Felix Potin issued these sets in three series, each of five hundred cards, though up to ten additional cards of each are known which have name changes or different pictures of that personality. The first series started to be issued in 1898, followed quite quickly by the second series in 1908. Then there was a break for the First World War and the third series began in 1922. There was also a fourth series, which seems to not be so popular with the collectors of the first three sets, but perhaps that is just because there was such a long gap, it arriving in 1952, and the sort of people who appear are no longer the same.
They are the European equivalent of Ogden`s "Guinea Gold" or "Tabs", and anyone who was anyone was shown there, not just theatrical personages, but sports stars, royalty, etc. The backs are blank because their entire purpose was to be stuck into the grand albums that were produced and to sit on a shelf like a photograph album.
This card shows "Mistress Lilly Langtry", actress, and muse to Edward VII. She was born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton in Jersey, which gave rise to one of her nicknames "The Jersey Lily". She left the island in 1876 and moved to London; she was newly married to Edward Langtry, six years her senior, and a widower, who was comfortably well off, and whose yacht she had much admired from the moment it sailed into view. One of the conditions she had stressed on agreeing to marry him was that he took her away from Jersey.
She met Edward VII when he was still the Prince of Wales, at a dinner party. He was already married, with six children, but there was immediate attraction and she soon became his mistress. However it did not last very long, less than three years, though they remained thereafter. She had a daughter a short time after they broke up, and despite much speculation the father was never revealed, though investigations seem to prove that child was not of royal blood
She started to act on the stage in 1881, reputedly being advised to do so by Oscar Wilde, and shorty after that she appeared in advertising for Pears Soap, a simple job which led to her being the first ever celebrity influencer. She enjoyed acting, and would go on to run her own production company.
She was also fond of horses, and even kept a stable in Newmarket. This was partially brought about by her relationships with two racehorse owning men, the American racehorse owner Frederick Gebhard, who gave her some of the horses, and the Scottish George Alexander Baird who was a keen connoisseue of horseflesh and an amateur jockey, who strangely rode under an assumed name of Mr. Abington, and was frequently in the papers for ungentlemanly racing etiquette. He gave her a horse called Milford, who won several races though you will not find her name listed as the owner; instead you will see "Mr. Jersey", and that is because women were not allowed to register as owners.