William Purcell, The Rochester Union and Advertiser, from the American Editors series (N1) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American advertising with *William Purcell, The Rochester Union and Advertiser a charming chromolithograph from Allen & Ginter's "American Editors series (N)" of 1887. This petite portrait card (just 2¾ x 1½ inches) captures William Purcell, a prominent newspaper editor, in a style that celebrates the era's journalistic heroes. Produced by the innovative tobacco firm Allen & G, it was one of many collectible inserts tucked into cigarette packs to entice buyers and spark a collecting craze. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized commercial printing with its vivid, multi-layered colors achieved through sequential stone printing—a technique perfect for mass-producing eye-catching ephemera. Though humble in scale, these cards reflect the Gilded Age's booming print culture and the rising star of newspapers like Purcell's Rochester Union and Advertiser. Today, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, it offers a window into how everyday commerce fueled popular iconography. Fun fact: Allen & Ginter's series helped pioneer the trading card phenomenon, turning editors into household names and blending commerce with celebrity long before modern sports cards. A tiny treasure of cultural history!

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...