The first article on card collecting?

[tim_uk]

You may have to forgive my British ways, as I lapse into the hobby of card collecting, rather than baseball card collecting. But I hope you'll bear with me...

As a keen student of the history of card collecting, it amazes me that there is virtually nothing published before 1930 on the card collecting hobby. We know cards were published from the 1880s, yet for about 30 years, nothing seems to have been published about collecting these cards. I can't believe this is true!

With your help, we'll see if this really is the case or whether, between us, we'll be able to unearth some gems from yesteryear!

George Vrechek published a great article entitled 'The First Article on Baseball Cards?' in which he covers an article from May 1929, "A New York Childhood, Cigarette Pictures". He ends the article, found here (http://www.oldbaseball.com/refs/First_Article.pdf), with:

I enjoyed Arthurs story, his writing and wit. I haven't found any additional information about him but imagine that he would have been a willing contributor to Jefferson Burdick's Card Collectors Bulletin in the 1930s had the two ever contacted each other. Until I can go back any further into the yellowed pages of publications, I declare Arthur Hamilton Folwell's A New York Childhood, Cigarette Pictures of May 1929 to be the first known published article on baseball cards as a hobby.

To up the ante, here's an article on cigarette card collecting from 1926, in which Arthur Budge introduces the hobby of cigarette card collecting, including reference to the 'nearly 30 years' that cards have been collected. The Vanity Fair/Collector's Miscellany website can be found here (http://www.friardale.co.uk/Collectors%20Miscellany/Collectors%20Miscellany.htm).

Its a pity that the follow-on article is missing from the site. And the reference to the Charles Matthews collection of over 1,000 sets is something we can come back to in another thread, another time.

But in this thread, the gauntlet is now thrown down: What can you find on card, cigarette card, picture card, trade card, 'stiffener' (as they were once known), baseball card collecting, before 1926?

[JollyElm]

I'm just annoyed, almost a hundred years later, that the writer spelled "Eager" wrong. :rolleyes:

[xplainer]

Following.

[trdcrdkid]

I brought that 1929 article to George Vrechek's attention back in 2005, and he gave me credit in his original article. I also posted about it here on Net54 in 2015:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=202129

I know there was a newspaper article in 1930 about baseball card collecting, in which the rarity of the T206 Wagner was mentioned. I don't have a citation or a scan handy, but I know I've seen it. I know there were some other newspaper articles about card collecting and specific collectors in the late 1930s and early 1940s, because Jefferson Burdick mentioned them in Card Collector's Bulletin, but I haven't tracked them down yet.

Apart from Burdick's articles in Hobbies magazine in the 1930s, and then Card Collector's Bulletin starting in 1939, I'm aware of two articles about card collecting that were published in the popular press in 1945. I've posted about both of them here:

1945 Sporting News article on baseball card collecting:
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=238775
1945 Esquire article on "The era of the cigarette card":
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=219020

When T206 and most of the other 20th century U.S. tobacco cards were issued in 1909-1913, there were lots of newspaper articles mentioning the card-collecting craze among young boys. Some of those articles have been posted here, though I can't find the threads right now. What you're looking for, I take it, are early articles about (tobacco) card collecting by adults. I would expect those to be easier to find in the U.K. than in the U.S., because card collecting became an organized hobby over there much earlier than it did here. Undoubtedly one factor in that is that your tobacco companies continued issuing new cards up until World War II, while we just had two relatively brief bursts of tobacco card issuance, in 1887-1890 and 1909-1913. But it seems to have been seen as at least a respectable hobby over there from at least the 1930s, while here it was kind of an underground thing, something to be ashamed of, until the 1970s, and really until the 1980s.

[tim_uk]

OK, so no flood of very early articles, so far. Time is on our side.....

But, to keep the thread alive, here's an interesting convergence of the earliest hobby pioneers....

Around 1935, the UK hobby of cigarette card collecting was now becoming well-established. The Cigarette Card News was published monthly by the London Cigarette Card Company, with issues starting in 1933.

And, in the USA Jefferson Burdick started writing in Hobbies. His first article (of 8 in Hobbies) was in December 1935. All these articles can be found here (http://www.oldcardboard.com/ref/history/bbc-pubs/hob/burdick-hobbies-articles.pdf) courtesy of Old Cardboard.

