. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

T. Wall & Sons Ltd, a well-known butcher’s shop at 113 Jermyn Street, London, 26th May 1970. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

22nd May 1964: A display of meat in a butcher's shop in Charterhouse Street, Smithfield, London, during a crisis over beef prices. (Photo by Moore/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

22nd May 1964: A display of meat in a butcher’s shop in Charterhouse Street, Smithfield, London, during a crisis over beef prices. (Photo by Moore/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

 

“Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liverslices fried with crustcrumbs, fried hencods’ roes. Most of all he liked grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine.”  – James Joyce, Ulysses (1922)

 

1949: A group of dogs and two hungry looking men loitering outside a butcher's shop in Aldeburgh. (Photo by Kurt Hutton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

1949: A group of dogs and two hungry looking men loitering outside a butcher’s shop in Aldeburgh. (Photo by Kurt Hutton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

1950: Welsh butchers with their butchered meat. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

1950: Welsh butchers with their butchered meat. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

1937: The staff stand proudly by the window of a well stocked butcher's shop. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

1937: The staff stand proudly by the window of a well stocked butcher’s shop. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

 

“Meat isn’t murder, it’s delicious.” – John Lydon

 

Mr R C Green introduces a small pig to a customer outside his butcher's shop in Uxbridge Road, Hayes, Middlesex. Mr Green is assisting in a local road safety campaign and has filled his windows with relevant slogans. (Photo by Fred Morley/Getty Images)

Mr R C Green introduces a small pig to a customer outside his butcher’s shop in Uxbridge Road, Hayes, Middlesex. Mr Green is assisting in a local road safety campaign and has filled his windows with relevant slogans. (Photo by Fred Morley/Getty Images)

 

A butcher writes an advert on his shop window, 'Wanted a 'Scots; butcher able to cut 'Scotch' beef'. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)

A butcher writes an advert on his shop window, ‘Wanted a ‘Scots; butcher able to cut ‘Scotch’ beef’. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)

T. Wall & Sons Ltd, a well-known butcher's shop at 113 Jermyn Street, London, 26th May 1970. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

T. Wall & Sons Ltd, a well-known butcher’s shop at 113 Jermyn Street, London, 26th May 1970. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

23rd December 1931: Billy the goose, who made himself so much at home with the butcher's family that he was saved from the fate of Christmas, struts around below the corpses of his less fortunate brethren. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

23rd December 1931: Billy the goose, who made himself so much at home with the butcher’s family that he was saved from the fate of Christmas, struts around below the corpses of his less fortunate brethren. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

 

“The baloney weighed the raven down, and the shopkeeper almost caught him as he whisked out the delicatessen door.”  ― Peter S. Beagle, A Fine and Private Place (1960)

 

circa 1928: A butcher inspects a rack of hams. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)

circa 1928: A butcher inspects a rack of hams. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)

 

The first supplies of meat under municipal control go on sale in Paris. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The first supplies of meat under municipal control go on sale in Paris. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

German soldiers guard a butcher's shop in Hamburg, looted during the uprisings which broke out following Germany's defeat in World War I. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)

German soldiers guard a butcher’s shop in Hamburg, looted during the uprisings which broke out following Germany’s defeat in World War I. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)

circa 1935: A butcher's shop window. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

circa 1935: A butcher’s shop window. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

A man in a mobile butcher and grocery store circa 1940. (Photo by Keystone View/FPG/Getty Images)

A man in a mobile butcher and grocery store circa 1940. (Photo by Keystone View/FPG/Getty Images)

 

I started on a thigh and then I got me a breast
My mouth got so full I had to save the rest

– Eight Piece Box by Southern Culture On The Skids (1995)

 

September 5th 1939: A butcher painting a meat registration notice on the window of his shop: 'Register Here Now And Be Sure Of A Good Supply Of Meat'. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

September 5th 1939: A butcher painting a meat registration notice on the window of his shop: ‘Register Here Now And Be Sure Of A Good Supply Of Meat’. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

 

7th April 1951: A butcher's shop with unrationed meat. Thery are selling, English hare, Polish turkey, Swedish reindeer, French turkey, English chicken, Irish turkey and Polish chicken ! (Photo by Walter Bellamy/Express/Getty Images)

7th April 1951: A butcher’s shop with unrationed meat. Thery are selling, English hare, Polish turkey, Swedish reindeer, French turkey, English chicken, Irish turkey and Polish chicken ! (Photo by Walter Bellamy/Express/Getty Images)

