Cards distributed by merchants or manufacturers to advertise or promote their business or product; their use may have been as "premiums." For small printed sheets or cards bearing tradesmen's advertisements from the 17th through the 19th century, use "trade cards." For cards made later, bearing the name and address of a business concern and the name of its representative, and intended more for information than for advertising, use "business cards." For cards made later and issued primarily to be collected, with or without advertisements on them, use "collecting cards." For cards intended to be posted as public advertisements, use "posters" or its narrower terms.
