Card Number 357, Pauline Hall, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-5) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes 1880s

This is card number 357, Pauline Hall, a promotional item created by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to advertise Cameo Cigarettes. It's a small card, made by mass printing; a process that only became economical at scale in the late 19th century. Consider how the surface of the card has been treated: the sharp detail of the photograph, and the clarity of the printed type, all achieved by industrial means. The card is not so much an artwork, as an efficient piece of advertising. It's designed to be collected, traded, and above all, to circulate, along with the aspirational lifestyle that smoking implied. The actress Pauline Hall, strikes a pose, one that is both suggestive and slightly confrontational. The card is designed to be appealing, instantly recognizable, and easily reproducible. This was the aim of the Duke company, who knew that to succeed in a market, you needed to reach as many people as possible.