MARK TWAIN, SAMUEL L. CLEMENS

[TWAIN, MARK] [Clemens, S. L.] Duke's Cigarettes. MARK TWAIN, SAMUEL L. CLEMENS. [New York: probably Knapp & Company, Lithographers & Printers, Park Place, ca. 1887-89] First edition. Original color lithograph and gilt trade card featuring Twain's portrait together with a scene from A TRAMP ABROAD at top. Fine bright example. On verso are a list of the other forty-nine personalities included in Duke's `Great Americans' series: Thomas Edison, U. S. Grant, Samuel F. B. Morse, Oliver Hazard Perry, Henry M. Stanley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, O. W. Holmes, H. W. Longfellow, J. G. Whittier, etc. The size and format make it likely it was issued about the same time as Duke's thumb-nail biography of Twain, which covered Twain's life through October, 1886. This is the earliest tobacco insert card depicting Twain that I have identified, although a slightly larger format trade card for a New York tobacco company exists, not printed in color, that also used Twain's portrait. Another tobacco insert card with Twain's portrait (real photo) was issued by Lone Jack Cigarettes, possibly as early as 1887 or 1888, but is extremely rare, known by only two examples. The Duke card was issued for a short period of time; the firm merged with several others in January, 1890, to form the American Tobacco Co. Forbes & Mitchell, p. 75.