A lovely old typeface on these...
Here are a few close-ups of some of the tiles:
"G" is for "girl", with a dolly, of course!
"Z" was a surprise: I expected it to be the typical zebra, but no:
it's actually, and unusually, an adjective!
"U" and "V" are a combined tile, with very sober subject matter
(a funeral carriage).
My favorite tile was this one, "H" is for "horse". Look closely: "horse" is misspelled, which is rather ironic, considering these tiles were intended to teach children to read...
What a terrific find! Thanks for posting these for all of us to enjoy. That misspelling is a doozy!
ReplyDeleteThese are fantastic! I may have to make a mini version for myself :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! Let me know if there are other letters you'd like to see, and I'll post or email 'em...
ReplyDeleteWhat a great set! The zany joker has a very interesting face, and the urn and van seem a typically Victorian subject, but another interesting use of words - I can't actually see an urn, but perhaps they were so automatically linked with vans / carriages of this kind that the child would know it was there? (Is it meant to be an urn for cremated remains? or a masonry urn that goes on a grave? or ..??)
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see more of the letters and pictures, particularly others that are not so obvious to modern minds.
(Perhaps the typesetter could not actually read well himself?)
Will do: I'll scan and add some more tile pictures, but it'll be a week or so before I can get to them. Glad you're enjoying them! :)
ReplyDelete