Duke’s Little Joker – Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes – W. Duke, Sons & Co. (1888) – Vintage Lithograph Canvas Print

Duke’s Little Joker presents a wonderfully eccentric combination of typography, caricature, and commercial design. A grinning, bald-headed face emerges from a field of finely hatched lines, its exaggerated eyes and mischievous smile giving the image the unmistakable character of a theatrical joker. The boldly rendered Gothic lettering above and below the figure reinforces the playful visual language, while the limited black-and-white palette gives the small design an unexpectedly sophisticated graphic quality.

Issued in 1888 by W. Duke, Sons & Co., the image was part of the company’s Playing Cards series (N84), a set of 53 trade cards created to promote its cigarettes. The series was produced in versions advertising both Duke brand cigarettes and Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes, with the Joker card serving as an advertisement for the Duke brand. The Metropolitan Museum of Art identifies the cards as commercial color lithographs and notes that they were issued in New York and Durham, North Carolina. Beyond their advertising purpose, the cards are fascinating examples of the elaborate graphic ephemera used by American tobacco companies during the late 19th century, when collectible cards became an important part of cigarette marketing.

 

🖨️ Print features:

– Sustainable canvas stretched on radial pine frame

– Unique canvas coating for top-notch image quality

– Soft rubber dots on bottom back corners for support

– Safe latex inks for non-toxic printing

– Back hanging included

– Inner frame made with radiata pine sourced from renewable forests

– Please note: Due to the production process of the canvases, please allow for slight size deviations with a tolerance +/- 1/8″ (3.2mm)

– Care instructions: If the canvas does gather any dust, you may wipe it off gently with a clean, damp cloth.

 

🚚 Fulfillment, Shipping, and Return Policy:

– Printed and shipped from the U.S.

– As our items are unique and made to order, we can only accept a return or exchange in the event that an item arrives damaged or misprinted. We cannot accept returns if you order the wrong size or change your mind. Any return requests must be made within 14 days of receiving the order.

 

💬 Questions? Looking for something else, or want something in a different size? Feel free to reach out anytime; we’ll see what we can do!