![]() Some of them continued in use in cheaper packs into the 1870s and beyond. One can assume that these drawings from nature were the basis for his early designs from the 1840s and 1850s, which were similar botanical drawings. (Dougherty also copied De La Rue's D3 single-figure courts see page 42 ►)Ībove: Dougherty, copy of Jones design, 1850s The impressions are not from the same plates, but the closeness is remarkable. I have seen a copy of this in a Belgian pack imported into this country by Alfred Davis.Ībove: Rose-hips from Plate XCVI, still available in 1880.Ī mark of the popularity of Jones's designs, even abroad, can be seen in the pack by Dougherty with odd courts from the 1850s with a back copied closely from a De La Rue one of the same period. Again it was used in relatively cheap packs, as it has an all-over colour background. ![]() In this case the subject is a rose branch with hips. On the other hand, one particular design is taken directly from an Indian book cover with a few changes, illustrated in the Grammar as Plate LIV: 156 Indian Rose.Īn example that was drawn by Jones comes from the final section of the Grammar in which he exemplifies leaves and flowers from nature in black and white outline on a buff ground (except for Plate XCVIII, which is in full colour). Later it was turned through 90º and produced in various colours.Ībove: Chinese porcelain decoration from Plate LIX (green in the Grammar) So, this is not a design by Jones, but one taken from his source book. Andrews, which comes from China and is taken from decorative porcelain. For example, there is an all-over one that is used in cheap packs, e.g. Strangely, some of them are fairly uninspiring. There are very few actual examples from the grammar to be found on the backs of cards. He uses the word grammar to refer to the basic component parts from which decoration can be fashioned and hopes to have captured all there is to capture in actual examples. The grammar is a collection of actual decorative motifs from all over the world, put together in an attempt to lay the foundations of all ornamentation in the Victorian period. This is not the source of the designs he made for De La Rue, but it is the inspiration. We need to see the designs in the context of Jones's major work The grammar of ornament, published first in 1856. I shall be revising the linked pages over the next few weeks, so it will be some time before everything is rewritten. It should be noted that the vast majority of the examples in the former archive are the original artwork, rather than sample cards. Some of the designs are specifically marked as by Jones, but he also had co-workers, who are identified only by initials on the backs of some designs. The material was available online, as it was auctioned on, so now I have to revise my blog posts in the light of all this new information. Figured Moguls, Racers) and in some cases dates of destruction of the plates/stones. The albums are 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, and three stock books with commentaries as to dates of use, series (e.g. ![]() Now some of it has resurfaced thanks to Victoria Braojos Nieves, who runs a museum in Madrid dedicated to tarot and playing cards. Until recently, this material was held in private hands and hasn't been available for investigation. However, we know that much of the relevant information is in the material that was held in the De La Rue archive, which was sold off in 1970. It is, in fact, quite difficult to say for certain, which of the designs used by De La Rue are by him. There is no need to repeat all that information here, but it might be useful to consider in more detail which back designs are definitely by Jones. There are also further illustrations on page 5 of this blog and in my most recent book: The British playing card industry 1600-2000. Standard and Non-standard Playing Cardsīack in 2006 Mike Cooper and I published an article on Owen Jones with quite a number of illustrations. ![]() Collecting English Playing Cards & Games. ![]()
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