Card of the Day - 2021-12-24

Who could we feature on Christmas Eve but Ebenezer Scrooge, recently getting a re-incarnation as, of all things, a soft toy banana. Before that, he was just a miserly, cold-hearted banker, whose heart is not even melted for Christmas, until he is shown what will happen to him in what may, or may not, be time travel, or simply a dream. This all takes place on Christmas Eve, courtesy of some interference from his former partner who is now in the spirit world. Its kind of a fable, but it also tries to tell us that we can make a difference in many people`s lives with just a few changes of our own behaviour.

In our original John Player reference book (RB.17) issued in 1950, this set was given the reference number P/47, and actually there are four versions

• a first series of twenty-five standard sized cards, issued in March 1912 numbered 1-25. The text on card five  is different to that in the set of fifty.

• a second series of twenty-five standard sized cards, which is from where our set comes. These were issued in October 1912 respectively. There is always a problem with this sort of set, as the second half is numbered 26-50 so how can you say card 35 of 25? Other than the rather clunky "card 35". There was a bit of a mix up with this printing because Silas Wegg, card 32, was somehow reversed, so his wooden leg is on the wrong side.

• a set of fifty standard sized cards issued in November 1923 (P644-162), which is pretty much the same set except that the text on card five  is different to that in the set of twenty-five, and Silas Wegg, card 32, is now facing right, so has his wooden leg on the correct side.

• a set of ten large cards, selected from the first and second series, not including Scrooge, which were first issued in June 1914 and then re-issued in June 1923.

The author`s monogram appears on each card, and that is “Kyd”, but he was really an artist called J. Clayton Clarke. And he also illustrated the set of "Votaries of the Weed" for Gallaher.