Astro cigarette cards from yesteryear

[Tim]

My boss's friend just gave her a collection of cigarette cards from the 50's that are astronomy based. They were her grandfathers, and she never met him.

Have a peek

 

 

[Putaendo Patrick]

Very nice indeed! If these are the "Romance of the Heavens", they may in fact be quite a bit earlier! I think 1928.

[Tim]

I think you are right, just googled and they seem to match up, thanks, I will tell Kate

[John]

They look great in the album

I think we have a loose set of those somewhere. I seem to recall that they did not know that galaxies were actually external to ours - I think they are described as some form of nebulae.

Mars is criss crossed with canals I see - Mark at Beafort would be quite at home there !

[Dave Lloyd]

11 hours ago, John said:

They look great in the album

I think we have a loose set of those somewhere. I seem to recall that they did not know that galaxies were actually external to ours - I think they are described as some form of nebulae.

Mars is criss crossed with canals I see - Mark at Beafort would be quite at home there !

I think Edwin Hubble proved galaxies were external in the early 20s but it would still have been cutting edge stuff in 1928.

[trazor]

I have the set mounted in black card, and framed.  The card is cut out, so the backs can be read.

[spaceboy]

That is great gift Tazor. Much better framed!!! Just a shame when you think someone has probably took years off their life collecting them  Are cigarette cards not highly collectable due to the fact tobacco sellers are no longer allowed to promote smoking ???

[Beulah]

What an amazing collection and what stunning illustrations. Really evokes the feeling of the time; a great mystery about space and amusing to see the artist's impression of Mars. Love to see some scanned copies of these.

[Dave Lloyd]

I remember reading American comic books in the 60s where Mars was depicted as having canals. Strangely no one ever seemed to think it strange.