8.00 USD
In very nice condition, this is a "trade card," also commonly called a "chromo." It is just under 4 by 3 inches in size. Chromos take their name from the process chromolithography, by which many of them were printed. It was the most popular means of color printing from the mid 1800s and into the 1930s when it was replaced by offset printing.
These cards were printed in vast quantities, and distributed for free on counter tops in stores, and given away with purchases, with as you can see in our scan of the reverse side, the name and address of the business it was advertizing, or often the name, logo and motto of a product (a brand of chocolate, for instance). This card was advertizing the Comptoir Francais. We found no history on the business, but a comptoir, we believe, is a kind of department store.
The collection of trade cards has long been a very popular hobby, particularly because of their accessibility and low cost. Even when the image offered is one of a famous artiste, they are seldom valuable, because they are still usually quite common.
Also, even though the name "chromo" implies "color," and many were in fact chromolithographs, many trade cards were printed in black and white too, like this one.
We've found very little information on this actress. Born Marie-Louise Philiberte Lucy Gérard in Lyon, France, 1872, the great beauty Lucy Gérard was a popular stage actress of Belle Epoque France. One of her most famous roles was that of Fanny Essler, or Elssler, an Austrian Ballerina who in the play "l'Aiglon," by Edmond Rostand, was the love interest of Napoleon II. The role of Napoleon II, by the way, was played by the great Sarah Bernhardt. In fact, Rostand wrote the part specifically for her. The play was a huge success, and became one of Sarah Bernhardt's favorites. Playing the romantic lead opposite Bernhardt must have been quite a coup, and the postcard image we find most often of Mlle. Gérard is one showing her costumed for that role.
In this image, she is performing in a play at the Théatre Gymnase. We don't know what play, but we do know that in 1897 Mlle. Gérard appeared at the Gymnase in "Le Mari de la débutante, a play in four acts by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. A critic from The Plume, an arts and literature magazine, gave the show a pretty poor review, calling the first act nothing more than a means of showing off "the seductive" Lucy Gérard, an as yet inexperienced actress, but one who did a good job. (This is a very loose translation from the French, using our very poor French to accomplish it, but that's the gist of her mention :) Apparently Mme. Bernhardt also thought she was pretty good, since only three years later, Mlle. Gérard was playing opposite "The Divine Sarah!"
Mlle. Gérard passed away in 1941. We feel a little sad when we think about it, how she was born into a world of horses and carriages, experienced France in one of its most glorious periods, Paris, in one of its most glamorous and hopeful, and then to have died at a time when her world had so dramatically changed, into one of machines and motorcars, with her country occupied by Hitler's forces, no end in sight, and not living long enough to experience the liberation...okay, snap out of it Red :)
This trade card's print quality is nice, and its condition is quite fine, despite the scratch visible in our scan. When viewed in person, because of the actual image size, this tiny scratch is effectively invisible.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for fully-insured, first class shipping in a secure photo mailer (to avoid any damage to your purchase in the mails), and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will not charge for postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more. We do not charge for insurance or shipping materials, and as of the date of this listing are still charging below our overall cost on shipping.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!