Maps on cigarette cards
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My Head Is A Map
Essays & Memoirs in honour of R.V TooleyThis volume of essays celebrates Ronald Vere Tooley’s 75th birthday. With over fifty years in the London antiquarian map-trade behind him, Tooley has long been a familiar figure in the sale-rooms and in the map departments of the major libraries in London.
Originally published in 1973 by Francis Edwards and Carta Press
By My Head Is A Map
Published on 1 November 1989
by Martin Murray
Collecting cigarette cards showing maps is growing in popularity. They tend to be colourful and al/ractive and only need a small storage space. Here, Martin Murray, who is Managing Director of Murray Cards International and an expert on the subject talks about the history of these cards.
Collecting cigarette cards showing maps is growing in popularity. They tend to be colourful and al/ractive and only need a small storage space. Here, Martin Murray, who is Managing Director of Murray Cards International and an expert on the subject talks about the history of these cards.
By Martin Murray
Collecting cigarette cards showing maps is growing in popularity. They tend to be colourful and al/ractive and only need a small storage space. Here, Martin Murray, who is Managing Director of Murray Cards International and an expert on the subject talks about the history of these cards.
PICTURE CARDS HAVE been used as a sales incentive with tobacco and other commodities for well over one hundred years. Most people think in terms of the smaller cards inserted into packets of cigarettes but many other products have used this method of advertising as well. They range from the more popular chocolate and tea to the exotic such as football pools, ballet shoes, and even condoms.
The appeal of picture cards (or, to use the more common term, cigarette cards) is that each one presents an attractive picture, often with a descriptive text on the back. Indeed, cigarette cards are alone among eolleetables in that they were originally issued in order to be saved. Subjects covered are endless but the visual appeal and the information given by maps led them to be prominent among card issues.
Cards originated in France around the middle of the last century and were basically a development from tradesmen's cards which were handed out by shops and services to remind customers of their address. It was soon common for shops to issue these cards with a picture printed on the back so that customers would be influenced to return the following week and collect the next picture. Among these early issues was one of maps showing the Departments of France, and another set of European countries.
It did not take long for enterprising manufacturers to spot the advantages of this new craze. They began to print their own series of cards which they gave to shops in order to be passed on to their customers. They followed this by issuing sets directly to their customers as a result of exchanging them for coupons which appeared on the packets. Foremost among these was the Liebig Meat Extract Company (later to become known in Britain as Oxo) who were responsible for some 2,000 different series, including a splendid set of six cards which, when joined together, showed the course of the River Rhine. Meanwhile in England manufacturers were copying the idea and there is a set of cards by Cadbury illustrating the 'Principal Rivers of the British Isles', which was set out as a 'Reward Card' to be issued via schools for good conduct or attendance.
The first cards to be inserted in cigarettes were issued in America and many novelty issues were devised to attract smokers to a particular brand. Duke issued a set of triple folders of State governors and arms and on the back of each was printed a map of the area. Duke's successors~ the American Tobacco Company, later issued a series of 'Maps of States' printed on satin, while another set included maps in the form of jigsaws.
The first cards featuring maps to be included with British cigarettes was a series of road maps produced by the Casket Tobacco Co around 1905. These are now rare, only two copies are known to exist. Subsequently a number of series was issued, such as 'A Sectional Cycling Map' by Ogden and 'Find Your Way', 'A Road Map of Scotland' and a 'Sectional Map of Ireland' by other branches of the massive Imperial Tobacco Company. A set of ninety-six cards entitled 'Modern School Atlas' was issued by the Ardath Tobacco Company in New Zealand in 1936. These were designed to be mounted in the pages of a special atlas that was sold separately by the Company.
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COPYRIGHT Winter 1989 The Map Collector, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Collecting cigarette cards showing maps is growing in popularity. They tend to be colourful and al/ractive and only need a small storage space. Here, Martin Murray, who is Managing Director of Murray Cards International and an expert on the subject talks about the history of these cards.
PICTURE CARDS HAVE been used as a sales incentive with tobacco and other commodities for well over one hundred years. Most people think in terms of the smaller cards inserted into packets of cigarettes but many other products have used this method of advertising as well. They range from the more popular chocolate and tea to the exotic such as football pools, ballet shoes, and even condoms.
The appeal of picture cards (or, to use the more common term, cigarette cards) is that each one presents an attractive picture, often with a descriptive text on the back. Indeed, cigarette cards are alone among eolleetables in that they were originally issued in order to be saved. Subjects covered are endless but the visual appeal and the information given by maps led them to be prominent among card issues.
Cards originated in France around the middle of the last century and were basically a development from tradesmen's cards which were handed out by shops and services to remind customers of their address. It was soon common for shops to issue these cards with a picture printed on the back so that customers would be influenced to return the following week and collect the next picture. Among these early issues was one of maps showing the Departments of France, and another set of European countries.
It did not take long for enterprising manufacturers to spot the advantages of this new craze. They began to print their own series of cards which they gave to shops in order to be passed on to their customers. They followed this by issuing sets directly to their customers as a result of exchanging them for coupons which appeared on the packets. Foremost among these was the Liebig Meat Extract Company (later to become known in Britain as Oxo) who were responsible for some 2,000 different series, including a splendid set of six cards which, when joined together, showed the course of the River Rhine. Meanwhile in England manufacturers were copying the idea and there is a set of cards by Cadbury illustrating the 'Principal Rivers of the British Isles', which was set out as a 'Reward Card' to be issued via schools for good conduct or attendance.
The first cards to be inserted in cigarettes were issued in America and many novelty issues were devised to attract smokers to a particular brand. Duke issued a set of triple folders of State governors and arms and on the back of each was printed a map of the area. Duke's successors~ the American Tobacco Company, later issued a series of 'Maps of States' printed on satin, while another set included maps in the form of jigsaws.
The first cards featuring maps to be included with British cigarettes was a series of road maps produced by the Casket Tobacco Co around 1905. These are now rare, only two copies are known to exist. Subsequently a number of series was issued, such as 'A Sectional Cycling Map' by Ogden and 'Find Your Way', 'A Road Map of Scotland' and a 'Sectional Map of Ireland' by other branches of the massive Imperial Tobacco Company. A set of ninety-six cards entitled 'Modern School Atlas' was issued by the Ardath Tobacco Company in New Zealand in 1936. These were designed to be mounted in the pages of a special atlas that was sold separately by the Company.
Read Full Article >>
[Acrobat Reader required]
COPYRIGHT Winter 1989 The Map Collector, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.