[W. Duke, Sons & Co.] Costumes of All Nations

Costumes of All Nations [Tobacco Advertising]

Durham, N.C. W. Duke, Sons & Co., 1888. Lithographed by Knapp & Co. New York. Soft cover.

Original illustrated stapled wrappers. 22 leaves, printed on versos only. Profusely illustrated with chromolithograph portraits of prominent late-19th-century stage performers and public figures posed in historic and national costumes. Format: 17 × 26 cm (6.75 × 10.25 inches).

Wrappers with a 1.5-inch loss at the outer edge of the rear cover, light creasing and soiling. Staples rusted. Plates clean, bright, and well preserved with minor corner creasing. Internally very good.




An uncommon promotional album reproducing the W. Duke & Sons cigarette card series, issued to accompany late-Victorian tobacco marketing campaigns. The album reflects the intersection of theatrical celebrity, ethnographic costume imagery, and mass advertising culture, and includes representations of well-known performers such as Sarah Bernhardt in an ‘Old Russian Costume.’
 
Subjects: Tobacco advertising, Costume history, Theater and stage performers, Late Victorian popular culture, Advertising ephemera, Illustrated albums, Chromolithography, Performing arts history.

Item #014203

Price: $145.00