
Old Transatlantic Side-Wheeler, from the Types of Vessels series (N139) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco
W. Duke, Sons & Co.
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Die-cut trade cards from the "Types of Vessels" series (N139), issued in an unnumbered set of 25 cards in 1889 by W. Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco. The card versos have "Honest Long Cut" text printed in either green or blue. Knapp is the lithographer of the green backs and Giles is the lithographer of the blue backs. Because all but one card in the series are affixed to the original album page, card versos are not visible.
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.