Discovering London

23/10/2023

How Fitzrovia Got Its Name https://www.peterberthoud.co.uk/post/how-fitzrovia-got-its-name

21/10/2023

The extraordinary sights of London mapped in 1830 - Miss Linwood’s Exhibition, The Apollonicon, The Peerless Pool and Panoramas galore.

Samuel Leigh's map, a Panorama of Remarkable Remarkable Objects in London, was designed to help visitors navigate the extraordinary sights of late Georgian London. With minor roads and features pruned from the map, the visitor was presented with a clear and focussed view of all the "must-sees" of th...

11/10/2023

Marvellously expressive faces by Charles Eade in this 1876 game of "Apple Pie" by Mullord Bros., Hoxton, London.

https://www.peterberthoud.co.uk/post/apple-pie-a-card-game-by-mullord-bros-1876

10/10/2023

Dunlop's Map of Literary London, 1950

Dunlop issued their attractive "Map of Central London and its Literary Associations" as a magazine advert and as a leaflet. The leaflet expands on the map's theme with additional notes. Below the map is divided into four, slightly overlapping, sections and beneath that are all eight panels of accomp...

04/10/2023

Francis Chichester's large Festival of Britain map & a few of his pocket-sized London guides.

In 1947 Francis Chichester first published his "Heart of London" pictorial map as a jigsaw and a folding map. In 1951 the map was greatly expanded in scope and was reused in different guides for decades. Francis Chichester's original 1947 Heart of London map covered a small and very central area. Cl...

26/09/2023

"Gerrymanders" an antique card game, that generated peculiar images a long time before Photoshop or AI.

https://www.peterberthoud.co.uk/post/gerrymanders-the-funniest-game-ever-invented-globe-series-c-1900

24/09/2023

In comparison to his other achievements Francis Chichester's maps and jigsaws are often forgotten. His splendid "Heart of London" map and jigsaw have never been fully documented online.

In comparison to his other achievements Francis Chichester's maps and jigsaws are often forgotten. His splendid "Heart of London" map and jigsaw have never been fully documented online. Francis Chichester famously completed his solo circumnavigation of the globe by yacht in 1967. In the 1920s he had...

22/09/2023

23 Conservative & 23 Liberal politicians caricatured in Henry Reason's 1886 "Game of Parliament".

https://www.peterberthoud.co.uk/post/henry-reason-s-game-of-parliament-1886

22/09/2023

Henry Reason's "The Game of Parliament" (1886) - 23 Liberals & 23 Conservatives battle to enact a programme of legislation. One of of the Conservative’s aims “A law to make every man mind his own business”, one of the Liberal’s “A Law to take the land from the Landlords, and give it those who shout the loudest.”.

Full details of this very rare card game here:

https://www.peterberthoud.co.uk/post/henry-reason-s-game-of-parliament-1886.

16/09/2023

The London Pub, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese - An Antique Souvenir & an Unsung Hero’s Autograph.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese of London City. The Literateurs' Haunt for 300 Years or The Book of The Cheese This book was published around a century ago. If the current pub's owners were minded to produce a new version today they could get away with using the same illustrations. The Eight Edition of "The...

13/09/2023

I loved Struwwelpeter as a boy.

This is a Struwwelpeter card game, produced by the British publishers of the book in 1888, A.N. Myers of Berners Street London.

Struwwelpeter or Naughty children : A Merry Card Game for Good Children Published by A.N. Myers of Berners Street, London in 1888. Heinrich Hoffman's classic childrens book was first published in Germany in 1845. By 1848 an anonymously translated English version was being imported to Britain. A.N. M...

12/09/2023

The wooden streets of London in 1921 - a map.

In the early 1920s the Improved Wood Pavement Company issued a promotional map of London showing the extent of their wood paved roads, "The ideal road for heavy motor traffic." The map carries the boast that:"With very few exceptions the Wood Paving (Yellow) consists of CREOSOTED DEAL BLOCKS, and th...

01/03/2023

Weights & Measures - A Family Card Game from 1910 by Jaques & Son of Hatton Garden London.

https://www.peterberthoud.co.uk/post/weights-measures-an-edwardian-card-game

19/02/2023

An Edwardian Map of The River Thames from Westminster Bridge London to Thames Head in Gloucestershire.

All 29 sections, each oriented in a different direction, cartography by George Philip Ltd. Published by a founder of Chelsea Football Club.

https://www.peterberthoud.co.uk/post/an-edwardian-map-of-the-river-thames

23/01/2023

The first online guide to identifying every edition of Speed by Pepys, from the 1st Edition of 1938 to the "15th Edition" issued 50 years later.

