The Streets of London
“The Streets of London” published by John Jaques & Son, London, c.1880
Victorian parlour game described as “a merry round game for from four to eight players” published by John Jaques & Son, London, c.1880. The complete street cry is printed along the top of each card and players compete to complete the most sets of street cries. See the Rules►

Above: eight stencil-coloured picture cards from the game, the remainder of the cards in each set comprise a single word from the phrase. The backs of the cards are plain pink. Images courtesy Matt Probert.

Above: four cards from a similar edition, probably slightly later, with colours applied by hand. Images courtesy Rex Pitts.

By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)
Member since January 30, 2009
View ArticlesRex'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.