AN ALBUM OF AEROPLANES ( CIVIL )

During 1935, the Aeroplanes (Civil) set of 50 cigarette airplane trade cards was issued by John Player & Sons, Nottingham, England. The cards were packaged with Player’s Cigarettes.

The 50 landscaped card-front color art-work images feature a mixture of civil aircraft of the 1930s. Aircraft from the United Kingdom, France, America, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Ireland and Italy are included. The color artwork is surrounded by a thin black borderline and a white margin. The cigarette brand name Player’s Cigarettes is included within the image.

The portrait backs include card titles, descriptive text, and advertising. The card dimensions are 68.1 × 35.6 mm.

This 50-card set of airplane cards was very popular during the 1930s. Several identical 50-card sets, with customized card-backs were also issued by other cigarette brands in Ireland, South Africa, and other UK based companies.

An attractive album titled An Album of Aeroplanes (Civil) was designed to include all 50 cards with descriptive captions. The album (shown below) could be purchased from the local tobacconist for only one penny. A typical card front and card back are shown below.

Source : Skytamer