Trade card

Trade cards evolved in different ways in Britain, America and Europe, giving rise to wide variation in their format and design.

The characteristic features of a trade card are that it is a small printed item, used by merchants and traders to give to their customers for their use as an aid to memory.

In the period before mass media, they functioned as advertising and also as maps, directing the public to the merchants' stores (no formal street address numbering system existed at the time).

Later they were printed on the more substantial card and typically bore the tradesmen's name and address, and before street numbering was in common use, often included a long-winded set of directions on how to locate the store or premises.

In 1738, for instance, when leading Parisian art dealer Edme-François Gersaint changed the name of his business to A la Pagode, he hired the engraver, François Boucher to design his card.

The attractive and colorful designs spawned a passion for collecting trade cards, which became a popular hobby in the late 19th century.

Some cards, particularly those produced by tobacco companies featuring baseball players, later developed into collectibles and lost their function as a business advertisement.