Newsletter - 2026-08-01

Welcome to another curious edition of "Notes and News". 

I have now relocated from High Wycombe, but I thought it would be have fun to have a wander down the Wye, as nipper and I did almost every evening, racing back before the sun went completely down.

I have to say at first I thought it to just be a local river, but then someone told me it was the Wye, so I was immediately awestruck, for I joined it to another Wye, that being the one which begins at Plylimon in Mid Wales. However, that goes nowhere near High Wycombe, it runs for a hundred and sixty miles, exhausting itself into the Severn estuary. That still makes it the fourth longest of all the rivers in Great Britain, and it is also notable because for much of its length it forms the border between England and Wales. 

Hill Views of the River Thames

The Wye that runs through High Wycombe, in which nipper so enjoyed a paddle, is a chalk stream, only ten and a half miles long, starting just off Chorley Road in West Wycombe and finally dispersing of its water in the River Thames on the reach just above Cookham lock, hence this card, showing the Cliveden, or "My Lady" Ferry, which is between Cookham and Boulter`s Lock. 

As to what a "chalk stream" is, well the clue is in the name, for it is simply water that flows out of a natural spring in an area where the predominant geology is a chalk bedrock. The very nature of the chalk allows the water to flow freely, and also generally means that the stream is clear, being unaffected by organic matter and the usual sediment that slurries up from the bottom of different rivers.

It`s clearness makes it beloved by lots of wildlife, including the brimstone butterfly, which we featured as our Card of the Day for the 14th of March, 2025, and the salmon, which we featured as our Cards of the Day for the 22nd of March 2024 and the 25th of February, 2025. I can see that one of those will have to be changed when I get round to making a subject index; and not just that, for I have noticed during my card indexing that several people and subjects also appear more than once.

Now this card is often called simply "The River Thames", but if we look closely there are other words, rather buried in the foliage, in front of that, namely "50 Views of". In fact it also turns out that there are three versions, this being the standard size, and the other two being larger, one of them being as this, in green only, and the other being in black and green. And you can see that black and green version in our newsletter of the https://csgb.co.uk/publications/newsletter/2025-09-27, by scrolling down to Sunday the 28th. 

Our standard sized set first appears in our original reference book RB.2, published in 1942, and devoted to the issues of R. & J. Hill, where it is recorded as : 

  • 1924.  50. VIEWS OF THE RIVER THAMES (titled series). Size 2 9/16" x 1 7/16". Numbered 1-50. Fronts, printed three colour letterpress from half-tone blocks, white margins, but untitled for subjects. Backs, printed in deep green, with descriptions and "Issued with Spinet Round Cork Tipped Cigarettes, The Spinet House".. 

    This series can also be collected with the backs printed in yellow green. It was issued as two sets of twenty five with a period in between. Printed by Ripley & Co. London

Mind you, in our original World Tobacco Issues Index it is listed twice, once as "THE RIVER THAMES - see under "Views of the River Thames",  and once as : 

  • VIEWS OF THE RIVER THAMES. Nd. (50). Inscribed "The Spinet House" without name of firm. Special album issued.  ... H46-65

    A. Small, 64 x 37

But that still leaves off the "50" at the very start of the title, which makes me think that the original compiler perhaps didn`t spot it.... 

Speaking of indexing...  

I did actually manage to do a few back issues of the newsletter this week, namely those for the 14th of January 2023, the 21st of January 2023, the 28th of January 2023 and the 4th of February 2023. 

I then cracked on and added the one for the 7th of January 2023 - which means that the next edition will be a 2022 one, and that there are then but a year and three months to go before I run out of the ones which are currently published, so can start working on other things. And the first of these will definitely be to tally the issue dates on the index page with the dates given in the issue dates blog, simply because they often only appear on one of those sites and not two. 

This Week`s events and meetings : 

Sunday the 2nd of August :

  • Winchester & Solent - from 1.30 p.m. until 4.00 p.m. at Botley Market Hall, High Street, Botley, near Southampton SO30 2EA. This one is mainly swapping and selling between visitors and club members, but its always a fun day out and often turns up some treasures. By the way their next all day fair will be on Sunday November 1st.

Monday the 3rd of August :

  • Northants - from 6 p.m. until approximately 9 p.m. at Weston Favell Parish Hall, on Booth Lane South, Northampton, NN3 3EP. The club aims to have one visiting dealer at each meeting, but there is also lots of friendly dealing and exchanging done between collectors.

Thursday the 6th of August  

  • Kent Card Club - from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. at St. Nicholas Church Hall, Leamington Avenue, Orpington, BR6 9QB. The hall is easy to reach by public transport or road, car parking is free, but please don`t block the small white gate in the corner as this is the access to a primary school. Thank you. Regular attendees are Garry Arkell  of Loddon Auctions, Peter Beer, Oliver Cleaver, Steve Doyle, Paul Eacott, Marcel Epstein, Alex Fairbairn, Garry Ford, Paul Hart, Nick Heading, Mike Heard, Paul Lynch, Keith Miller, Mike and Judith Towersey, and Dave Turnbull who does the auction. We aim to offer a range of ephemera and collectables every time, including, but not limited to cigarette cards, trade cards, Pokemon and other moderns, silks, postcards, and football programmes. And admission is just £1.00 per person

Sunday the 9th of August - two meetings

  • Cheshire - from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. at Larkhill Community Centre in Thorley Lane, Timperley WA15 7AZ. Admission here is £2 and the main dealers are Mike Heard and Paul Lynch
     
  • Hants & Surrey -  from 1.30 to 4.30 p.m. at Normandy Village Hall, Manor Fruit Farm, Glaziers Lane, Normandy, GU3 2DD. This event offers free admission to all collectors, and especially welcomes beginners, or people looking to find out more about the hobby

Before we go : 

I thought it may be fun to revisit a few newsletters past which were published around this week, namely : 

And if you have any updates, comments, or suggestions for any of these, do please let us know, by emailing webmaster@card-world.co.uk