SERIES: Pictorial History of the Sports and Pastimes of All Nations
SCENES: Playing cricket; fox hunting; sculling
SIZE: 3" x 5"
ARTIST: Not signed, but reportedly Frances Brundage
DATE: 1893
LITHOGRAPHER: Kaufman & Strauss
CONDITION: Good to very good, I'd say. This card is only lightly soiled, with slightly worn edges and corners. There's a small tear (about 1/8") in the bottom edge, just below the period in "ENGLAND." There are also several mild creases or thumb bends in the body of the card. (Please see scans.)
MULTIPLE ITEM SHIPPING DISCOUNT: I will ship up to 4 cards for the single base shipping charge shown. For purchases of more than 4 cards, the shipping charge will increase by just a small increment for every 4 additional cards.
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REVERSE TEXT: ENGLAND
THE roast-beef of OLD ENGLAND has developed in her sons the brawn and sinew for which that nation has been famous for many generations. A hearty people, and manly in their sports.
Cricket has a firm hold on the English heart. It is an ancient sport, the annals of which run back to the reign of Elizabeth. Cricket is an evolution from tennis and from stool-ball. Similar games were played by the Aztecs, and by the French and Walloons. It is a noble game, calling forth most excellent qualities of nerve and of skill.
Foot-ball another and most popular national game of Old England can be traced back to the Greeks who had a game which roughly resembled it. So also did the Romans. It is related that the ancient Britons of the venerable cities of Chester and Derby were the first who played football and that their games were held to commemorate victories. Sometimes the ball employed, was an uncanny one being the head of a fallen foe. Football has always thriven on English soil, and is to-day as popular as it ever has been.
Fox-hunting from time immemorial has been an engrossing pastime with the nobility and gentry. It is the pride of an English squire to keep his "pack," and when the hounds meet, all the country-side gather to be in at the death of Reynard, the fox. The start being made, they all follow the trail of the animal as best they may, and he who finally captures the prize, is awarded his tail, "the brush," as a token of victory.
The English are great oarsmen, too, and the perfection of sculling--that is, rowing with two oars, is to be seen on the rivers and streams near London. The skill of these oarsmen in boats which only deft hands can manage, is marvellous.
