Steve Talbot's Cartophily Pages

Welcome!  This is an informational site devoted to cartophily, the hobby of collecting cigarette and other trade cards, a particular interest of mine.  Here you will find a history of the hobby, information on how to start and maintain a card collection and some useful contact details.

Back in 1997, the first version of this site was one of very few independent resources for information on cartophily.  Even today, most card sites are maintained by dealers.  My site remains independent, maintained by a collector to provide details of the hobby to anyone who might be interested.

These pages are intended to be useful and, time permitting, are regularly updated.  Therefore, all feedback — especially details of errors or omissions, or suggestions for extra content — is welcomed.  Please e-mail such comments to .

Contents

History of Cartophily
This is a brief guide to the history of cigarette cards, from the late nineteenth century to the present day, including details of the origins of the hobby and some definitions.  It provides useful background information for those who are new to the hobby and want to find out more.
Guide to Collecting Cigarette Cards
The guide gives sufficient information on collecting cards to begin your own collection or manage one you have inherited.  The topics covered include storage of cards, condition and value.
Picture Gallery
The best way to bring the hobby alive on the web is to provide pictures of the cards themselves.  This gallery features a series of images of cards through the ages, which illustrates some of the points made in the other pages on this site.
Related Topics
Some topics are quite closely related to cartophily, eg. trading cards, customisable card games and cigarette packets.  Find out more here.
Recommended Further Reading
For those who are interested in reading further, this is a selection of books on cartophily.
Cartophily Contact List
This page gives contact details for some cartophilic organisations and publishers.
Web Links
If you are interested in cartophily, you may also want to visit some of these sites.

Many thanks go those who have contributed to these pages, especially David Snowdon for his help in writing and editing early versions of the text.

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