Beef With Cards

Since we're cut off from everything on which i had been working, let's go poke at some things that i hadn't gotten around to talking about. Like, Trading Cards. Say you like collecting trading cards, but you live in the later years of the 19th century and "Bubble Gum Cards" won't get started until the 1930s. What's a fanboy to do?

There's hope! Collector's cards were sometimes available with other candies. And, of course, you could get them with cigarettes (helps keep the pack from crushing to have that nice stiff cardboard in there, y'know). But some of my favorites came from ... meat extracts? Yup - the father/mother of modern bullion and the famous OXO tower in London. Beginning in 1872, Liebig started to distribute collector card series, and did so for over a century. (3 years over, i'm obsessed to report)

They were small series - typically only a half dozen cards, occasionally the full dozen. The subject matter was wide ranging, limited only by the editor's imagination and whim. Nature made for a common theme, as did travel and views of far-away lands. And history, famous landmarks, local culture, folklore...

As introduction, here are the art sides of three series. On later looks, we'll go to the text sides, but not today.

The Rodent Family (1954):

Naval Maneuvers (1901):

Modes Of Transportation In Japan (1905):

artists unknown (1901, 1905, 1954)