Benjamin Franklin, printer's sample for the World's Inventors souvenir album (A25) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes

Art Historical Context

This petite chromolithograph, measuring just 2¾ x 1½ inches, Benjamin Franklin in a dignified portrait as a printer's sample (A25) for Allen & Ginter's *'s Inventors* souvenir album, issued in 1888. by the innovative New York tobacco firm, it exemplifies the era's commercial artistry, blending celebrity homage with clever marketing. Allen & Ginter pioneered the inclusion of colorful trading cards in cigarette packs during the Gilded Age, transforming smoking into a collectible pursuit. This series celebrated American ingenuity by featuring icons like Franklin—printer, inventor, and Founding Father—whose bifocals and lightning rod epitomized progress. The vivid hues of chromolithography, a mass-production technique layering tinted inks on stone plates, made these ephemera accessible and eye-catching, fueling a craze for albums among enthusiasts. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, this rare sample highlights how 19th-century advertising elevated historical figures into pop culture heroes, bridging commerce, patriotism, and the dawn of consumer collectibles. A tiny window into an inventive age!

About the Artist

Allen & Ginter

Allen & Ginter, the pioneering American tobacco firm based in Richmond, Virginia, emerged around 1880 from the partnership of John F. Allen and Lewis Ginter, evolving from Allen's earlier John F. Allen & Company. Allen retired in 1882, succeeded by John Pope, yet the brand endured under Ginter's leadership, employing over 1,100 workers—mostly women—for hand-rolled cigarettes by 1886. Ginter, a Dut...