James Fenimore Cooper, from the series Great Americans (N76) for Duke brand cigarettes

Art Historical Context

Step into the world of 19th-century advertising with this petite commercial color lithograph from1888, featuring the author James Fenimore Cooper part of the "Great Americans (N76 series by W. Duke Sons & Co. Measuring just 2¾ × 1½ inches, this tiny print was designed to slip inside Duke cigarette packs, transforming everyday tobacco products into collectible treasures. Cooper, celebrated for novels like *The Last of Mohicans*, embodies the era's fascination with national heroes, making him a perfect subject for this promotional homage. Produced via color lithography—a revolutionary technique that allowed vibrant, mass-reproduced images at low cost—these cards were ephemera at heart, yet they captured the cultural zeitgeist. Tobacco companies like Duke pioneered insert cards to boost sales and appeal to hobbyists, sparking a collecting craze that preserved slices of history. Today, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department as part of The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, this piece highlights how commerce intertwined with celebrity and patriotism in Gilded Age America. Though modest in scale, it whispers of broader trends: the rise of consumer culture and the commodification of fame, reminding us that even cigarette inserts could immortalize greatness.

About the Artist

W. Duke, Sons & Co. · 1870–1920

**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...