Darwiniana: Cigarette Cards

B. Cigarette Cards

Year	Country	mm	Item	Recto	Verso	Notes
1889	USA	37x73	B1			Booklet about Huxley from Duke cigarettes series "Histories of Poor Boys Who Have Become Rich, and Other Famous People". Click here to view inside of booklet. Portrait sketched from 1885 photo [3] by Elliott & Fry of London.
1900	UK	36x68	B2			From Player cigarettes "Famous Authors and Poets" series. Portrait based on 1890 London Stereoscopic Company photo [5]. B2 was inserted in packs of ten cigarettes, B3 in packs of five.
1900	UK	31x68	B3
1901	Australia	36x61	B4			Ogden's Guinea Gold cigarettes, Sydney issue. The Darwin card reproduces a painting by Huxley's son-in-law John Collier. The 1881 original of this painting is owned by the Linnean Society, and an 1883 replica by the National Portrait Gallery in London. The Huxley portrait is a London Stereoscopic Company photo from the same 1890 session as B2 and B3 above.
	Australia	36x61	B5
	UK	38x59	B6			Packaged with Ogden's Guinea Gold cigarettes. Darwin's portrait is a c1880 photo by Elliott & Fry of London, Huxley's a c1883 photo by A. Bassano of London [4]. Several different versions were issued of each of these cards, with variations in card size, base caption style, and photo cropping. A variation on B6 is here, and three variations on B7 are here.
		36x56
		36x56	B7
1902		38x56	B8			Ogden's Guinea Gold cigarettes. Both portraits are by H. R. Barraud of London. The Darwin photo (c1878) was used in New Series 1 and then enlarged for Series C, while the Huxley photo (c1881) appeared only in Series C.
			B8
			B9
			B10
1907		36x62	B11			From Godfrey Phillips cigarettes "Busts of Famous People" series. Darwin's bust is based on the Barraud photo. A rare alternative version of B12, with variations on recto and verso, is here.
1907		36x62	B12
1923		65x79	B13			From Sarony cigarettes "Celebrities and Their Autographs" series. J. Collier's 1881 Darwin painting is featured again, along with his 1883 painting of his father-in-law Huxley. Both paintings reside in London's National Portrait Gallery. Collier initially included two ape skulls on the table next to Huxley, but then changed his mind. Traces of these skulls can still be seen through close examination of the original. B13-14 were inserted in packs of twenty cigarettes, B15-16 in packs of ten.
		65x79	B14
		42x71	B15
		42x71	B16
1924		36x65	B17			From Millhoff cigarettes "Men of Genius" series. Variation on the 1881 J. Collier painting.
1924		36x68	B18			Another variation on the 1881 J. Collier painting, from the "Leaders of Men" series. Issued in different years and countries by two different cigarette brands owned by the Imperial Tobacco Company, Ogden and Player. Variations on recto and verso relate to these brand differences.
1925	New Zealand		B19
1928	UK		B20			From Lambert & Butler cigarettes "Common Fallacies" series. The fallacy is the misinterpretation of Darwin's theory as stating that people are descended from monkeys, rather than from a human-monkey common ancestor.
1928	UK		B21			From Churchman cigarettes "Interesting Door Knockers" series. Depicts knocker from one of Huxley's homes.
1934	Germany	52x62	B22			From Eckstein cigarettes "World History, Group 7: The Age of Bismarck". Colourised version of the 1881 J. Collier painting.
1935	UK	36x68	B23			1881 J. Collier painting from Carreras cigarettes "Celebrities of British History" series. Intended for album [5].
1951		59x130	B24			1881 J. Collier painting on a blue-and-white copy of B23. Printed directly on packaging of Carreras' Turf cigarettes and meant to be cut out. Cigarette packaging had become sturdier by this time and the card's 'stiffener' function had become obsolete.
1956		36x68	B25			Churchman prepared this card in 1956 for its "Pioneers" set, but then decided not to issue this set. Finally published in 1997 by Imperial. Depicts Darwin observing a fossil mastodon, with 1881 J. Collier painting inset.