Card of the Day - 2021-12-24

P644-060A [tobacco : UK] John Player & Sons “Characters from Dickens” (October 1912) 35/50
John Player & Sons [tobacco : UK] “Characters from Dickens” - second series (October 1912) card 35 - P644-060 : P72-25 : P/47 : RB.17/47 : H.348

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 a miserly, cold-hearted banker, whose heart is not even melted at Christmas - until he is shown what will happen to him in what may, or may not, be the first instance of time travel ever recorded in literature, masquerading as a dream. This all takes place on Christmas Eve, courtesy of some interference from his former partner who is now removed to the spirit world. Its kind of a fable, but it also tries to show us that money is not everything, and a little kindness goes a long way. 

This is another huge group, and this, because it is the first time any of the sets have appeared as a Card of the Day, will be its home page, holding the details of all the sets and linking out to where the various versions are featured. You will be able to spot the ones we have already used because they will be underlined below.

The first time these sets are recorded is in our original reference book to the issues of John Player & Sons, RB.17, published in 1950. In there, they appear as : 

47. CHARACTERS FROM DICKENS. Drawn by "Kyd" (J. Clayton Clarke). Fronts in colour.Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Home issues.

  • A. 25  Small cards, "A Series of 25". Numbered 1-25. Issued March 1912
  • B. 25  Small cards, "2nd Series of 25". Numbered 26-50. Issued October 1912 [showing here]
  • C. 50  Small cards, "A Series of 50". Numbered 1-50. Issued November 1923.
    Note : Text of card No.5 differs from that in A. 
               No.32 (Silas Wegg) is facing left in B, right in C. Correct timbered leg appears to be his left. 
  • D. 10  Extra large cards "10 subjects". First issued June, 1914, reprinted June, 1923. Unnumbered series, subjects listed below with corresponding numbers in small card issues in parentheses ;-
  1. The Artful Dodger - Oliver Twist (1)
  2. Sally Brass - Old Curiosity Shop (30)
  3. Sergt. Buzfuz - Pickwick Papers (13)
  4. Capt. Cuttle - Dombey & Son (25)
  5. Fagin - Oliver Twist (2)
  6. Mr. Micawber - David Copperfield (41)
  7. Nell - Old Curiosity Shop (22)
  8. Mr. Pickwick (16)
  9. Sam Weller - Pickwick Papers (17)
  10. Tony Weller - Pickwick Papers (18)

Now in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, this is all changed, and the sets are split up. The A to D identifying letter codes given above are also, oddly, different too. The main reason for this is the dates of issue, as the pre-First World War cards are in one section, and the post-War in another.

So first up, we get A, B, and D from the above list, under John Player section 2.A, for cards issued between 1903 and 1917 - catalogued as :

CHARACTERS FROM DICKENS. See RB.17/47 and H.348 ... P72-25

  • A. Small (50) - (1)  "A Series of 25". (2) "2nd Series of 25". Nd 26-50.
  • B. Extra large. Unnd (10)

The missing set, formerly known as C, appears under section 2.B, for issues between 1922 and 1939, as : 

  • CHARACTERS FROM DICKENS. Sm. Nd. See RB.17/47 and H.348 ... P72-77

This remains the same in our updated version of the World Tobacco Issues Index, except for the removal of the RB.17 references, and new codes, which are P644-060 and P644-162 respectively. 

As far as the retail price of all these sets, in the 1950s, we know that too, courtesy of the 1955 London Cigarette Card Company catalogue, which lists them in their 1888 to 1919 volume as : 

Characters from Dickens.                          odds            sets

  • 25  Small card, 1st series (Mar. 1912)... 9d to 1/6d.       35/-
  • 10  Extra large card (Oct.1912) ...           2/6d to 6/-       £ 3
  • 25  Characters 2nd Series (Jun 1914)... 1/- to 1/9d.      £ 2

... and in their 1920 to 1940 volume as :

.                                                                 odds            sets

50 Characters from Dickens (Nov.1923)    3d.           8/6d

By the way, though this set shows the author`s monogram on each card, as “Kyd”, he was really an artist called J. Clayton Clarke. And, thrillingly, he has another cartophilic claim to fame too, for he also illustrated the set of "Votaries of the Weed" for Gallaher.