Victorian Trade Card, Dr. Isaac Thompson's Eye Water, Troy, New York

Victorian Trade cards are an early form of adverting from the late 1800s.  Some cards are custom made for products, others are stock cards.  At the time mass produced color printing had become affordable.  Cards were printed up and distributed to stores that sold these products, then given away.  Since these are so colorful and the graphics so compelling, people would gather up cards and paste them into scrapbooks.