ENGLISH (CANADIAN) PACK.
Dates
- Creation: 1500-1920
Physical Description
52 cards.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
16 linear feet (15 boxes)Physical Location
b
Dimensions
Oval 3 5/16 x 2 1/8"
General note
A pack of 52 cards of the usual suitmarks, but oval in shape. The designs and shape of these cards is copied from German cards such as are issued by Dondorf of Frankfurt am Main and by Twietmeyer of Leipsic.
The figures on the court cards, drawn double busts in reverse, are Kings, Ladies, and Knights or Squires of fanciful design. The face of each card is of a cream-coloured tint, surrounded by a narrow margin of white. There are small indicators diagonally opposite each other on each card. The backs are covered with a design of crysanthemums printed in colours. On the Knave of Clubs is stamped the number 4131 and a six-pointed star. The edges of the cards are gilded. The pack is enclosed in a pink pasteboard box, on which is printed in red: "Monte Carlo playing Cards. Oval Shape. Illuminated Faces. Gold Edges. W. B. T. & R."
There is nothing on these cards to indicate their origin, except the initials on the cover of the box. I should guess that the pack had been made in Canada to supplant the similar class of German cards. It is possible, however, that the cards are of German origin and that a new box has been made for them, in order to conceal this, since articles "made in Germany" are taboo in English communities at this time, (1915.)
Bought in Montreal, May, 1915.
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
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