Les Iles Les Philippines Rivière de Davao (Mindanao) [Davao River]

Description

original-colour lithograph on thick card, verso: Les Philippines [text]. EXTREMELY RARE trade card with a map of the Philippines and a scene from Dr. Jose Montano’s ‘Voyage aux Philippines’ 1879-81′. In 1868, the Trappist Monks of Abbey Notre Dame d’Aiguebelle created the Chocolaterie d’Aiguebelle which would exist until 1978 and become the 8th largest chocolate factory in France. To create more sales, they followed the trand of other companies to add collectible chromolithograph cards to their packaging. These now stand out as beautiful examples of simple advertising yet educational lithographic depictions of interesting subjects like travel by French explorers, with maps, natural science topics, etc. Branches in Algeria and Morocco were founded in 1941, when the Abbey could still receive sugar and cocoa, lacking in France during World War II.