Lillian Russell, from the Actresses series (T123, Type 1), issued by Neil McCoull Co.

Neil McCoull Co.

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Trade cards from the "Actresses" series (T123), issued ca. 1897 by Neil McCoull Co. to promote their Syrian Princess and Daliska tobacco brands. There are two types of cards in the series. Type 1 Cards are smaller in size and the actresses name on the lower edge of recto. Type 2 Cards are a slightly larger size and have the tobacco brand, rather than the actresses name, emblazoned on the card recto. This is a Type 1 Card.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art