Card of the Day - 2026-02-24

A La Ville de St. Denis Habitations
Grands MAGASINS de la Ville de Saint-Denis [trade : department store : O/S - Paris, France] "Les Premiers" / firsts (1900?) 3/84?

So here we have "La Premiere Habitation de l`Homme" - or the first home of man. And it rightly shows a cave, which was almost certainly discovered by accident and used for shelter from the wind and the rain. Then, little niceties started to creep in, a place to make fire, and, as shown here, to cook some poor defenceless animal. This unseen man also seems to have found himself a wife, or two, and one of them has a child. Then he probably needed a bigger cave, went scouting, and they all moved out and started to live in that. How simple it all was, once....

The wording on the back of this card tells us that it was issued by "Grands Magasins de la Ville de Saint-Denis Nouveautes Faubourg St, Denis et Rue de Paradis, Paris". That translates to Department Store, at the town of Saint-Denis, in the suburb of St, Denis and the street called Rue de Paradis, in Paris. The word I left out is "Nouveautes", which means novelties. In other words they sold a bit of everything, hoping to catch the eye and open the purse.

This seemed an elusive set, and I hunted through every permutation of house and building until I discovered the same card as ours with a different issuer, Chocolat Poulain. In fact we now know of several issuers of this lovely set,

  • Chicoree ARLATTE (chicory coffee - Cambrai)
  • Chocolat IBLED (chocolate - Paris)
  • Chocolat MATTE Fils (chocolate - Montpellier)
  • Chocolat POULAIN (chocolate)
  • C. MONNIER (Carpet Maker - Paris)

and there are probably yet more to find 

Then the list grew a lot quicker, because the subjects of their set are a bit easier to find online in twos and threes, and it was simple to see that the set is not the history of housing at all, it is a selection connected by the fact that they were all firsts, so from the single one, we now know of : 

  1.  
  2.  
  3.  La Premiere Habitation de l`Homme - the first home of mankind
  4.  
  5.  Le 1er Instrument de Musique - the first musical instrument
  6.  
  7.  Le Premier Vetement - the first clothes
  8. Le Premier Berceau - the first cradle 
  9.  
  10. Le Chien 1er Ami de l`Homme - the dog, first friend of man
  11. Le Premier Brancard - the first medical stretcher
  12.  
  13. Le Premier Miroir - the first mirror
  14. Le Premier Architecte - the first architect  
  15. La Premiere Table - the first table, as in furniture
  16.  
  17.  
  18.  
  19.  Le 1er Moulin a Moudre - the first grinding wheel
  20.  Le Premier Vigneron - the first wine maker
  21.  Le Premier Vannier - the first basket weaver
  22.  Le 1er Metier a Tisser - the first loom 
  23.  La Premiere Charrue - the first plough
  24.  La Premiere Ecriture - the first writing
  25.  Le Premier Pecheur (La Ligne) - the first fisherman
  26.  Le 1er Ingenieur Pont - the first bridge maker
  27.  Le Premier Berger - the first farmer
  28.  
  29.  Le Premier Sculpteur - the first sculptor
  30.  Le Premier Forgeron - the first iron worker
  31.  Le Premier Macon - the first stone mason 
  32.  
  33.  
  34.  
  35.  Le Premier Dessin - the first drawing
  36.  Le 1er Geometre - the first geometry
  37.  Le Premier Char - the first chariot
  38.  La Premier Scie - the first carpenter`s saw
  39.  Le 1er Botaniste - the first botanist 
  40.  Le 1er Papier Papyrus - the first paper, papyrus
  41.  Le 1er Medecin - the first doctor
  42.  Le 1er Astronome - the first astronomer
  43.  Le Premier Puits - the first well
  44.  La 1er Flute - the first flute, as in musical instrument
  45.  
  46.  La 1er Balance - the first scales
  47.  Le 1er Sablier - the first egg timer
  48.  Le 1er Eventail - the first fan
  49.  Le Premier Bateau - the first boat
  50.  
  51.  
  52.   
  53.  
  54.  La Peinture de Tableaux - the first painter of pictures
  55.  Le 1er Marin - the first sailor
  56.  
  57.   
  58.  
  59.   
  60.  
  61.  Le 1er Vase a Boire - the first drinking glass
  62.  
  63.  La 1er Piece de Monnaie - the first coin
  64.  La Clepsydre du 1er Horloge - the first clepsydra clock
  65.  Le 1er Electricien - first electrician
  66.  
  67.  
  68.  
  69.  
  70.  
  71.  
  72.  
  73.  
  74.  
  75.  
  76.  
  77.  
  78.  
  79.  
  80.  Le Tabac - tobacco - not sure this is the same set
  81.  La Poste - postman - ditto
  82.  
  83.  Le 1er Calendrier - the first calendar
  84.  Les 1ere Livres - the first books