May Leicester, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 1) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

This card depicting actress May Leicester was made by Allen and Ginter for Virginia Brights Cigarettes. It's a piece of paper, printed with an image, and originally inserted into a packet of cigarettes. The card stock is thin and mass-produced. The image, sepia-toned, romanticizes Leicester, but it's the cigarette company's name that really matters. Tobacco farming, cigarette production, and distribution: all involved immense labor, a global scale of activity. Cigarettes were among the first truly mass consumer products, and these cards, like this one, were marketing tools, pure and simple. Consider the vast system of production and consumption required to create this small object. It's a reminder that even the most seemingly innocuous images are often deeply embedded in social and economic networks. So next time you light up, think about that!