Brazilian Residence, from the Habitations of Man series (N113) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Smoking and Chewing Tobacco

Art Historical Context

This charming 1890 color lithograph, titled *ian Residence*, belongs to the “Habitations of Man” series (N113 produced by W. Duke Sons & Co., part of the American Tobacco Company. Measuring just 2½ by 4⅛ inches, the small print was distributed as a collectible insert with packages of Honest Long Cut Smoking and Chewing Tobacco. Such trade cards turned everyday purchases into miniature lessons in world geography and architecture, encouraging customers to assemble complete sets. Printed by the Giles Company using the vibrant new technique of commercial color lithography, the card offers a stylized view of a Brazilian dwelling, reflecting late-nineteenth-century American fascination with distant cultures. These brightly hued ephemera combined advertising with popular education, allowing ordinary consumers to glimpse “exotic” homes while promoting a domestic product. Today the print resides in the Metropolitan Museum’s Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, where tobacco cards are valued as vivid records of both graphic design and social history. Though modest in scale, *Brazilian Residence* illustrates how mass-produced imagery helped shape public ideas about place and people at the dawn of modern advertising.

About the Artist

The Giles Company|W. Duke, Sons & Co.|American Tobacco Company (American|American) · 1870 |1800 –1920 |1900

New York and Durham, N.C.|New York, NY