American Bittern, from the Game Birds series (N13) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1889

This is a collectible card of an American Bittern, printed by the lithographic firm Allen & Ginter, purveyors of cigarettes in the late nineteenth century. These cards were inserted into cigarette packs as a marketing ploy to encourage repeat purchases and to protect the cigarettes from damage. The card depicts the American Bittern in naturalistic detail, with the primary image of the bird offset by a smaller vignette of sportsmen hunting in the background. This card is part of a series portraying game birds and reflects the growing popularity of hunting as a leisure activity among the expanding middle classes of the United States at this time. The cards offer a window into the cultural values and social practices of the Gilded Age, including attitudes towards nature, leisure, and consumption. The proliferation of these cards was only possible due to the industrialization of printing and marketing; historians rely on resources like trade catalogs and company records to contextualize them.