Jeu du Moulin
Jeu du Moulin by Watilliaux, Paris.
Jeu du Moulin, reminiscent of the old days of millers and water wheels, was designed by Bernard Coudert and first published by Jeux Watilliaux, Paris, in c.1880. Illustrations on the cards include the miller’s boy, the maid, millstones, sacks of flour, hens, ducks, the cat and so on... 14 in total. Watilliaux subsequently became part of Les Jeux Reunis group whose trade mark ‘LJR’ can be seen on the rules sheet in this edition. The card game is played similar to Snap. There is also a musical accompaniment►



Above: Jeu du Moulin by Jeux Watilliaux, Paris c.1913. 56 lithographed cards; 14 x 4 pictures, hand coloured, blue backs.
In 1913 the company which had bought Jeux Watilliaux in 1907 became "LES JEUX REUNIS" identified by the acronym JLR. The company continued until 1946.
References
Jeux Revenaz Tabernat - LJR►
Jeux Watilliaux catalogue 1903► (see p.47).


By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)
Member since January 30, 2009
Rex's main interest was in card games, because, he said, they were cheap and easy to get hold of in his early days of collecting. He is well known for his extensive knowledge of Pepys games and his book is on the bookshelves of many.
His other interest was non-standard playing cards. He also had collections of sheet music, music CDs, models of London buses, London Transport timetables and maps and other objects that intrigued him.
Rex had a chequered career at school. He was expelled twice, on one occasion for smoking! Despite this he trained as a radio engineer and worked for the BBC in the World Service.
Later he moved into sales and worked for a firm that made all kinds of packaging, a job he enjoyed until his retirement. He became an expert on boxes and would always investigate those that held his cards. He could always recognize a box made for Pepys, which were the same as those of Alf Cooke’s Universal Playing Card Company, who printed the card games. This interest changed into an ability to make and mend boxes, which he did with great dexterity. He loved this kind of handicraft work.
His dexterity of hand and eye soon led to his making card games of his own design. He spent hours and hours carefully cutting them out and colouring them by hand.
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