Separately, Lionel Carter was writing about baseball cards in Kaw Chief Stamp Journal. An article from 1937 is here (http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=83542), courtesy of Tom Bobblitt.

In the UK, Collector's Miscellany, October 1935 (here (http://www.friardale.co.uk/Collectors%20Miscellany/Collectors%20Miscellany%20New%20Series%20Number%20 13%20October%201935.pdf)), managed to include all 3 journals - as shown in the screenshots below. Now what's the odds of that?

[Leon]

Thanks for posting those. Very interesting to some of us :)

OK, so no flood of very early articles, so far. Time is on our side.....

But, to keep the thread alive, here's an interesting convergence of the earliest hobby pioneers....

Around 1935, the UK hobby of cigarette card collecting was now becoming well-established. The Cigarette Card News was published monthly by the London Cigarette Card Company, with issues starting in 1933.

And, in the USA Jefferson Burdick started writing in Hobbies. His first article (of 8 in Hobbies) was in December 1935. All these articles can be found here (http://www.oldcardboard.com/ref/history/bbc-pubs/hob/burdick-hobbies-articles.pdf) courtesy of Old Cardboard.

Separately, Lionel Carter was writing about baseball cards in Kaw Chief Stamp Journal. An article from 1937 is here (http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=83542), courtesy of Tom Bobblitt.

In the UK, Collector's Miscellany, October 1935 (here (http://www.friardale.co.uk/Collectors%20Miscellany/Collectors%20Miscellany%20New%20Series%20Number%20 13%20October%201935.pdf)), managed to include all 3 journals - as shown in the screenshots below. Now what's the odds of that?

[Jay Wolt]

Thanks for posting those. Very interesting to some of us :)
I agree, enjoyable & informative

[swabie2424]

I just finished up reading "Ming Condition" so these articles feathered in perfectly. I'm a research professional (entirely different field,) but these types of articles scratch me right where I itch.

It's clear we owe quite a lot to Burdick's early work. Amazing how much love and effort he put into all of this before just about anyone else was hip to it.

[teza11]

Early baseball guides and books would probably be a good place to dig-out some of the earliest card collecting references. Here's a one-pager from 1962 covering some of the earliest publications.

Jeff

[Leon]

It depends on how we define collecting as to which article could be earliest. I am sure there are articles about kids/adults collecting Old Judge cards 100+ yrs ago. Now if we are talking about an organized card hobby then that is different. In the US Burdick and Wagner were two of the earlier ones to promote the hobby


Early baseball guides and books would probably be a good place to dig-out some of the earliest card collecting references. Here's a one-pager from 1962 covering some of the earliest publications.

Jeff

[SteveMitchell]

Dave...

Thanks very much for the link to your earlier posting (1945 The Sporting News article by longtime collector Wirt Gammon). I missed that back when first posted. It's a great piece and a reminder of the fine collector who was among us for decades.

Your postings are real treasures; please keep them coming. And a reference or two about previous ones is appreciated - especially for those of us who check in only occasionally.

Thanks again,
Steve

I brought that 1929 article to George Vrechek's attention back in 2005, and he gave me credit in his original article. I also posted about it here on Net54 in 2015:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=202129

I know there was a newspaper article in 1930 about baseball card collecting, in which the rarity of the T206 Wagner was mentioned. I don't have a citation or a scan handy, but I know I've seen it. I know there were some other newspaper articles about card collecting and specific collectors in the late 1930s and early 1940s, because Jefferson Burdick mentioned them in Card Collector's Bulletin, but I haven't tracked them down yet.

Apart from Burdick's articles in Hobbies magazine in the 1930s, and then Card Collector's Bulletin starting in 1939, I'm aware of two articles about card collecting that were published in the popular press in 1945. I've posted about both of them here:

1945 Sporting News article on baseball card collecting:
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=238775
1945 Esquire article on "The era of the cigarette card":
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=219020

When T206 and most of the other 20th century U.S. tobacco cards were issued in 1909-1913, there were lots of newspaper articles mentioning the card-collecting craze among young boys. Some of those articles have been posted here, though I can't find the threads right now. What you're looking for, I take it, are early articles about (tobacco) card collecting by adults. I would expect those to be easier to find in the U.K. than in the U.S., because card collecting became an organized hobby over there much earlier than it did here. Undoubtedly one factor in that is that your tobacco companies continued issuing new cards up until World War II, while we just had two relatively brief bursts of tobacco card issuance, in 1887-1890 and 1909-1913. But it seems to have been seen as at least a respectable hobby over there from at least the 1930s, while here it was kind of an underground thing, something to be ashamed of, until the 1970s, and really until the 1980s.

