The clue here was that the title on the card "Weather Forecast - unsettled". Not sure I understand the reference, except maybe the lady is feeling unsettled and is looking out of the window for someone else because her man is always too busy reading the paper. I asked "whether" anyone could add a more intelligent slant, and heard almost immediately from Malcolm Thompson, who spotted something I had missed - he says that the lady in yellow is looking pensive because if you look closely at the paper in the mans hand it says 'Bill' at the top, and what looks like a large total at bottom. He thinks she had been on a shopping spree, bought that yellow dress, and is worried he is about to find out the cost. I think that is probably right. Many thanks.
A notice about forthcoming weather was first printed in The Times on September 6, 1860. It was not called a weather forecast. This was provided by the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade, managed by none other than Robert FitzRoy, who rather intriguingly, but sadly only privately, did actually call his system of charts and plans "forecasting the weather"
You can read more about this at Medium/TheWeatherForecast and on the BBCNewsMagazine/FitzRoy which also tells of his very sad death.
Now there are two versions of this set, and, as this is the first time we featured a card from either one on our website, it becomes the home page.
It first appears in our original Wills Book part one, or, more properly, RB.3 - The Cigarette Card Issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills, was published in 1942. At that time, the sets were purely listed, not given numbers, that idea came later. When you start to look at the booklet, it appears the sets are in alphabetical order, and they are, up to our set, which is preceded by "Beauties", however it is followed by "Coronation Series", Cricketers 1896, and Cricketers 1901, all of which ought to have come before our set. And this means that when the numbers were added, retrospectively, in the second part of the reference book, our set was given W/5, whilst those "C" sets remained as W/6, W/7, and W/8 respectively.
Anyway, in that original part one, our set is catalogued, very well, as :
DOUBLE MEANING
(Note ;- This set has also been called "Well Known Sayings" and "Everyday Phrases")A series of 50. Size 2 5/8 x 1 3/8 ins. Numbered.
Printed by A. Hildesheimer & Co.
Issue date 1898. For home circulation.A series of fifty-two, similar to the above, but with two extra cards added, "A Highland Fling" (Ace Hearts) and "Outward Bound" (ten Hearts). With playing card insets.
Printed by A. Hildesheimer & Co.
Circulated abroad.Fronts in full colour, without frame lines. All cards have "Wills`s Cigarettes" and numbers on fronts printed in brown ink.
Backs printed in grey with Star and Circle ornamental design with "Ld." in circle.
There are two printings, and specialists can collect two sets both with and without playing card insets. The difference is a chocolate-brown ink as compared with a dark brown ink, which on some cards looks almost black.
There is no continuity in the suites of cards as related to the card numbers -
Card 1 Three Hearts Card 3 Five Hearts
Card 2 Two Hearts Card 4 Queen Diamonds
This is a bit confusing, but only because it is lacking an "A" before the first "A series of 50", and a "B" before "A series of fifty-two". After that, where it starts "Fronts in full colour", the text refers to both sets equally.
It next appears in our Wills reference book part two, or, more correctly, RB.11 – The Cigarette Card Issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills Part I (revised) and Part II. This was indeed a long way after part one, and was completed in May 1948, by a new editor, Edward Wharton-Tigar. This may be why each set is now given a number, because though part one was not credited with an editor, the work was done by Eric Gurd, and I strongly suspect him to have been dyslexic, etc, though at that time such was not really noted. However, there are little clues, that other people, like me, who are also dyslexic, etc, pick up on, and it is definitely the case that numbering things consecutively is not something I could do with ease, if at all.
In that Wills Reference Book part two, the entry is much smaller, but quite important, as it adds that reference number, and also picks up on what I worked out from part one, by saying :
5. DOUBLE MEANING - see pages 13-14
- A. Series of 50 WITHOUT playing card insets
- B. Series of 52 WITH playing card insets.
Curiously, it mentions nothing of the playing card version being exported, nor of the difference in the colour of the ink. The only clue to the playing card version being an export issue is that when the five Wills booklets were reprinted as a single hardback volume, it included a list showing the dates of the printings, as performed in England, extracted from the Wills "Works" magazine, was included, and the non-playing card version is missing, which has come to be proof that the set was printed locally and overseas.
Our original World Tobacco Index is similarly concise. However it does add a fair amount of background information, because it is listed under section one of the Wills listings, as one of the "Early issues without I.T.C. Clause. Series prepared up to 1902 for home and/or export brands" - and then listed under sub section 1.D, with "other issues with Limited Liability indication - All other issues which carry the indication "Ld." or "Ltd." after the firm`s name. Series prepared between 1893 - 1902, although some (e.g. set W62-33 - Animals and Birds - may have been issued after 1902. Small size 67 x 36 m/m, unless stated. The set is described as :
DOUBLE MEANING (A) Sm. Grey Scroll backs. Nd. See W/5. ... W62-40
- A. Without insets (50)
- B. with playing cards inset (52)."
As for its appearance in our updated version of this book, that carries the same headers as above, and the text is also identical, though it is given a new card code :
DOUBLE MEANING (A) Sm. Grey Scroll backs. Nd. See W/5. ... W675-054
- A. Without insets (50)
- B. with playing cards inset (52)."