Trade Cards & Postcards

Businesses have long utilized trade cards, posters, and postcards as an eye-catching advertising technique. Most popular between the 19^th and 20^th centuries, especially in Europe, the striking paper ephemera encouraged people to purchase company products or to visit specific shops and attractions. Chromolithography, or color lithography, became the prominent printing method for the mass production of cards and enabled complex and highly saturated illustrations. By the early 1880s, it was common for businesses to commission artwork that was specific to the goods or services they were selling.

The food, tobacco, and entertainment industries are just a few examples in a laundry list of those who embraced this marketing approach. Often produced in sets related to a theme (i.e., cars, pets, or sports), trade cards were especially effective at driving sales, as people began collecting them as keepsakes, even preserving them in scrapbooks or albums. Typically, a vibrant illustration was included on the front, and a description of the art and product would be on the back. Whether the allure was in their unique artistry, authorship, or collectability, the card craft proliferated.