Our second clue was the picture, which shows Lugano, in Switzerland, because that was the venue of the first ever Eurovision Song Contest, at the Teatro Kursaal.
It was held on May 24, 1956, and there were just seven entrants, from Belgium. France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. It was to have been more but two countries failed to enter in time (Austria and Denmark) and the United Kingdom , very strangely, are said not to have competed because they were having a contest of their own. However I have been unable to track this down yet.
The contestants were all solo singers, there were no groups. They were not allowed until much later (and we will talk about them later in the week. Each singer sang twice, with two different songs.
That first contest was actually broadcast over the radio. It was filmed, with the hope of encouraging more television viewing, or probably more television buying.
This set is described at the back of the book in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, as being :
HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE. Sm. Black and white photos. Nd. (52). See RB.21/308A.
a) Back "A Series of 52 Real Photographs"
b) Back "A Series of 52 Real Stereoscopic Photographs". Issued in South Africa.
You will find it listed under the Anonymous "Z" issues, in section 1, cards with letterpress on the back, and in sub sections 2. English Language Issues - without references to tobacco - 2C. Issues 1919-40, and then b. Overseas issues through B.A.T.
Though following the codes might be easier!
There is a bit more about the set in RB.21, which is our original British American Tobacco reference book :
308. HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE. Small cards. Size 68 x 38 m/m. Fronts glossy photographs. Backs in black. Numbered series of 52.
A) Anonymous Series with letterpress on back. Titled "Here, There and Everywhere".
1. Inscribed "A Series of 52 Real Photographs". Fronts with caption and number,
2. Inscribed "A Series of 52 Real Stereoscopic Photographs". Front two small parallel photographs, without caption or number.B) Anonymous issue, with Icelandic back. Titled "Ur Ollum Attum" with text in Icelandic. Front with caption and number.
The front index tells us that version A1, our set, was issued in Malta in 1929. Then version A2 appeared in South Africa and in the Channel Islands, in 1930. Version B was issued in Iceland in 1930. However I would not have connected that version to ours without having RB.21, for it is in a different section of the World Tobacco Issues Indexes altogether and there is no cross referencing link.
Putting the Icelandic title in a translation website does not really help, for all you get is "from all events" which seems to make no sense to me at all. However I did find that in 1919 an Icelandic author called Gudmundur Fridionsson wrote a book of eight short fictional stories called "Ur Ollum Attum" and when I translated that page it told me the title meant "From all directions".
By the way the stereoscopic set is the same size as a standard card but it has two pictures, one beside or above the other, and the pictures are square. There is also another difference because the non stereoscopic set says "A Series Of / 52 / Real Photographs" and the stereoscopic set says "A Series of 52 / Real Stereoscopic / Photographs", each in three line.
Only missing info is that I do not know if the pictures are the same and in the same order?