Eight years on from yesterday`s card, but centuries away in style. We do not even know what is going on at that far away beach, for our card, and many of the others, concentrate more on the scenery - perhaps preferring their "Seaside Resorts" to be safely at a distance.
In fact when this set was made, there were decades to go before workers were awarded one week of paid holiday every year - and only then for those workers whose minimum wages were pre-set. This had to wait until 1938, and the "Holidays With Pay Act".
This set first appears in our original reference book to the cards of W.D. & H.O. Wills, which was issued in 1942. That volume simply listed the sets, in alphabetical order, and did not assign them reference numbers. That was only corrected in part II, where it repeats all the listings, briefly, and says, of ours, "10. SEASIDE RESORTS - see pages 23-24"
The original listing on those pages reads as follows :
. SEASIDE RESORTS.
. A series of fifty. Size 2-5/8 ins x 1-3/8". Numbered
. Printed by E. S. & A. Robinson, Ltd.
. Issue date, 1899Fronts printed in full colour, with frame lines. Title of set on fronts, together with number. Views titled.
Backs engraved design, printed in blue green, with six different types of advertisements : -"Westward Ho!" A fine cut full flavoured smoking mixture for the pipe.
"Capstan" Navy Cut. Supplied in three grades of strength, MILD (yellow label), MEDIUM (blue label), and FULL (chocolate label)
The "Three Castles". There is no sweeter tobacco comes from Virginia and no better brand than the "Three Castles" - Thackeray, "The Virginians."
Wills` "Best Bird`s Eye". The original Bristol Bird`s Eye of highest quality for pipe or cigarette.
"Traveller". A bright straight cut flaked tobacco sweetened, manufactured in Bond.
"Gold Flake". A fine blend of mild and cool smoking tobaccos.
It is possible to collect series of cards with individual advertisements. To give an example, Card No.9 is known with all six types, and the compiler has noted the following ;_
Card 1. Westward Ho! Capstan Navy Cut. Three Castles
Card 2. Westward Ho! Capstan Navy Cut. Three Castles. Wills` Bird`s Eye. Traveller.
Card 4. Westward Ho! Capstan Navy Cut. Three Castles. Wills` Bird`s Eye. Traveller. Gold Flake
Card 5. Ditto, ditto.
Card 6. Ditto, ditto.etc., etc., etc
Now the odd thing about this first Wills booklet is that it does not state who that compiler is. We know that it was Eric Gurd, just not why he did not take the credit, especially as reference books one and two both list him as the editor - even though booklet one was a combination of a listing of Faulkner issues that had appeared in The London Cigarette Card Company's magazine "Cigarette Card News", and a follow up which appeared in our magazine "The Bulletin" (December 1941 - Vol.2 No. XXIX), which also added the biography of the firm.
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the listing is, understandably, smaller, and reads :
SEASIDE RESORTS. Sm. Nd. (50), Blue-grey back, engraved design. ... W62-44
A. "Capstan" Navy Cut D. "Traveller"
B. "Gold Flake" E. Wills` "Best Bird`s Eye"
C. The "Three Castles" F. "Westward Ho!"
It is catalogued exactly the same in the updated version, save the code, which is now W675-062