Now here is a fine feathered bird, who represents the annual Nottingham Goose Fair, which started in the sixteenth century - though at that time it was held in September, its moving to October only happened in the eighteenth century, and only then because of our change to the Gregorian calendar
However there has been a yearly fair like this, without it being directly named as a goose fair, in Nottingham, since the time of the Saxons. Mind you it has been cancelled several times, for both the World Wars, and for disease, not just covid, but also an outbreak of bubonic plague in 1646.
Today it has become a funfair, with sideshows and amusements, which is good for the goose and good for the gander; and also good for it being mentioned here, because if it had still been a livestock sale I would have passed it firmly by.
Our original Churchman reference book, RB.10, published in 1948, tells us that this is not the only version, for it reads :
15. May 1908. 50. BIRDS AND EGGS. (titled series). Size 2 7/10" x 1 2/5" or 62 x 41 m/m. Fronts lithographed from half tone colour negatives with hand drawn tints added. Backs in blue, with descriptions. Printed by Mardon, Son and Hall. Also issued by Edwards, Ringer & Bigg, Harvey Davy, and Lambert & Butler.
In our World Tobacco Issues Indexes; the set is just listed, without any direct mention of the other issuers as :
BIRDS & EGGS. Sm. Nd. (50). See H.60.
However, that H.60 reference, which leads us to the handbook, is very important. The entire text reads :
H.60. BIRDS & EGGS (titled in Churchman and Lambert and Butler issue only). Fronts in colour. Series of 50.
Pre-1919 :
Churchman - Titled. Numbered in parentheses below.
Edwards, Ringer & Bigg - Untitled and unnumbered.
Gallaher - Untitled and unnumbered. Harvey & Davy cards with Gallaher label on back. Label inscribed :
A. "Gallaher Ltd"
B. "Manufactured by Gallaher Ltd., Belfast and London".Harvey & Davy Untitled and unnumbered. [in newsletter - on Monday 19th December]
Lambert & Butler - Titled. Numbered in parentheses below.
There then follows a listing, which I will scan and add later.
We know that the Harvey and Davy issue preceded the Gallaher issue, because they were the same card, with the addition of the Gallaher label. In fact what we presume happened was that when Gallaher took over Harvey and Davy in 1905 they found left-over stocks of these cards in the warehouse and decided to recycle them.
The Churchman version came along next, in May 1906, followed almost immediately by the Edwards, Ringer and Bigg in June 1906. Oddly, the Edwards Ringer and Bigg version was untitled and un-numbered. Then there was the Lambert and Butler version, which was issued twice, in 1906 and 1917, but I have not been able to find a month for either year, yet.
All three of these makers were part of Imperial Tobacco, but what intrigues me is that our Churchman reference book firmly states that their set was "Printed by Mardon, Son and Hall". This raises a question about who printed the Harvey and Davy ones? We could surmise that Gallaher had the artwork, and did not pass it along, simply because they were not part of Imperial Tobacco, but perhaps they never had it in the first place, for, remember, they recycled the cards that they found in stock when they bought Harvey and Davy. If they had found the artwork they would probably have altered that and not resorted to labels. So did Imperial Tobacco simply acquire a set of the cards and make new artwork from them? And does this also explain why the Harvey & Davy/Gallaher cards were 60 x 35 m/m and the three Imperial Tobacco ones were a more regulation size, and taller, at 67-68 x 36 m/m.