Card Number 242, Miss Hall, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-1) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes 1880s

This is a promotional card for Cross Cut Cigarettes by Duke Sons & Co., featuring Miss Hall, an actress of the time. Note the flower she holds delicately to her face, a motif as old as time, symbolizing beauty, fleetingness, and the ephemeral nature of life itself. Think of Botticelli's Venus, adorned with flowers, or Ophelia, floating amidst them in her watery grave. Here, Miss Hall's flower suggests not just beauty, but the transient allure of fame, much like the ephemeral nature of smoke itself. Flowers have appeared throughout history, shifting in meaning from symbols of fertility, love, death, and remembrance. Their continued presence speaks to our subconscious recognition of mortality and beauty, which engages us on a deep, visceral level. This card, then, becomes more than mere advertisement. It's a pocket-sized memento mori, reminding us, in its subtle way, of life's fleeting moments, even as it urges us to indulge in the present pleasure of a cigarette. The cyclical progression of the flower as a symbol resurfaces here, taking on new meanings in a modern context.