An unusual, but fascinating book called Prophets of Zoom, it reproduces the front and back of each card in Mitchell’s 1936 series of fifty The World of Tomorrow, opposite which is pictured a modern equivalent – and it’s surprising how many of the predictions have become true!
From author Alfredo Marcantonio’s introduction, we learn that the card set was inspired by a book called ‘The World of Tomorrow’ and drew upon images from contemporary films, in particular Alexanda Korda’s ‘Things to Come’, as well as inventions then at the cutting edge of technology. The individual predictions range from the amazing to the amusing and together they paint a unique picture of the world we life in now, as pre-war Britain imagined it would be.
To take just one example. The very first card informs us that ‘coal-mines and oil-wells will not last forever. We shall have to gain the energy we need, not from fuel, but from the inexhaustible forces of nature’, and the set forecasts wind turbines, atomic energy and solar motors as being the power sources of the future.
From space travel and giant television screens, robots and bullet trains, to London’s skyscraper skyline, this is highly entertaining stuff. |
'Miniature Masterpieces' THE CIGARETTE CARD VIDEO On
7th January 1993, history was made. The first ever television programme devoted
entirely to cigarette cards was broadcast on HTV. Introduced by the well-known
West Country personality Fred Wedlock, the programme concentrates on the heyday
of cigarette cards. Fred interviews some of the artists who worked in the
tobacco company's studios in the 1930s, investigates the printing processes,
and sees how modern cards are produced. The cameras tour The London Cigarette
Card Company's premises in Somerton and Frank Doggett demonstrates some of the
more unusual cartophilic items. 
Traces the history and development of cards from their beginning to
the present day and includes the background of the issuing firms, thematic
collecting, printing and production, grading, pricing and so on.