And closing us off, our final clue was this spring scene, which was from another set issued in April, of 1930. And it also shows sights that are common in the countryside in that month. This was a pretty easy clue, sometimes they are.
I did not associate the month with the arrival of the seagull, but apparently it begins their breeding season. That makes them noisier, and also more eager for food, plus, once the eggs are born, more protective of their personal space.
As for spring lamb, I would much rather mine was allowed to gambol in the fields, and grow up to die of natural causes.
Violets seem to be getting scarcer, and also flowering earlier, in March.
Whilst daffodils are also, at least in these parts, well past it, but Narcissi are still about, as they bloom later. That is why a lot of gardeners mix both, so that the Narcissi follow on from the daffodils and you don`t really notice the subliminal change.
This is a pleasing, yet confusing set.
The first thing is that there are twenty four cards, which seems odd for a calendar, but it is arrived at because there are two cards for each month, our one showing seagulls, lambs, violets and daffodils, with the second one covering the cuckoo, nightingales, cowslips and marsh marigolds. Some time we will add one of those second cards but I have not tracked one down yet.
Way stranger than that, though, is the set`s issue date, of April, for we imagine a calendar to come out at the end of the year and start with January. Or, failing that, to start, like an academic diary, with July. Even the Romans started their calendars in March, when wars resumed after the long winter break. But instead we have this curious system, that starts in April, with our card as number one. And I have absolutely no idea why.
The first appearance of this set comes in our original reference book to the issues of John Player & Son, RB.17, published in 1950, though it is rather buried in the "N"s, between "Natural History" and "Nature Series". It is also rather scantly described, as :
- 137. 24. A NATURE CALENDAR. Large cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Home issue, April 1930
Our original World Tobacco Issues Index still buries it in the "N"s, but because it splits the sets into date order it is now between "Natural History" and "Old Hunting Prints". They catalogue it as :
- A NATURE CALENDAR. Lg. Nd. (24) ... P72-116
And this continues in every respect in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index where it is catalogued as :
- A NATURE CALENDAR. Lg. Nd. (24) ... P644-240