O Fair Dove, from the Illustrated Songs series (N116) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco 1893

This is 'O Fair Dove', a promotional card made by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to advertise Honest Long Cut Tobacco. Printed on thin cardstock, this image is a chromolithograph, a process involving multiple layers of ink applied from lithographic stones or metal plates. The resulting image is soft and subtly dimensional, quite unlike the flat, sharp appearance of modern digital prints. The choice of this technique is significant: chromolithography allowed for mass production of colorful, attractive images, perfectly suited to marketing purposes. But this was also a moment when the status of such ‘ephemera’ was quite low. The card’s artistry is harnessed to commerce, and the labor intensive process is made to disappear behind the ease of consumption. It prompts us to consider the often-invisible work that goes into even the most unassuming objects in our lives. Appreciating the artistry of this card challenges our assumptions about art, labor, and value.