Number 12, Quicker than Thought, from the Tricks with Cards series (N138) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco 1887

This is a promotional card created around the turn of the century by W. Duke, Sons & Co., advertising Honest Long Cut Tobacco through a demonstration of card trickery. The fanned cards, held by a poised hand, suggest not just entertainment, but a deeper fascination with chance and fate. This motif of cards, symbolic of fortune and mystery, echoes through time. Consider, for example, the Tarot, where cards reveal hidden truths, or the Mamluk playing cards, which share a common ancestry with modern decks. The hand, presented mid-action, also carries symbolic weight. This gesture, seen in countless depictions of conjurers and deities across cultures, embodies control and manipulation of unseen forces. It speaks to our subconscious desire to master the unpredictable, to find order in chaos. As the cards are shuffled and dealt, they are constantly reborn. The cards persist, symbols of our enduring quest to understand and perhaps even control our destinies.