March 10, 2014
Trade Cards In his autobiography,
Always the Young Strangers, Carl Sandburg
wrote a twelve-page chapter entitled
“Cigarette Biographies.” The biographies were
small, 2 3/4 inches by 1 ½ inches with a shiny
cover and small print. Some told the history
of Civil War generals. Others described the
lives of famous actors and well-known tycoons.
They were included in each package of Duke’s
cigarettes. Duke’s cigarettes were
expensive at a dime a pack (equal to $2.52 in
today’s money). Sandburg and his young friends
purchased Virginia Cheroots for a penny a
piece. They learned at school that tobacco
contained nicotine and it was a poison. They
called cheroots coffin nails and smoked them
anyway. Sandburg wanted to collect
as many of the biographies as he could. He
found several men who bought Duke’s
cigarettes. He asked them to give him the
pamphlets from the package. Eventually, he had
collected eight of them which he could carry
in his vest pocket. The custom of giving a
free item with a purchase was not new.
Merchants have always wanted to remind
customers of their business location and the
type of merchandise for sale. Yardsticks and
cardboard fans come to mind as reminders of
prominent businesses of the past in many
communities. A small printed card fit in a
pocket and was easy for the customer to keep. Trade cards came into use
in the eighteenth century. With the invention
of lithography in the 1870s, trade cards
became a widely used form of advertising.
Printers used a variety of colors and
intricate illustrations to promote the use of
trade cards. Stock card designs were available
on which the merchant could have his business
name and address printed. Salesmen carried
notebooks of trade card designs from which the
businessman could select the style of trade
card he wished to use. There were so many
given out by businesses that individuals began
collecting them and pasting them in albums. The most heavily
advertised products were patent medicines,
food, tobacco, household items, stoves,
clothing and farm equipment. At the turn of the
twentieth century, cards portraying baseball
players and their biographies became quite
popular. In recent years, some of the rare
cards have sold for millions of dollars. Visiting cards were also
popular in the 1890s. Individuals left their
card at the home of a friend or acquaintance
to indicate a call had been made. A silver
tray on a table near the front door contained
the cards which had been left, especially on
New Year’s Day. Today businessmen hand out
cards to extend their network of contacts. The
cards include the name, address, telephone
number and e-mail address. They may or may not
have an illustration. The business person may
have printed his or her cards with a computer. As many other forms of
advertising came into being, the trade cards
faded into collections in museums. |
http://www.sandburg.org |