Card of the Day - 2024-10-01

Dobie Four Square Books
George Dobie & Son [tobacco : UK - Paisley, Scotland] "Four-Square Books" (1960s) 8/96 - D600-530

The story of this book, by John Boynton Priestley, is how a group of differing people come together, and manage to convince a little town, far away from anywhere, to have a festival. In doing so they find how much they have in common with each other, as villagers and as people of Britain. Its a very pleasant tale though some today may deem it old fashioned.

I cannot help comparing their efforts with the story of the Cheltenham Literature Festival, because although the premise of the story was that the town was to join in with the Festival of Britain, in London, that did not actually open until May 3rd, 1951, and our book was published months earlier, on January 1st 1951. 

As far as I know, J.B. Priestley never attended Cheltenham, but he was very supportive of such events and there is much to connect him with Ilkley Literature Festival, in his home county of Yorkshire, which began in 1973 - and the idea of which was directly based on trips, by the founder, to the festival at Cheltenham. 

J.B. Priestley appears on just two other cigarette cards, in Stephen Mitchell`s "A Gallery of 1934" (issued in 1935) and in W.D. & H.O. Wills` "Famous British Authors" (1937). 

Now this is probably a big surprise to some readers, but these cards were indeed issued with tobacco. Also, though they were issued through George Dobie & Son, by this time that company was part of Godfrey Phillips. And, intriguingly, the books were published by Landsborough Publications, another subsidiary of Godfrey Phillips.

Now if you look in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, though George Dobie is listed, you will not find these cards, for they were issued three years after that book had been published. But you will find two sets of earlier cards, which are discussed with our Card of the Day for the 24th of January 2025

In the updated World Tobacco Issues Index, though, you will find the earlier cards, and these, listed under section 2. "Issues in 1959-60", where they are described as : 

Inscribed "Four Square Books" without reference to tobacco. These cards were issued after Dobie became part of the Godfrey Phillips Group.

FOUR SQUARE BOOKS. Md. 75 x 50. Nd. (96) Issued in three batches of 32. ... D600-530 

We know that the three series were numbered 1-32 (issued in 1959), 33-64 (also issued in 1959), and 65-96 (issued in 1960). The fronts are actual replicas of the book shown, and also show the cover price, whilst on the back is a short synopsis of the plot, without giving too much away. One of the most sought after is from the third series, it is "Tarzan of the Apes" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first published in 1914, and re-published by Four Square Books in 1959 for 2/6d. Now the book was number 87 and so is the card, so it seems likely that the rest of the books are also the same numbers as those cards from this series. I will check that out, later.