Breedon Press Ltd
Playing cards advertising Sunspel underwear printed by the Breedon Press Ltd, Nottingham, c.1950
Breedon Press Ltd, Nottingham, c.1958
Playing cards advertising ‘Sunspel Underwear for Men’ printed by the Breedon Press Ltd, Nottingham, c.1958
Sunspel underwear was made in Nottingham from 1860 onwards and it is still in production. The trade name, Sunspel, was used from 1936, and the factory was situated in Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire, for a considerable period of time. Breedon Press must have been a local printer, who produced a high quality imprint, but it is difficult to get any information about the firm. The design of the playing cards is idiosyncratic and not based on anyone else's.
Above: playing cards advertising Sunspel underwear printed by the Breedon Press Ltd, Nottingham, c.1958. 52 cards + Joker. The registration dates of the Ace of Spades & joker are believed to show that the pack dates from 1958.
REFERENCES & CREDITS
E.P.C.S., Newsletter: An Interesting Discovery, Vol.6 No.24 May 1989 p.32
Lodge, Ken: The Standard English Pattern (second revised and enlarged edition), Bungay, Suffolk, 2010
Images and text kindly supplied by Ken Lodge.
By Simon Wintle
Member since February 01, 1996
View ArticlesCurator and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.
Leave a Reply
Recommended
Dutch Historical playing cards
Advertising for Mopenco, the Dutch Fountain Pen King
The world’s smallest playing cards
Samye malen’kie v mire igral’nye karty / The world’s smallest playing cards
Billionaire Boys Club Playing Cards by Theory11
Limited edition luxury playing cards by Billionaire Boys Club and Theory 11.
Benfiquista!
Licensed and sponsored product for the Benfica Football Club, Lisbon, Portugal, 2006.
Waddingtons Nursery Rhymes
Nursery rhyme playing cards by Waddingtons, Leeds, UK, 1975.
South Park Playing Cards
South Park characters and famous one-liners, by Carta Mundi for Hasbro Int. Inc., 2001.
Pentacards
A five-suited set of playing cards published by Fleet and Case Games Ltd., Rainham, Kent, UK, c.1980.
Souvenir Views of Scotland Playing Cards
52 selected views of Scotland by De La Rue (Waddingtons) for GlenAlan Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland, c.1960s.
The Jovial Cards
Publicity items for a group of entertainers, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, UK, 1911.
Waddington’s “Silkette” Playing Cards
Cards made by John Waddington Ltd. for the Madras Club, Chennai (formerly Madras), India, c.1930.
Helmsley Hotels
Publicity pack for the Harley and Helmsley Hotels, U.S.A., c.1986.
Highland Hospice
54 different personalities from the city of Inverness published by the Highland Hospice.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme covers from 1956 to 2016 published by Winning Moves UK Ltd.
Cape Wrath
Images from the Ministry of Defence Cape Wrath Training Centre, Sutherland, Scotland. Published 2010.
C.L.Wüst Poster Stamps
A set of advertising poster stamps for C.L.Wüst playing cards.
Vesalius Anatomy Card Game
Celebrating the work of Andreas Vesalius in the quincentenary year of his birth.
Nomad Luxury Playing Cards
Luxury playing cards produced by Theory11 in collaboration with The Nomad Hotel in New York City.
Chocolate playing cards with scenes from World War 1
An extraordinary Spanish pack of chocolate advertising playing cards dating from 1920
Team GB
Great Britains’s Olympic gold medallists from 1964 to 2004 published by the British Olympic Association.
David Kindersley Centenary
Celebration of the work of David Kindersley, stone letter-carver and typeface designer. Published by the Cardozo Kindersley Workshop, Cambridge, UK, 2015.
Avengers Playing Cards by Theory11
Marvel’s Avengers: The Infinity Saga Premium Playing Cards produced by Theory11 and designed by Mattson Creative, 2021.
Official England Rugby Playing Cards
Pack celebrating the rugby world champions of 2003. Produced by MMcardz.
Beaujolais je t’aime …
Pack promoting Beaujolais wine published by Editions du Nuton, France.
Gó Succo
Gó Succo fruit juice promotion deck featuring Walt Disney cartoons.
Royal Cards Reign of Queen Anne
“Royal Cards Reign of Queen Anne” cover historical events, both honourable and treacherous, during the period 1702 to 1704.
Hall & Son
Hall & Son
Fortune-Telling Cards
Comic Fortune-Telling Cards published by Reynolds & Sons, c.1850.
Comic Question & Answer cards
Comic Question & Answer cards by Josh. Reynolds & Sons, circa 1850.
Myriorama
Myriorama of Italian scenery, 1824.
Transformation Cards for Christmas
Hand-drawn Transformation cards, c.1870.
Playing Cards: A Secret History
Playing Cards: A Secret History
IBM Linux One
IBM Linux One playing cards, c.2018.
Sergeant-Major
Sergeant-Major card game devised by W.G.Smith
Rex Pitts (1940-2021)
We are deeply saddened by news of the passing of Anthony Rex Pitts (1940-2021).
Pepys Games
The Story of Pepys Games by Rex Pitts
J. W. Spear and Sons
Jacob Wolfe Spear founded his company manufacturing fancy goods in 1879 near Nuremberg in Bavaria, Germany
Chad Valley Co. Ltd
Chad Valley Co. Ltd (incorporating Johnson Brothers (Harborne) Ltd, the long-established UK brand bought by Woolworths in 1988 and now sold at Argos.
Multum in Parvo Co., Ltd
Multum in Parvo published a range of indoor games during the period from 1884-1927.
Ariel Productions Ltd
The founder of Ariel Productions, Philip Marx, was a prolific publisher of children’s books and comics towards the end of and just after the Second World War.
Kum-Bak Sports, Toys & Games
Kum-Bak Sports, Toys & Games MFG Co., Ltd, London S.E.11