1952: Butcher Kurt Pratsch-Kaufmann and an air stewardess making catering preparations for a flight to Munich. Passengers are treated to a hot dog and glass of beer to promote Munich's October Festival. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

1952: Butcher Kurt Pratsch-Kaufmann and an air stewardess making catering preparations for a flight to Munich. Passengers are treated to a hot dog and glass of beer to promote Munich’s October Festival. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

19th August 1953: A village butcher stands outside his shop in Shere, Surrey. Reflected in his shop window are typical Surrey houses. (Photo by T. Marshall/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

19th August 1953: A village butcher stands outside his shop in Shere, Surrey. Reflected in his shop window are typical Surrey houses. (Photo by T. Marshall/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

circa 1954: A woman customer watches the butcher slice-up a joint of meat. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

circa 1954: A woman customer watches the butcher slice-up a joint of meat. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

 

 

7th August 1954: Meat hanging in a butcher's shop in Smithfield market, London is clearly labelled with price and country of origin. (Photo by Monty Fresco Jnr/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

7th August 1954: Meat hanging in a butcher’s shop in Smithfield market, London is clearly labelled with price and country of origin. (Photo by Monty Fresco Jnr/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

 

Yea-ea-eah, it don’t make me no difference
Just as long as it’s good meat!
I ain’t got no preference
If it’s dog or rat, I eat

It don’t a-have to be U.S. Governmental grade
With stamp a-no Grade ‘A’ seal
As long as it lean, it full-a protein
I’m gonna damn sho’ get my fill –

Meat Man, Atlanta James (1970)

circa 1954: Carcasses hanging in a butcher's in Leadenhall Market, London. (Photo by Baron/Getty Images)

circa 1954: Carcasses hanging in a butcher’s in Leadenhall Market, London. (Photo by Baron/Getty Images)

9th January 1960: Butcher Charles Oswald Lee, a ?250,000 Pools winner, makes good his promise to give free meat to his customers at his butcher's shop in Birmingham. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

9th January 1960: Butcher Charles Oswald Lee, a ?250,000 Pools winner, makes good his promise to give free meat to his customers at his butcher’s shop in Birmingham. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

circa 1955: A butcher's shop in the Italian town of Melfi. (Photo by Charles Fenno Jacobs/Three Lions/Getty Images)

circa 1955: A butcher’s shop in the Italian town of Melfi. (Photo by Charles Fenno Jacobs/Three Lions/Getty Images)

circa 1975: The winner of the Dewhurst's Master Butcher of the Year, James Pegg, poses with a knife between his teeth and a selection of meat. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)

circa 1975: The winner of the Dewhurst’s Master Butcher of the Year, James Pegg, poses with a knife between his teeth and a selection of meat. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)

Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher helping out local butcher Mr Miller during canvassing for the General Election, April 7th 1979. (Photo by Ball/Keystone/Getty Images)

Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher helping out local butcher Mr Miller during canvassing for the General Election, April 7th 1979. (Photo by Ball/Keystone/Getty Images)

 

Check all your razors and your guns
We gonna be arrested when the wagon comes
I wanna pigfoot and a bottle of beer
Send me cause I don’t care
Blame me cause I don’t care
Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer –

Gimme A Pig Foot (AndA Bottle of Beer), Bessie James (1933)

19th August 1953: A village butcher stands outside his shop in Shere, Surrey. Reflected in his shop window are typical Surrey houses. (Photo by T. Marshall/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

19th August 1953: A village butcher stands outside his shop in Shere, Surrey. Reflected in his shop window are typical Surrey houses. (Photo by T. Marshall/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

circa 1954: A woman customer watches the butcher slice-up a joint of meat. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

circa 1954: A woman customer watches the butcher slice-up a joint of meat. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

22nd May 1964: A display of meat in a butcher's shop in Charterhouse Street, Smithfield, London, during a crisis over beef prices. (Photo by Moore/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

22nd May 1964: A display of meat in a butcher’s shop in Charterhouse Street, Smithfield, London, during a crisis over beef prices. (Photo by Moore/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

circa 1955: A butcher's shop in the Italian town of Melfi. (Photo by Charles Fenno Jacobs/Three Lions/Getty Images)

circa 1955: A butcher’s shop in the Italian town of Melfi. (Photo by Charles Fenno Jacobs/Three Lions/Getty Images)

Women line up outside a butcher shop to buy meat in North Cheam, Surrey, England, on April 17, 1942 during World War II. (AP Photo)

Women line up outside a butcher shop to buy meat in North Cheam, Surrey, England, on April 17, 1942 during World War II. (AP Photo)

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