Summary

Card game, printed by E.W. Cole. Other examples held in Museums Victoria's collection are dated 1900--1910 (eg. HT 38938), providing a possible date range for this example.

Edward William Cole was the proprietor of Cole's Book Arcade, one of the iconic stores of Melbourne in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cole published or re-branded books, pictures and other publications, the best known of which was Cole's Funny Picture Book, perhaps the most popular children's book published in Australia in the period 1890-1940. Amongst his publications were the 'Cole's Competition Card Series', of which there were 'about fifty varieties' including 'A Tennis Wedding', 'Twisted Birds', 'Hidden City' and 'A Boat Race Competition', all copyright and printed by E.W. Cole.

Physical Description

This set of competition cards consists of nine single cards. Object 90.1577.1 is a light brown coloured card with dark blue printing, indicating the solutions to the questions of the competition cards. The objects 90.1577.2-90.1577.9 are eight identical competition cards, consisting of light blue cardboard. They are folded in the middle. Text is imprinted on the front side along with different line patterns. The two middle pages contain 19 questions and have some space beneath them for the answers. On the back is another text. All print is in black.

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