20: ENGLISH CARD-MAKERS 1761-1905 [NEW 7.11.13; ILLUSTRATIONS ADDED 2.5.14]

A selection of early English courts, by unknown makers, c.1675-1765.

Paul Bostock and I are working on an overview of all the known English card-makers from 1761 to 1905.   We have chosen the dates 1761 to 1905 for the following reasons.   The start date is just before the introduction of the Garter Ace and represents a time when a few of the early makers whose cards still exist were operating.   We have virtually no evidence of the output of even earlier makers.   By 1905 all the major 19th century makers had ceased to exist except for Goodall and De La Rue.   The next set of long-term makers did not appear until after WWI with Waddington and Universal, in particular.   The information has been put together mostly from the London Post Office and other directories with additional information from the taxation records and stationers' journals.   For the 18th and early 19th centuries the blog by Ian Maxted, who includes card-makers along with the book printing trades, is particularly informative:

 http://bookhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2007/01/london-1775-1800-c.html

There are, of course, uncertainties with regard to some of the listings and even omissions and certain practical matters have to be borne in mind.   For instance, if a maker does not appear, it may be an omission rather than his/her not operating at that period:  for example, we found this in the case of the early period of Reynolds, who had a Garter AS assigned to him in 1809 according to the records, but does not appear in the directories until 1824.   Also there may be a time-lag (usually just one year) before the compilers of the directories received the information about the start of a new enterprise:  Goodall doesn't appear until 1821, although we know he started his business in 1820.   Equally, at the other end of operation, it is not always possible to determine exactly when a maker actually finished producing cards.   There may well be some adjustment to the information in the tables after Paul and I have finished looking through all the archives.

One or two particular comments are necessary at this point to explain some of the information in the tables.   Yates & Barnes appear in 1763 at the same address as Durrance in 1761;  we assume some kind of continuity/take-over, though there seems to be no directory for 1762 to help us confirm this.   There is a gap of a few years in the case of Henry Hart;  whether the business folded and was then revived by a son of the same name or the original Henry is not clear.   We know nothing about J & T Cotton, but they are listed by Maxted.   Matthew Gibson and Joseph Hunt certainly joined forces in 1801, so the continuation of Gibson alone in one of the directories is likely to be an error.   The amalgamation of Hall & Bancks and Hunt in 1840 was not the end of cards under those two names;  this seems to have taken place in 1849 when the Bancks Brothers took over the firm and the first Frizzle with their name on appeared.   Changes of name for the same firm are indicated at the appropriate date in the row.   In 1841 an E J Stone appears at 10 Belle Sauvage Yard, the same address where Josiah Stone operated from at least 1812 until 1820.   Is this the same person, or a descendant?   Since there is no record of an Old Frizzle with Stone’s name, this firm could be a stationer or a pasteboard maker, though there were unappropriated aces that could have been used by such small outfits.   Similarly with Henry Wheeler;  he was deported in 1836 for possessing illegal aces of spades and so another Henry Wheeler, who appears in 1844 as a pasteboard maker, is not the same person, though may be a son.   And William Creswick takes over from Thomas in 1846 as a stationer, so when Creswick cards ceased to be produced is unclear;  indeed, we don't know what family relationship they may have had.   Nor do we know when Turnbull ceased producing cards.   C T Jefferies, the printer of Hunt’s last cards, operated in Bristol, not London.

1761-1789

1790-1818

1819-1842

1843-1870

1871-1905

For more details of the major makers of this period, see pages 30-32.

Here are a few samples from each decade from 1770 to 1850.

Gibson & Gisborne, c.1774

Llewellyn, c.1782

Gibson, c.1795

Stopforth, c.1805

Brotherton, c.1810

Creswick, c.1825

De La Rue D1, white edging on pips, c.1832

Reynolds R1, c.1845

During the period 1790-1830 most packs were of one of two types.   These I refer to in my book The Standard English pattern as Type I and Type II.   These large categories get us quite a long way in classifying and identifying wood-block packs of this period.   There are more subtle differences in each category, but that's the subject of Paul's and my book, mentioned at the top (details on my Homepage), and it's not necessary to go into that amount of detail here.   So, I'll exemplify the types on the most obvious feature that distinguishes them, the way in which the eye-balls are represented.

Type I                               Type II

In Type I the eye-ball is represented with a filled-in area at the end of each eye;  in Type II it is represented as a dot touching the top eye-lid, sometimes touching both lids.   Note that there are other distinguishing features, such as the representation of the moustache or cheek-shading and the lines on the kings' shoulder at the right:  horizontal or sloping, but, as I say, we needn't dwell on these details here.   The profile cards show the same kinds of eye-ball, the only difference being that the profile Type II has the dot at the edge of the eye.

Type I                              Type II

Type I was used mostly by makers such as Hunt, Reynolds, Goodall and Hardy, whereas Type II was used by Hall.   Some makers used both types, for example, T. Wheeler and Stopforth.   Of the packs illustrated above those by Llewellyn and Brotherton are Type I, those by Gibson and Stopforth Type II.   The early Gibson & Gisborne is an early example of Type I.

At the time of the tax changes that introduced Old Frizzle aces in 1828 several makers seem to have decided to redesign their courts, too.   These I have labelled Type III packs, in which the drawing of the faces has been simplified, mostly using single lines, though Type II eye-balls are still used.

Type III

There is a Type III pack with a Garter AS on Paul Bostock's site, which has a recut mark dating it to c.1822 (not 1805 as stated), so it seems reasonable to assume that this was a modernized design from c.1820 onwards.   Hardy seems to have been the first to use it, as the other makers who used it, Reynolds, Woolley & Sabine, H. Wheeler and Stopforth, have no examples with a Garter ace.   De La Rue used it as the basis for his letter-press printed D2.

The final type, Type IV, is probably best redesignated CR1, as it seems to have been used only by Creswick.   Six courts are illustrated above.   In this case the eye-balls are all drawn in profile.   It is found with both Garter and Frizzle aces, so was probably introduced in 1820 when Creswick started making cards.   After 1840 makers were redesigning their courts again, leading to the various maker-specific designs like Reynolds R1 illustrated above, and many of which are illustrated on other pages of my blog.

See in particular pages 5, 12, 30, 31 & 32.