Camel Cigarette Collectibles: The Early Years : 1913-1963 (Schiffer Book for Collectors) [Paperback]

Douglas Congdon-Martin (Author)

Book Description

Series: Schiffer Book for Collectors

Year after year Coca-Cola and Camel Cigarettes are at the top of the annual list of the most internationally recognized commercial names. This fact is a testimony to the great care that R.J. Reynolds, the man and the company, has paid to advertising from the very beginning. From the introduction of Camel Cigarettes in 1913 to the incarnation of Joe Camel in 1988, the advertisers have shown a genius for capturing the public's attention and establishing a brand name that is widely recognized, by smokers and non-smokers alike. This new book celebrates the first fifty years of Camel advertising and packaging. Over 450 color photographs capture the rich images used to promote Camel goods. From the handsome men of the teens and early 1920s, through the arrival of the beautiful women in the late-20s, it continues into the war years, and the 1950s and early 1960s as the cigarette industry underwent a revolution in marketing. The images are accompanied by useful captions and an informative text. An estimate of current market values is included to make this a truly useful book for collectors.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Douglas Congdon-Martin is the author of numerous books on advertising including Tobacco Tins: A Collector's Guide and Antique Cigar Cutters.

Product Details

• Paperback: 191 pages
• Publisher: Schiffer Pub Ltd (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887409482
• ISBN-13: 978-0887409486
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,551,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memories of Miles Walked, March 17, 2004

By 

Sherlock Holmes (Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Camel Cigarette Collectibles: The Early Years : 1913-1963 (Schiffer Book for Collectors) (Paperback)

I'm generally thought of with a magnifying glass in one hand, and the bowl of a pipe in the other, but truth be told I've been a cigarette man most of my life, and since discovering Camel cigarettes in the 40s, they are my preferred brand. I was always quite fond of the illustration that adorned the package of the original non-filtered Camel cigarette, and at one time collected the empty packs until a doctor friend of mine told me that my smoking habit was bad enough without adding another addiction to the mix.

This fine book, "Camel Cigarette Collectibles: The Early Years: 1913-1963" should bring back warm memories for all those who would walk a mile for a Camel if only their failing lungs would let them. I still smoke 'em, enjoy 'em, too, but people lacking my sturdy, nay, indestructible constitution, are advised to heed the advice on the package and quit. Now that you can read about Camel cigarettes, that's almost as good as smoking them.

Sherlock Holmes (yes, the one and only)

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you are a Camel fan - get this one, August 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Camel Cigarette Collectibles: The Early Years : 1913-1963 (Schiffer Book for Collectors) (Paperback)

Camel is one of the most famous trademarks of all time, and in this book you will get a chance to see some of the funny things, that the RJR-people have made to promote the cigarette.

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointing, December 13, 2011

By 

Frank Dutton (Many, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Camel Cigarette Collectibles: The Early Years : 1913-1963 (Schiffer Book for Collectors) (Paperback)

I got this book to help date some of the promotional Camel cigarette lighters that have been put out over the years. For that purpose, the book was a little worse than useless. Despite the many Camel lighters that have been released over the years, this book shows only about half a dozen - and, I believe, dates most of those incorrectly. Dates are given such as 1950s - that's a 10 year spread and any given item wasn't out that long! Some of the lighters are almost certainly in the wrong decade - so that's not very close. It appears the author / publisher was just too lazy to do the research to take this from interesting to informative - a common trait among Schiffer books I've seen. For referencing lighters, the book is useless. Almost everything in the book is Camel ads, posters, etc. - many dated to a year. The other collectibles will, I believe, disappoint anyone interested in either seeing or dating collectibles - because there are proportionately so few.

I've gotten a number of Schiffer books and this one is pretty consistent with the others: Excellent printing, the photos of the various items in this book may be a bit above average for Schiffer and are well done, the quality of the book and paper is excellent. As usual with Schiffer (from all I've seen) though, the book falls apart on details and, in this case, diversity of content. Many signs / posters are reprinted multiple times in different language versions. The poor dating of the lighters makes me call into question the date accuracy of the rest of the content - again, something pretty common in all of the Schiffer books I've seen.