Card 11, Billy Edwards, from the Prizefighters series (N269) issued by P. Lorillard Company to promote Mechanics Delight Long Cut Tobacco

Art Historical Context

This small trading card from 1887 captures the vibrant world of late-nineteenth-century American popular culture. Issued by the P. Lorillard Company as part of its Prizefighters series (N269) to promote Mechanics Delight Long Cut Tobacco, the commercial color lithograph features the British-born boxer Billy Edwards. Produced by Ballin & Liebler Lithography, the card measures just under four inches tall, a size designed for easy distribution in tobacco packages and for collectors to assemble complete sets. Such ephemera played a significant role in marketing and leisure during the Gilded Age. Tobacco firms capitalized on the growing popularity of sports by pairing celebrity athletes with their products, turning everyday purchases into opportunities for collecting and swapping. The bright, mass-produced lithographic technique allowed vivid portraits to reach a broad audience, blending commercial advertising with the excitement of prizefighting. Today, this card resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Burdick Collection, where it illustrates how printmaking and sports culture intersected in the 1880s. Though modest in scale, it offers a window into the era’s athletic heroes and the inventive ways companies engaged consumers.

About the Artist

Ballin & Liebler Lithography|P. Lorillard Company (American| ) · 1760 | –2014 |

American|