Salem Gold-Film-Bilder Album 2 (c.1930s) – Gloria Swanson, Valentino, Barrymore, and More

Description

Published in Dresden by Orient-Tabakfabrik Yenidze in the 1930s, Salem Gold-Film-Bilder Album 2 is a deluxe German collector’s album showcasing glamorous gold-leaf portraits of international movie stars. Produced as part of a cigarette promotion campaign for the Salem brand, the album came with collectible cards tucked into cigarette packs—a golden era cross between film fandom and commercial advertising. The album is richly printed, with a brilliant scarlet cover embossed in gold and black, and inside you’ll find a heartfelt publisher’s message extolling the escapist magic of cinema.

The set includes gilded portraits of silent and early sound-era stars: Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, John Barrymore, Buster Keaton, Lon Chaney, Tallulah Bankhead, Douglas Fairbanks, and many more. The booklet combines larger color plates with pages of hand-inserted trading card–sized prints, each framed within decorative printed borders. There’s a reverent glow to the way these images are produced—quite literally, as the cards are offset by shimmering gold foil with parchment paper separating the pages. An exceptional survivor of both the Weimar-era German print tradition and the global cult of celebrity.

A rare gem for collectors of pre-war cinema ephemera, tobacco cards, or early 20th-century European printing, this one’s a knockout! And 100% complete—the only thing missing is Album 1.