Stockton, from The World's Racers series (N32) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1888

This image of Stockton, a racehorse, comes from a series of cigarette cards produced by Allen & Ginter in the late 19th century. These cards were chromolithographs, a type of color printing that allowed for mass production. The process involved creating separate printing plates for each color, then layering them to create a complete image. Look closely, and you can see how the different colors are slightly offset. This gives the image a tactile, almost three-dimensional quality. The texture of the paper itself is also important. It's thin and slightly glossy, which gives the image a crisp, clean look. These cards weren't just about art, they were about commerce. By including these cards in their cigarette packs, Allen & Ginter hoped to entice customers and promote their brand, capitalizing on the popularity of horse racing. Mass production allowed for widespread distribution, embedding these images within everyday life. So while they may seem like simple pictures, they are also artifacts of a particular moment in the history of capitalism and consumer culture. They remind us that even the smallest objects can have a rich and complex story to tell.