Complete set of 33 chromolithographed cards issued by the Singer Manufacturing Corporation as a marketing souvenir for the World's Columbian Exposition. The copy on the box indicates that the images are in fact reproductions of photographs taken on location, then supposedly colored on the spot in order to "correctly represent the native costumes." Linking lithography to photography was a savvy tactic, piggybacking on photography's scientific value as an indexical process, yet to be wholly coopted into modern art or critiqued for its selectivity. The nations represented include China, Spain, Bosnia, India, Ceylon, and Algeria. The reverse of each card provides ethnographic context, praising the industriousness of the given national group; naturally, these are given to imperialistic and racialized language. Singer was far and away the largest manufacturer of sewing machines, and by 1893 dominated the global market share, thanks partly to successful up-scaling of operations and partly to a diverse and profuse marketing arm. Singer had, in fact, won a prize at the Paris World's Fair in 1855. Cards all bright and fine. Housed in original box, rather worn and with some loss.