77: The Standard English pattern - Part 1, the basics

My collection has concentrated on the standard English pattern for many years and I've produced details of the various designs used for the pattern in both the UK and the rest of the world.   Any of the regional patterns display variation of style, usually specific to one maker and sometimes these variants involve deviation from the norm.   But first of all we need to determine what the norm is.   In its earliest form we have the traditional Rouen pattern with its single-figure court postures and six pips on the left of the card and six on the right.   (This is typically referred to as "unturned": we can abbreviate this to 6L/6R.)  The pip cards also have a fixed set of arrangements of the suit signs, also single-ended.   This format is the one adopted by the English card-makers from the 17th century onwards.   We can call this type A;  I give a few examples below.

Reproduction of some of the courts by Pierre Maréchal of Rouen, 16th century

Gibson & Gisborne, c.1780, showing some of the traditional pip arrangements

De La Rue D2, used from 1832, in letterpress rather than wood-block

After 1820 English card-makers began to "modernize" their designs, that is they updated their blocks and stereotypes for those who used them, such as Hunt and Reynolds.   In the process some of the original features of the courts were misinterpreted, so the JH holds a leaf rather than the top of a staff and the KH holds a sword instead of an axe-handle. The hands of the profile courts were also turned round so that we view them from the front rather than from the back.

Hunt HB1 from c.1830

Reynolds R1 from c.1845

In De La Rue's D3 of c.1845 the hand of the JS hasn't been turned round, but the JH and KD have lost one of theirs. The KH holds the most obvious example of a sword with its hand guard.

The next stage in the development was double-ending around 1850. This process retained the six left/six right pips in the courts and the pips were left single-ended to start with. (In the US double-ended pips appeared earlier than they did in England.) We can designate this stage as type B. Inevitably, parts of the original design disappear and often the courts have only one hand. The hand under the KC's orb disappears, so it just floats below his shoulder.

An early example from Hunt, using stereotypes based on wood-block designs, c.1848-50

A double-ended version of the Victoria-size cards (D3.2), c.1855

The last version of Waddington's design (W5.6), in use c.1952-70

Some time in the 1860s suggestions were being made in the trade press that having all twelve pips on the left would help identification of the courts in games where a lot of cards were held, as in whist. Not all makers latched onto this innovation right away, but by the mid-1870s the major ones had gone down that road. This involved turning the six courts that had pips on the right to put them on the left. Other options were possible: the traditional posture could be adjusted to make way for the pip at the left, but mostly turning of the figure was the solution. The version with all twelve pips on the left (12L) we can call type C.

The earliest example I can find of turned courts, by Bancks (HB4) with an Old Frizzle AS and double-ended pips split diagonally, c.1860

Interestingly, James English, who started making cards in 1865 without any prior training, only used turned courts. Note that the KD's hand isn't turned towards us. The pip cards are all one-way until the 1880s.

During this period, roughly 1865-1880, makers had two types of court, B and C.   Sometimes these overlapped, but eventually for some makers the turned courts became the norm. Here are some examples of turned and unturned courts by the same maker.

De La Rue D5, c.1865-72

De La Rue D6, turned courts, JS's hand turned to viewer, c.1870-1910 (with indices)

Goodall G3, c.1860-72

Goodall G4, c.1872-80. This version of the design was continued with slight alterations and reductions in size until c.1900. It is the basis of the narrower version that is still used in Waddington's No.1 packs by Winning Moves.

Woolley unturned courts, c.1866-80, pip cards one-way

Woolley turned courts, c.1878-1904. These were usually used with indices either of the Eureka type or the more normal ones until the firm was sold.

From c.1875 onwards card-makers gradually moved their pip cards over to being double-ended. The standard patterns were: 1/1; 2/1; 2/2; 3/2; 4/2; 5/2; 5/3; 5/4; 5/5. Those with 'top-heavy' arrangements can be considered 'the right way up'. This correct way of arranging the suit signs wasn't always in line with the back design, even as late as the 1930s in the cheaper packs, but in more expensive packs it became the norm by 1900. The example below is from a De La Rue rubicon bézique set from the 1890s with the same back design in all four packs, but the two 7Ss are orientated differently vis-à-vis the back design.

Putting twelve pips on the left sometimes resulted in alterations to the basic posture of some of the courts, but I'll leave that to Part 2.