Frankfurt, from the City Flags series (N6) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1887

This small chromolithograph of Frankfurt’s flag was produced by Allen & Ginter Cigarettes, though its exact date is unknown. Chromolithography is a color printing technique, where an image is created using multiple lithographic stones, one for each color. The process starts with an artist creating a separate drawing for each color to be printed. These drawings are then transferred onto lithographic stones, which are treated to accept ink only in the areas where the image should appear. Each stone prints a single color, and the final image is built up layer by layer as the paper passes through the press multiple times. Chromolithography democratized colorful images at a time when color printing was expensive and complex. While aesthetically pleasing, it’s important to remember these cards were essentially advertisements, designed to entice consumers, tying cultural imagery to the consumption of tobacco. This little card, then, encapsulates a whole history of image-making, marketing, and industrial production.