Twelve Illustrated De La Rue Games.
SKU:
£2,600.00
£2,600.00
per item
Between 1890 and 1914 De La Rue produced these twelve children's games. Drawn and beautifully illustrated by some of the most talented and famous artists of their day, they were hugely popular and many hundreds of thousands were sold. Being made from card, for children to play with over one hundred years ago, it is not too surprising that so few of those hundreds of thousands have survived intact. It has taken me the best part of forty years to assemble these, replacing damaged or incomplete decks with better ones when I found them. While none of them are mint - if you can find such an animal I salute you! - the condition of each of these decks varies but most are either excellent or very good and half of them have never been used. They are all complete, all but two have the rules and they are all in their original boxes. Some years ago I had an aluminium display case made specially to house them, which can either be hung on the wall or used as a free standing exhibit, with fold out legs. It has a Perspex front that slides into a slot on either side and space at the bottom to place a brief description of each deck if so desired. Although individual decks of these are seen on Ebay fairly frequently, the vast majority of them are either incomplete or damaged in some way. I believe it is most unusual today to find all twelve decks together, especially in as good a condition as these.That is why this item is for sale as one lot. I have listed all the decks individually under. "Individual DLR Games" for people to see but at present they are not for sale as individual packs. Also included is an advertising leaflet for HP Gibson’s games dating from about 1910 and listing all twelve of the games.
In 1903 the Gibson brothers began their games business, which they originally called "The International Card Co” then in 1905 De La Rue agreed to license these cards to them to sell and distribute.and the company changed its name to HP Gibson. This can sometimes make it a little confusing as to who actually made the cards as both those Gibson company names appear on some of the packs, either on the box or on the rules. They were, however, all made by De La Rue.
In 1903 the Gibson brothers began their games business, which they originally called "The International Card Co” then in 1905 De La Rue agreed to license these cards to them to sell and distribute.and the company changed its name to HP Gibson. This can sometimes make it a little confusing as to who actually made the cards as both those Gibson company names appear on some of the packs, either on the box or on the rules. They were, however, all made by De La Rue.