William H. Rease, born in Pennsylvania circa 1818, was the most prolific lithographer of advertising prints in Philadelphia during the 1840s and 1850s. This advertisement shows a funeral procession led by an empty hearse passing by the residential business front of undertaker P.R. Schuyler on the northeast corner of Beaver and Fourth Streets. A sign with the name of the proprietor and illustrated with a coffin stands in the arbor adjacent to the building. Trees line the sidewalk on which a lady holding a parasol strolls by. She precedes the first (and fully visible) horse-drawn carriage in the procession on the cobblestone street. The hearse driver wears mourning attire including a top hat with ribbon. Rease became active in his trade around 1844, and through the 1850s he mainly worked with printers Frederick Kuhl and Wagner & McGuigan in the production of advertising prints known for their portrayals of human details. Although Rease often collaborated with other lithographers, by 1850 he promoted in O'Brien's Business Directory his own establishment at 17 South Fifth Street, above Chestnut Street. In 1855 he relocated his establishment to the northeast corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets (after a circa 1853−55 partnership with Francis Schell), where in addition to advertising prints he produced certificates, views, maps, and maritime prints.