Shadows [picture album] 1889 W. Duke Sons & Company ~Cigarette Card Tobacco Advertising Images ~Lithographs ~Durham, North Carolina

Title: Shadows [picture album]
 
Author: [W. Duke Sons & Co.]

Description: Illustrated stiff card covers with blue cloth on spine. Covers show creases; front cracked, but intact; corner chip on rear cover. Gift inscription dated 1889 on a blank verso. Last leaf is worn along fore edge. Fourteen illustrations on rectos only, lithographed by Geo. S. Harris & Sons, Philadelphia. 14 ff. Oblong, 7 x 10.5 inches. Placed in an archival mylar sleeve.  

Promotional picture album published in 1889 by the Durham, North Carolina, tobacco company, W. Duke, Sons & Company. Each illustration features a handful of vignettes (of which a number are politically incorrect) which usually depict persons casting shadows that look like animals, or occasionally presenting some ironic juxtaposition. Many of these illustrations were featured on their cigarette cards.  

The rear cover states ''Compliments of W. Duke Sons & Co.'' and advertises ''The Six Great Brands of Cigarettes - Duke's Cameo, Turkish Cross-Cut, Duke, Cross-Cut, Duke's Preferred Stock, Duke's Best.''  

The company was founded by Washington Duke (1820-1905), a veteran of the Confederate navy who began manufacturing tobacco products on his homestead after the war, set up a factory in Durham in 1874, and began producing cigarettes in 1879. For his philanthropy, Duke University was named in his honor.

Binding: Soft Cover
Condition: Very Good

Publisher: W. Duke Sons & Co.
Place: [Durham, North Carolina]
Year: 1889

Keywords: antique, cigarettes, cigarette, advertising, tobacco, Durham, North Carolina, W. Duke Sons, cigarette cards,