Waddingtons Nursery Rhymes
Nursery rhyme playing cards by Waddingtons, Leeds, UK, 1975.
waddingtons Nursery Rhyme cards were no doubt intended for children to play a Happy Families or quartet type of game; however, they also include the traditional markings of a suited pack. Each nursery rhyme consists of four cards, say the 4 Kings, three being pictorial and one having the text of the rhyme. Thus, there are 13 rhymes in all. The designer/artist is not credited. One curious feature is that the typeface used for the “A” on the Ace of Spades is different from the other three Aces. The pack appears to have been issued in two versions, one in a large pink drop-lid box with rules printed on the bottom of the box, and the other in a clear plastic box with a paper leaflet containing the rules. Neither version has any Jokers or extra cards.
Above: Nursery Rhyme playing cards by Waddingtons Playing Card Co. Ltd, Leeds, UK, 1975. 52 cards (see text for details of boxes, leaflet, etc.). Size: 58 x 88 mm. Right: the back.
By Roddy Somerville
France • Member since May 31, 2022
Roddy started collecting stamps on his 8th birthday. In 1977 he joined the newly formed playing-card department at Stanley Gibbons in London before setting up his own business in Edinburgh four years later. His collecting interests include playing cards, postcards, stamps (especially playing cards on stamps) and sugar wrappers. He is a Past President of the Scottish Philatelic Society, a former Chairman of the IPCS, a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards and Curator of the WCMPC’s collection of playing cards. He lives near Toulouse in France.
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