M Hatman
I'll Lock Up
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Circa 1875:
Wow, the word “fiend” was being used way back then for “addict.” Like “drug fiend”. I always thought this was a more contemporary usage - fascinating.Circa 1875, real Lincoln vibes with this one:
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Yep, Card Fiends were card collectors. They would collect and often paste in albums. Goes back a ways with these advertising illustration cards and even back to collecting CDV photos and CDV illustration cards and even collecting signatures/photo's of famous people back in the 1860's.Wow, the word “fiend” was being used way back then for “addict.” Like “drug fiend”. I always thought this was a more contemporary usage - fascinating.
Fascinating (and funny) how they have Old Honest Abe fiending so hard that he’s lying (he wants some for his little girl… riiiight…. fiend!) And this in 1875 - not ten years after his death.
But I don’t get what he’s asking for. It says “card fiends” but it’s a mens wear store? Were there some kind of cards that were collectibles at those places?
Cool stuff, even if a bit confusing - thanks for sharing!
Edit: just some quick Google work gave me the answer: indeed, these were collectible cards, including some kind of baseball cards but also other subjects. This looks like a deep rabbit hole so I didn’t look closely for fear of falling in, but here’s the first website I saw:
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