The World of Playing Cards Logo

Blanchard, Gibson, Hunt & Bancks Brothers

Published April 30, 2012 Updated November 20, 2022
Bancks Bros PDF
avatar
137 Articles

By Ken Lodge

Member since May 14, 2012

​I'm Ken Lodge and have been collecting playing cards since I was about eighteen months old (1945). I am also a trained academic, so I can observe and analyze reasonably well. I've applied these analytical techniques over a long period of time to the study of playing cards and have managed to assemble a large amount of information about them, especially those of the standard English pattern. About Ken Lodge →

Related Articles

What can we learn from mini-booklet advertisements?

What can we learn from mini-booklet advertisements?

Over the years I have collected a large number of mini-booklets and pocket guides offering rules and...

The Place of the Fool

The Place of the Fool

This paper considers three questions relating to the Fool-card in the tarot-pack.

1912 Kuhn Khan

Kuhn Khan

There is little information available about the early twentieth century card game Kuhn Kahn. It firs...

Poker Patience

Poker Patience

Poker Patience, according to an early 20th century author, was "introduced so recently as the autumn...

Piquet: the game and its artifacts

Piquet: the game and its artifacts

Piquet may be the oldest card game which is still played today with origins going back to early 16th...

The Personalities and Books which shaped the game of Whist, 1860-1900

The Personalities and Books which shaped the game of Whist, 1860-1900

All the books described here are from Tony Hall's own collection, put together over years because of...

Majority Calling and Value Bidding in Auction Bridge; a little bit of history

Majority Calling and Value Bidding in Auction Bridge; a little bit of history

The centuries-old game of Whist mutated through various stages into Contract Bridge as we know it to...

Goodall & Son Patience Boxed Sets

Goodall & Son Patience Boxed Sets

Goodall & Son produced a huge variety of Patience Boxed Sets at different times and for different co...

The Evolution of Whist and Bridge Boxed Sets, 1870s – 1930s

The Evolution of Whist and Bridge Boxed Sets, 1870s – 1930s

Boxed sets of cards, markers, scorers and rule booklets have been around for many decades. Some of t...

Bezique Markers, 1860-1960

Bezique Markers, 1860-1960

Bezique is a two-player melding and trick-taking game. Dr. Pole introduced Bezique to England in 186...