William Purcell, The Rochester Union and Advertiser, from the American Editors series (N1) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands
1887
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. (7 x 3.8 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick
Accession Number
63.350.201.1.39
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American advertising with *William Purcell, The Rochester Union and Advertiser a charming chromolithograph from Allen & Ginter's "American Editors series (N)" of 1887. This petite portrait card (just 2¾ x 1½ inches) captures William Purcell, a prominent newspaper editor, in a style that celebrates the era's journalistic heroes. Produced by the innovative tobacco firm Allen & G, it was one of many collectible inserts tucked into cigarette packs to entice buyers and spark a collecting craze. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized commercia...
About the Artist
Allen & Ginter
Allen & Ginter, the pioneering American tobacco firm based in Richmond, Virginia, emerged around 1880 from the partnership of John F. Allen and Lewis Ginter, evolving from Allen's earlier John F. Allen & Company. Allen retired in 1882, succeeded by John Pope, yet the brand endured under Ginter's leadership, employing over 1,100 workers—mostly women—for hand-rolled cigarettes by 1886. Ginter, a Dut...