Now this was a bit of a wild card clue because it refers to the fact that when James VI wanted a printing press, he was not entirely thinking of poems and prose. No, his intention was to draw up, and have printed, official, legal documents and laws, which would eventually entirely replace the ones that were currently used in Scotland.
To this day, Scottish law, and government, is different. It incorporates a much better blend of what is needed for success and what is wanted for fairness. It started out by being developed all alone, as an offshoot of Roman laws, but unfortunately this was much altered once The Kingdom of Great Britain began on the 1st of May, 1707.
It was not until 1998 that some of those powers were reduced.
Hence we have this card. Now I don`t know anything about this set, but it is most unusual, and also rather creepy.
Our World Tobacco Issues Indexes tell us that it actually comes in two sizes, and list them as :
THE "SMILER" SERIES. Caricatures, mouths inscribed "Nut Brown Cigarettes".
A. Small, 67-68 x 37. Back with series title, inscribed "This Series Consists of 24 cards." Nos. 1/12 only issued.
B. Large, 82 x 56, rounded corners. Backs with caricature of "Nut Flake" smoker only, no series title. Nd. (12)
Now some time I will use a large card, because it is quite different. They use the same characters as on our cards, but the verse from our reverse is below that on the front of the large cards instead of "What`s the Joke?", and also the number is at the top of the front of those. I am not entirely sure why, because the reverse is entirely filled with a caricature of a besuited man, smoking a cigarette, and "Nut Flake Pure Virginia Cigarettes" is in white within his mouth.
Now I have seen that I can report that actually this five word wording is within the mouths of the small cards too, despite the heading of the set in the World Tobacco Issues Index saying it only says "Nut Brown Cigarettes". It is rather light though, so perhaps they missed it.