La Mariée du Mardi-Gras
La Mariée du Mardi-Gras, published by Jeux et Jouets Français. Paris, early 1900s.
La Mariée du Mardi-Gras card game published by J.J.F. (Jeux et Jouets Français, successors to Mauclair Dacier), Paris, early 1900s. Inspired by the comedy play by Eugéne Grangé & Lambert-Thiboust published in the 1860s, the main characters are the bride and groom, the notary and the mayor. The caricatures in the game give us a glimpse of life at the time.
The year 1904 saw the merger of game manufacturers Mauclair-Dacier, Simonin-Cuny, Wogue and Lévy and Perret Paul, with Delhaye Frères added in 1905. The new company "Jeux et Jouets Français" operated until 1931.
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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