[jason.1969]

None of these qualify 100% as articles about card collecting. However, I thought their age made them worth sharing here. The first is quite tragic, unfortunately.

1. August 25, 1910, Boston Globe. This is likely the first recorded death by baseball card.

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2. November 8, 1896, Boston Globe. Part of a "random notes" sort of column is dedicated to an early super-collector.

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3. And the OLDEST thing I could find is debatable as there isn't enough context to state for certain that these are the same cards guys like us collect. However, the size and shape makes me think YES. This is an illustration from an article on things to do for fun in the springtime. April 8, 1894, Boston Globe.

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[tim_uk]

This is what we are after, excellent work!

I like the picture in number 3. the best - it definitely counts.

The sad story in number 1. is repeated in a similar incident in an old UK newspaper search I saw a while back.

But I think we can do better....

[jason.1969]

Any guesses as to how to play "pitching cards?" If all have the same back, I suppose a game like Memory could work.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J327A using Tapatalk

[tim_uk]

So, continuing to stray a step away from card collecting, there are actually lots of old newspaper cuttings on-line. The ancestry.com archive (newspapers.com) is full of them! A 7-day free trial is available, but remember to cancel before 7 days are up (unless you get hooked) .....

Here's a couple of early ones that looked interesting..

1. 1886 September 30 - A 'baseball' article, for the purists....

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plus an example screenshot of some of these cards (not from the newspaper)

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2. 1890 June 8 - And the threat of the removal of cigarette cards, due to the disproportionate lithographic printing costs (including "base-ball players") …..

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[Joe_G.]

Great find Tim, there certainly is a lot to be studied. The "young lady cigarette maker" cabinets are often found with a "Crop of 1884" mount. A&G has period literature that states they cured their tobacco 3 years before rolling it into cigarettes and I have thus always dated them to 1887 but your news clipping find suggests they were available by late 1886.

I recently did a deep dive into some Tobacco Journals and posted some of my A&G findings here: www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=256798

I also wrote an article for Old Cardboard (issue #34) that covers far more than just the A&G issues based on what the same journal had to offer. http://www.oldcardboard.com/misc/issue34/issue34.asp

[tim_uk]

Joe - your post makes really interesting reading.

1. Definitive issue dates

Your research on A&G issues dates is fascinating and ground-breaking (I assume!). I had no idea this sort of work had been carried out. And the cross-reference from David Kathman to CCB (December 1941) and Harry Lillien's additional analysis from "Tobacco" (same journal as your reference, I believe) is another great linkage of two disparate lines of enquiry. I will see what's available from CSGB World Index etc, when I get a minute, to see whether some of the early researchers in the UK such as Edward Wharton-Tigar, made any definitive findings, similar to these, to add to your superb timeline chart.

On an unrelated matter, I don't think Old Cardboard will be printing issues anymore - its all on-line - which is shame. Not sure if a definite decision has been made on this.

2. Relative scarcity - Tom Boblitt's PSA analysis

The linked PSA grading analysis showing Large/Small ratios and relative scarcity/abundance on the A&G N series, is also something I've never seen before. The US card collecting hobby is definitely ahead of the UK hobby in this respect.

In addition to your shrewd observation on Large/Small ratios, I think:
a) High quality cards will be more frequently graded, so actual grade distributions will be disappointingly lower than the PSA table, I strongly suspect
b) Rarer cards will be more frequently graded, so I suspect the scarcity graph of individual issues overstates the relative availability of the scarce sets (also disappointingly). In other words the scarce sets will probably be even scarcer in reality.
c) Attractive sets (eg with baseball cards in them) will tend to be graded more frequently than other cards. So attractive cards will also be scarcer in practice than the PSA relative frequency suggests (also disappointingly).

You may be able to tell that maths is my background....

Is this data publically available for analysis, or does Tom have some form of special access to make these cross-tab summaries?

More early articles / snippets will help tie up more of these loose ends / threads, I suspect. We still have a big gap in our card collecting history to fill .......