This card was chosen because traditionally April is the month that ladies start to think of buying summer dresses, in bright colours.
There are also two major events in the reign of King George III that took place in that month - firstly in 1764, when he was entertained by a performance by Mozart - and secondly in 1793 when he was created Patron of the Arts, something which pleased him very much
And this set was originally issued in April, 1905.
It is first described in our original Ogden`s reference book, RB.15, published in 1949, as :
51. BRITISH COSTUMES FROM 100 B.C. TO 1904 A.D. Unnumbered. Fronts lithographed in colour. Backs in green, no descriptive text. Home issue, 1905.
- Gaul, 100 B.C.
- Scot Winter Costume. 50 B.C.
- Romanized Briton. 30 A.D.
- Romanized British Lady. 100 A.D.
- Time of Edred. 950
- Time of Henry I. 1100
- Time of John. 1200
- Time of Edward III. 1360
- Time of Richard II. 1380
- Time of Richard II. 1395
- Time of Henry IV. 1400
- Time of Henry VI. 1422
- Time of Edward IV. 1471
- Time of Henry VII. 1488
- Time of Henry VIII. 1510
- Time of Henry VIII. 1530
- Time of Henry VIII. 1540
- Time of Elizabeth. 1558
- Time of Elizabeth. 1565
- Time of Elizabeth. 1572
- Time of Elizabeth. 1580
- Time of Elizabeth. 1590
- Time of Elizabeth. 1595
- Time of James I. 1605
- Time of James I. 1610
- Time of Charles I. 1630
- Time of Charles I. 1646
- Time of The Commonwealth 1650
- Time of Charles II, 1660
- Time of Charles II, 1665
- Time of James II. 1685
- Time of William III & Mary II. 1700
- Time of George I. 1720
- Time of George II. 1750
- Time of George III. 1770
- Time of George III. 1780
- Time of George III. 1790
- Time of George III. 1798
- Time of George III. 1804
- Time of George III. 1815
- Time of George IV. 1823
- Time of William IV (man). 1830
- Time of William IV (lady). 1830
- Time of William IV. 1835
- Time of Victoria. 1840
- Time of Victoria. 1850
- Time of Victoria. 1864
- Time of Victoria. 1875
- Time of Victoria. 1880
- Time of Edward VII. 1904
Now some collectors list this set in alphabetical order, but this list was done in chronological order. In the original Ogden`s book the list is also numbered, but I find that if the cards are unnumbered it is rather confusing to have them assigned them. For one thing if you send away for odds and give the card numbers the seller has to have the reference book on hand to find out what you want.
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, issued in 1955, the set can be found with a much shorter description as part of Ogdens section 4, "Issues with I.T.C. Clause". As to why it is in section 4, that is because section 1 is the very early issues before the Imperial Tobacco Company was thought of, section 2 covers the "Tabs" brand issues and section 3 covers the early photographic issues and the "Guinea Gold" brand issues.
The description is :
BRITISH COSTUMES FROM 100 B.C. TO 1904. Sm. Unnd. (50). See RB.15/51 and X.1/H.312. ... O/2-96
RB.15 is the Ogden`s reference book that we extracted the list of cards from. X.1/H.312 is the handbook which accompanied the World Index, either as a separate volume, or, later, printed as a combined one with the main volume. However it also cross references to the London Cigarette Card Company`s original handbook of 1950.
The X code tells us something very interesting, namely :
X.1/H.312. BRITISH COSTUMES FROM 100 B.C. TO 1904. The series was also prepared for issue by Wills, see card illustrated at Fig.X.1/H.312. This card is a proof, and issue by Wills did not take place.
Now in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index the description reads :
BRITISH COSTUMES FROM 100 B.C. TO 1904 A.D. Sm. Unnd. (50). See RB.115/51 ... 0100-416
RB.115 is the updated Wills reference book.