This card gave us another reference to music, but also many people who went to Woodstock would have imagined, and maybe even hoped, that it would be like this very romantic image, full of be-ribboned, romantic young male poets, with long hair, just like here, sitting down on the grass, and serenading two young ladies,with long dresses, and flowers in their hair, who look quite swept away with emotion.
Now maybe there is a collector of these cards somewhere and can fill in the blanks? I do hope so because they are lovely cards
All we know is that "Vincart" is or was a trade name for a coffee substitute made of chicory, and on the card it says "La Chicoree "Des Trappistes" Vincart - ameliore le cafe". The reference to the Trappistes is indeed to monks, and if we go right back to the origins of the Trappist order it was founded in Normandy, France. Also the wording on the back is in French. The last three words mean "improve the coffee".
The cards themselves follow the same pattern as this card, a third of the front shows a picture of the instrument in a decorative frame, and the rest is a larger picture of it being used. On the back is a little potted biography of the instrument. Our card is the Luth, or lute, and a be-ribboned medieval poet is serenading two ladies, with long dresses and flowers in their hair. It is quite a Woodstockian image, just a few centuries earlier.
Now there does seem to have been two sets because when I was asking about, compiling this list someone showed me the front of a card with a number on, it is inside the frame with the musical instrument on its own. So I have listed them as unnumbered in alphabetical order, but added that number in behind, and if we find any more numbered ones that I have not put numbers against we will know that the set was issued in both forms. The list, so far, is :
- La Clarinette
- La Flute de Pan
- La Grosse Caisse [big, maybe bass, drum]
- La Harpe
- Le Luth
- Les Timbales [kettle drum]
- Le Trombonne
- Le Trompette (No.5)