Details

Notes

• The characters illustrated derive from various tales: Tom Thumb, the commedia dell'Arte / Shakespeare's Henry IV; Punch and Judy, and Mother Shipton. They are augmented by names of characters in popular plays (eg. Sergeant Kite from Farquhar's 'Recruiting Officer', Mistress Slammakin from Gay's 'Beggar's Opera,' and 6 characters from Fielding's Tragedy of tragedies) and possibly fiction (eg. Beau Didapper from Fielding's 'Joseph Andrews'). There is also a pair of cards for King George and Queen Charlotte, who were married in 1760.
• While the images do seem to fall into sets, the inclusion of stands suggests they were used to form scenarios or used as a toy theatre rather than as a card game. Some of the pairs of cards (husband and wife) are similar to characters in Twelfth-Night lottery cards.
• The cards are from two or more packs of traditional English single-figured playing cards, the firteen court-cards are woodblock printed and stencil-coloured, the ace of spades has a monogrammed tax-stamp which was in use through 1756-65. The King of Clubs has the cross of Lorraine atop the imperial orb and the Jack of Clubs has a feather in his cap, both these features being typical of the period around 1760.
• Together with some cut portions of playing cards, apparently used in constructing the stands.
• Nursery Amusement / A collection of watercolour drawings of characters from chapbook literature and the nursery. / A remarkable collection of seventy-eight mid-eighteenth century cards, naïvely decorated with a series of contemporary watercolour drawings depicting characters from history, legend, the theatre, folklore, fairy-tale and nursery rhyme./ The Characters: [complete listing on file].

Binding note

archival leatherette binder with facsimile of one of the cards laid down to upper board.

Provenance

The estate of the Canadian descendants of Archibald, 9th Earl of Dundonald (1749-1831), or his younger brother Sir Alexander Forrester Ingis Cochrane (1758-1832), naval captain and later admiral in command of the North American station.

Other title(s)

[Nursery Amusement Cards.

OCLC

1365079293

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