Cigarette Cards
Cigarette cards are small illustrated cards issued as inserts in cigarette packets, first as pack stiffeners and later as highly collectable advertising souvenirs. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, they had become a major vehicle of popular culture, turning famous figures, fictional characters, and literary scenes into miniature portraits for everyday collectors. Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle naturally found their place in this world: Holmes as one of the most recognizable fictional heroes of his age, and Conan Doyle as a famous author.
1901-1902 Ogden's Guinea Gold Cigarettes
Ogden's Guinea Gold Cigarettes (1901) was a British large set of 1148 cards photographic cigarette cards devoted to contemporary celebrities, public figures, and notable personalities of the day. Among them was card No. 326, featuring Dr. Conan Doyle, identified as 'The famous Novelist who created "Sherlock Holmes."' The card was reprinted in 1902 with "Dr." replaced by "Sir" after Conan Doyle was knighted. No back.
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Dr. Conan Doyle No. 326 (1901) -
Sir A. Conan Doyle (1902) -
Cigarette packet (example)
Ogden's also featured the American actor William Gillette, including portraits of him as Sherlock Holmes. They were issued in several Ogden's series around 1901–1902, when Gillette's stage adaptation of Sherlock Holmes was being performed in London.
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William Gillette (Ogden's Guinea Gold Cigarettes No. 432) -
William Gillette (Ogden's Guinea Gold Cigarettes No. 432) back -
William Gillette (Ogden's Guinea Gold Cigarettes Series C No. 34) -
William Gillette (Ogden's Guinea Gold Cigarettes Series C No. 34) back -
William Gillette (Ogden's Guinea Gold Cigarettes New Series I No. 338) -
William Gillette (Ogden's Guinea Gold Cigarettes New Series I No. 338) back -
Mr. William Gillette (Ogden's Tab Cigarettes C Series No. 17) -
Mr. William Gillette (Ogden's Tab Cigarettes C Series No. 17) back -
Wm. Gillette (Ogden's Tab Cigarettes E Series No. 107) -
Wm. Gillette (Ogden's Tab Cigarettes E Series No. 107) back
1902 Player's Cigarettes
This Sir Arthur Conan Doyle bookmark cigarette card was issued by John Player & Sons in 1902 as part of the "Book Marks — Authors" series. The series had 10 numbered authors: 1. R. L. Stevenson, 2. Rudyard Kipling, 3. Lord Tennyson, 4. Sir A. Conan Doyle, 5. Sir Walter Besant, 6. Thackeray, 7. Count Tolstoy, 8. Mrs. Humphrey Ward, 9. Anthony Hope, 10. Stanley Weyman.
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Sir. A. Conan Doyle (No. 4) -
Bookmark Back
1905 Cousis' Cigarettes
Cousis' Cigarettes, Celebrities (c. 1905) was a Maltese photographic cigarette-card series devoted to famous public figures of the period. Unlike later Sherlock Holmes-themed issues, the series presented Arthur Conan Doyle himself as a celebrity subject, with a card listed as "Dr. Conan Doyle."
Not seen yet.
1913 Gallaher's Cigarettes
Gallaher's Cigarettes, Tricks & Puzzles (1913) was a British cigarette-card series of 100 cards devoted to parlour tricks, visual puzzles, and popular amusements. Its link with Arthur Conan Doyle's world comes through card No. 64, "Sherlock Holmes Puzzle," which shows that Sherlock Holmes had already become a familiar popular-cultural reference beyond the stories themselves.
The puzzle is : "Arrange 10 matches in such a manner to form 5 rows with four matches in each row."
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Sherlock Holmes Puzzle (No. 64) -
Cigarette packet (example)
1923 Turf Cigarettes
Turf Cigarettes, Conan Doyle Characters (1923) was a set of 25 cigarette cards connected with Arthur Conan Doyle. Instead of presenting Conan Doyle himself as a celebrity, the set is devoted to his fictional characters, with a strong Sherlock Holmes focus: Holmes, Watson, Lestrade, Moriarty, Mary Morstan, Helen Stoner, and others appear alongside figures from Conan Doyle's non-Sherlock Holmes fiction : Sir Nigel Loring, Brigadier Gerard, Polly Hinton (Rodney Stone) and Rebecca Taylforth (The Firm of Girdlestone). Each card combines a color portrait on the front with a short identification and plot summary on the back. Note that the backs were printed black, grey or green.
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Turf Cigarettes, Conan Doyle Characters -
Cigarette packet (example)
1928 Will's Cigarettes
W.D. & H.O. Wills, Cinema Stars, 1st Series (1928) has only a very indirect link with Arthur Conan Doyle's world. Its relevance lies in the card of Clive Brook, whose pipe-smoking portrait can evoke Sherlock Holmes, although the card predates Brook's Holmes roles in cinema in 1929 (The Return of Sherlock Holmes).
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Clive Brook (No. 3) -
Card back.
1933 Player's Cigarettes
Player's Cigarettes, Characters From Fiction (1933) was a set of 25 cigarette cards illustrating famous literary characters. Its connection with Arthur Conan Doyle comes through Sherlock Holmes, who appears as card No. 21, showing 'Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."' in his sitting room examining a paper with magnifying glass.
Back text : A SERIES OF 25 - CHARACTERS FROM FICTION - FROM ORIGINALS BY H. M. BROCK, R.I. - No. 21 SHERLOCK HOLMES. Holmes remained in lodgings in Baker St., buried among his old books, and alternating between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in following out those clues and clearing up those mysteries which had been abandoned as hopeless. — In The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891), a great popular success was achieved by Dr. (afterwards Sir) Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930). The imperturbable Holmes had previously figured in A Study in Scarlet (1887) and The Sign of Four (1889), while his subsequent adventures were described in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1893), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), and other stories. PLAYER'S CIGARETTES. - ISSUED BY JOHN PLAYER & SONS - BRANCH OF THE IMPERIAL TOBACCO CO. (OF GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND), LTD.
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Sherlock Holmes (No. 21) -
Card back. -
Cigarette packet (example).
