Trade Card for John Leighton, Book Printer, Illustrator, and Engraver
19th century
Medium
Commercial lithograph on blue paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 5/16 × 5 3/8 in. (21.1 × 13.7 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Bella C. Landauer, 1926
Accession Number
26.28.204
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century British commerce with this charming trade card for John Leighton a skilled book printer, illustrator, engraver. Produced anonymously as a commercial lithograph on striking blue paper, the card measures a compact 8 5/16 × 5 3/8 inches, perfectly sized for pocket or display. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department—thanks to a 1926 gift from Bella C. Landauer ephemera piece captures the era's entrepreneurial spirit. Trade cards like this one exploded in popularity during the Victorian period, serving as colorful advert...