The Story of Sand - in cigarette cards

Back in the old days when smoking was not only not politically incorrect but positively romantic and character-enhancing (think Bogart, think Bergman, think Bacall – and those are only the “Bs”), cigarette manufacturers came up with all kinds of interesting marketing ideas. In the second half of the nineteenth century, American purveyors of tobacco came up with the idea of using the card that provided stiffening to the paper pack to carry advertising. Then, in 1894, Ogden’s, a British company operating out of Liverpool, came up with the idea of putting interesting pictures on the cards; this evolved into producing themed sets of cards with an illustration on one side and information on the other – the first complete set came out in 1904. This generated, as baseball cards would also, a following of collectors (who presumably became increasingly heavy smokers as the compulsion to complete a set grew). Sporting heroes, historical themes, and the natural world were the main subjects of different series, but there were also some unique topics – in 1938 one company produced a set titled “Air Raid Precautions.” They were all entertaining and often educational.

All of these have today become collectors’ items (I’ve seen the habit described as “cartophily” – as in “I confess that I’m a cartophiliac”). But what does this have to do with my particular topic? Well, in 1934, Ogden’s produced a series of cards titled “The Story of Sand,” a set of fifty different topics. A complete set in decent condition goes for around $90 – and, of course, I have one. The theme and the diversity of topics covered essentially anticipated my book by seventy years – or perhaps my book is simply a reprise and an update. Essentially all of the topics covered in the set of cards have found their way into my book somewhere, but this is, as much as anything, simply a reflection of the diversity of roles that sand, the unsung hero, plays. Of course, one of my favourites is the hourglass card – a reminder of the short duration hourglass that Queen Victoria had installed next to the pulpit at Windsor Castle.

And also among my favourites is “The Sand Diviner”

and below a selection of some of the rest of the series. Out of the fifty, I have several more favourites – these may well form the subject of a later post.