Round and oval playing cards were known in Europe as early as the fifteenth century, and examples by the Master ‘PW’, Virgil Solis and others survive. These early round cards were finely engraved miniature works of art, with non-standard suit symbols such as flowers or small animals. In India round cards are the normal shape. They are round, painted or lacquered discs of thin wood, cotton fibre paper or ivory which may contain up to eight or ten suits. Round playing cards were also produced in the USA in 1874 by I. N. Richardson and subsequently by The Globe Card Company in 1878. Whilst they were advertised as easier to hold, no corners to break, greater visibility, etc., they never achieved much popularity. Waddingtons became the UK publisher of the US Parker Brothers' Monopoly, while Parker licensed Waddingtons' Cluedo. [2] In 1941, the British Directorate of Military Intelligence section 9 (MI9) had the company create a special edition of Monopoly for World War II prisoners of war held by the Germans. [3] The characters of the court cards are chosen from Shakespeare's plays and are arranged into the four suits as follows:

The first set of courts is, in fact, their first design (W1), an odd mixture of other people’s designs usually on cheap card. It seems to have been produced only in 1922-23.

Diaries & Calendars

This prohibition extended to playing cards. In the early days of the war playing cards were regarded as superfluous and the material to make them became more and more difficult to obtain. Finally, however, it was the personal intervention of Mr Winston Churchill which brought the position to a head when he was visiting the troops in Egypt. In 1924 they seem to have introduced a new version of bridge called Buccaneer Bridge with four extra ones (as well as aces). The images are courtesy of Chris Rayner. Hearts for the gentler emotions; Diamonds for wealth or greed; Clubs for aggressiveness and strife; Spades for the tragic methods of schemers. David Thornton, Leeds: A Historical Dictionary of People, Places and Events (Huddersfield: Northern Heritage Publications, 2013), s.v. WADDINGTONS.

I did not deal with jokers in my book, but they can also be useful aids to identification and dating. I give a few examples below. Waddington’s began their ' Beautiful Britain' series depicting scenes of seaside, rural and historic resorts in 1924. The important thing is to have cards freely forthcoming when called for, and although the soldiers should have priority civilian workers need them too.” Above: RIO RITA radio talkie-musical double set of ‘Cir-Q-Lar’ playing cards manufactured by John Waddington Ltd in a padded box, c.1929.To start with, here are a few guides to De La Rue, Goodall and a few, later Waddington cards with Goodall courts.

In 1929 John Waddington Ltd (Leeds & London) commenced the production of circular cards and these were very popular. They were introduced to the USA where sales were beyond expectations. Above: SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYING CARDS, designed by F C Tilney, made by John Waddington Limited c.1925. See more →At the time circumstances were favourable in that in 1922 Charles Goodall & Co. Ltd were absorbed by Thomas De la Rue thus leaving only one major competitor. Current restrictions" was used on the boxes as soon as the War was over in reference to the continuing supply problems. These boxes were used from 1946-c.1950. Image courtesy Matt Probert.