White-Throated Shag, from the Birds of the Tropics series (N5) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1889

This is a chromolithograph, produced in the late 19th century by Allen and Ginter, as a promotional insert for their cigarette brands. Chromolithography, a color printing technique, allowed for mass production of vibrant images like this White-Throated Shag. The process involved creating separate lithographic stones for each color, then carefully layering them to build up the final image. Look closely, and you'll notice a slight misregistration, a fuzzy blurring of the colors in the image. What's interesting is how this image blurs the line between art, commerce, and science. The image could only exist through this labor-intensive process that was part of the Industrial Revolution. Cigarette cards like these weren’t just about selling tobacco; they were about selling a lifestyle, an idea of exoticism, and even an education about the natural world, neatly packaged for consumption. So, next time you see a seemingly simple printed image, remember the complex interplay of materials, labor, and cultural context that brought it into being.