Calicornication: Postcards of Giant Produce (1909)

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Produced by the prolific San Francisco–based publisher Edward H. Mitchell, each card features a single rail car rolling through lush farmland. Aboard are gargantuan, luminous fruits and vegetables: dimpled navel oranges, a dusky bunch of grapes, and mottled walnuts. Placed end-to-end, the cards would make a colorful train crossing California’s fertile valleys. Unlike other, more action-packed “tall-tale” cards — filled with farmers, fisherman, and children for scale — Mitchell’s series is restrained. Sharply illuminated, the colossal cargo lean toward artwork rather than gag. “A Carload of Mammoth Apples”, green-yellow and gleaming, could have been plucked from Rene Magritte’s The Son of Man.

THE SHADOW promotional matchbooks, 1945

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Second of my two promotional matchbooks for THE SHADOW radio show, from 1945, joined The Collection today. While this latest procurement has far better and more inventive visuals, the first one still has some of the matches inside.

Vertical shot of THE SHADOW matchbook. Green, with The Shadow in... shadow (and red cape) pointing a gun, a skill smoking from its eyes, and, on the matchbook cover, a skeleton with a bloody knife.
Vertical, SHADOW matchbook interiors, against orange. The Shadow, with text, "The Shadow knows."

According to Martin Grams, Jr, in his definitive history of the radio show:

"For DL&W, in the summer of 1945, The Shadow graced the inside and outside of matchbooks... These matchbooks were velvet smooth and sold to Blue Coal dealers in multiples of 500. The price was $3.00 per thousand if the dealer wanted his name, address, and phone number printed on them. 

To promote the matchbooks, a marketing tie-in was featured in the broadcast of September 9, 1945, titled "The Shadow in Danger" ... 

The aforementioned, still-combustible set…

Not sure if there are more variations of them or if I now have the only two variants. If so, very cool. If not, please correct me.