Pepys were one of London's most significant games publishers of the 20th Century.

There are 11 editions of Pepys' Speed card game: 1st 2nd 3rd 5th 6th 7th 8th 10th 12th 14th 15th . There is no 4th 9th 11th or 13th edition.

10/01/2023

Between 1938 and 1967 Pepys of London produced 18 Games based on Walt Disney films or characters. This is a round-up of all 18 with links to more detailed posts.

Between 1938 and 1967 there were 18 different Pepys games based on Walt Disney films or characters. Card Games, Dominoes and a Party Game.

10/01/2023

A 1951 "Festival of Britain Souvenir Celery Vase" - doing what it was designed to do rather well.

09/01/2023

An updated post includes a guide to identifying and dating old Owzthat Cricket Games

Norman Cook of Manchester Patented and Trademarked Owzthat in 1932. How to Identify and Date Early Sets of Owzthat.

05/01/2023

A Victorian Dickens Snap Game, possibly dating to 1875. High quality images of every card for the first time on the net.

19th Century game of Dickens Snap, Dickens Series. Sold as two half-packs, with eight characters on 32 cards in each. W.F.Good, Hull maker?

27/12/2022

A lucky find on eBay a few years ago.

Jubilee of the first election of Winston Spencer Churchill to Parliament, Savoy Hotel October 31st 1950, Menu On 31st of October 1950, 275 Conservative politicians celebrated the 50th anniversary of Churchill's first election to Parliament with a grand dinner at The Savoy in London. Churchill was a....

21/12/2022

An official souvenir bar of Festival of Britain soap. By Richard Wheen & Sons Ltd of Deptford SE8.

18/12/2022

A wonderful jigsaw of a bustling South Bank Site during The Festival of Britain, painted before anything had been built, including one thing that never existed, by a bus conductor & his son.

The Festival of Britain opened in 1951, this image of the main Festival site was produced in 1950 before anything had been built. The original painting of this view was produced by Brian Tilbrook and his father Reginald Tilbrook (1898-1976). Efroc Ltd. commissioned the painting to be tuned into a ji...

08/12/2022

Published in London in 1922, just in time for Christmas, the game of Iddy Umpty.

Iddy Umpty - The New Wireless Card Game - Quickly teaches you to read Morse Published by Thomas De La Rue & Co. Ltd. London c1920 This antique game with its onamatopoeic name requires each player to have a pack of unusual cards. Aside from the all-seeing Joker, the cards each bear one letter from th...

05/12/2022

https://www.peterberthoud.co.uk/post/finding-jealous-horns-in-hymen-s-looking-glass-wardour-street-1814

Satirical Print with two heads inverted. Published as the Act directs Jan'y 4th 1815, by M. Clinch No. 20 Princes Street Soho The Husbands the Pilot the wife is the Ocean, He's always in danger she's always in motion And he who conjoins in this critical state, By reversing this Print may behold his....

06/11/2022

"For Official Use Only - Restricted" The Government Issue Aircraft Recognition Cards of World War II. https://www.collectingpepys.org/post/pepys-aircraft-recognition-cards-of-world-war-ii

03/11/2022

The card games of World War II

https://www.peterberthoud.co.uk/post/card-games-of-world-war-ii

05/10/2022

The Teacher cards from Vacuation, a WWII morale boosting game humorously based on the experience of Evacuees. They all look like teachers at my 1970s Comprehensive, particularly Sniggy Snagg and Mr Tanner.
https://www.collectingpepys.org/post/vacuation

04/10/2022

Bottleneck, a 1945/6 Pepys board game with aluminium components. Play a game and your pieces may contain a little bit of a former Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster or Wellington.

Bottleneck, Pepys Series First Published: circa 1945, Pepys Series Illustrator or Designer: Ern Shaw credited Contents: 2 x 1 single sided Rules Leaflet, one of which is pasted to the inside of the box, 1 Playing Board, 9 Aluminium Hexagons, 9 Aluminium Discs, 1 Aluminium Die and 1 Shaker. Bottlenec...

30/09/2022

A beautiful game that was made in London 150 years ago.

An intelligent game that rewards horticultural knowledge and mixes gambling with education. Produced by the great London game maker Jaques & Son of Hatton Garden this luxurious game has only a superficial similarity to modern Bingo. The game was packaged not in cardboard but in a beautiful mahogany....

26/09/2022

The complete Air-Photo Atlas of London from 1949. Like a Google Map of bomb damaged London with an index of 1200 streets & places of interest.
https://www.peterberthoud.co.uk/post/the-air-photo-atlas-of-london-of-1949