Player's Please

 Most Wayfarers will be old enough to remember when smoking was common; some will remember a time when smoking was thought to be a perfectly sensible thing for an athlete to do.  This little artefact is from that time, it's a Player's cigarette card album from 1939.  My sister found it in an antique shop in Wales and bought it for me, knowing my enthusiasm for cycling memorabilia.

The little album was published by John Player & Sons, and cost a penny. It contains fifty cigarette cards, each depicting an aspect of cycling in the century up to 1939.  They are hand drawn and coloured, with a paragraph or two under each picture.

The pictures do give a glimpse in to the spirit of the times, the long-standing involvement of women in cycling and cycling clubs, for example.

J Foxley Norris' Journal, of which I have previously written, underlines the same point - women occupied the same position of equality in the cycling clubs of the early 1900s as they do today, an aspect of Victorian cycling that often passes unnoticed.

The pictures depict, to a degree, the cycling technology of the time, and records and record-breakers are faithfully recorded.  No British cycle album of the time would be complete without time-trials, and they are there, too.

The CTC does not get a mention, but the YHA does. I've no idea why this should be so.

It's a curious piece; although not in perfect condition, it's not bad for its age, and it is complete, which I suspect is not that common.  Smoking at least fifty packets of cigarettes to obtain the cards, and then probably swapping duplicates to get a full set is a hobby that is hard to understand, these days.

To quote L.P. Hartley, "The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there".

Mark

Author: Mark G

11 Comments:

Brian Bent 13 January 2021 at 13:38 GMT

Great collection, like to see all of them sometime!! I recall being very sick by my one an only Woodbine ,when I was 10 or 11

Mark G 13 January 2021 at 13:54 GMT

I'm glad you liked it, Brian.

One day, we will sit down together at elevenses in Cobham and take a proper look at it.

Tim C 13 January 2021 at 17:05 GMT

David Aylett passed an assortment of old stuff to me back sometime around 2015. A copy of the very same album was included. I photographed all the pages, though apparently in not very good light, and posted a link to my google photo album here:
https://midweekwayfarers.blogspot.com/2016/10/cast-your-mind-back-over-last-200-years.html
I think Dave V. may have this now. I'm very glad you could secure another copy. Gold dust really!

Ged Lawrenson 13 January 2021 at 17:38 GMT

Having looked at Tim’s photos of the cards, one caught my eye - a sketch of a leather saddle that looked remarkably like a Brooks B17.

I may be of more mature years compared with some Wayfarers, but I can assure you that the Brooks on my Dawes Galaxy is a bit younger than the one illustrated! Are there any other bike components that have changed as little over the years?

Mark G 13 January 2021 at 18:24 GMT

I've scratched my head on this one, Ged. The Brooks Saddle was 1888, if I remember correctly, and I can't think of another component that has changed so little in such a long time. Cables - the Bowden Cable - came along in 1897, and they haven't changed much. I think that the saddle in the Players illustration is a Team Professional - it's a B17 with no bag loops.

Any other suggestions?

Brian Bent 13 January 2021 at 21:31 GMT

Haveing.just seen Tim's / 2016 David Aylett's card collection and blogs I see I had already seen them ,can't remember it though .!!

Dave Vine 14 January 2021 at 10:41 GMT

Mark,thanks for posting this, a fascinating insight into a bygone age. I suppose it's no surprise that Player's would want smoking to be associated with healthy activity, but difficult to understand that cyclists would buy that idea. Luckily for us visiting pubs is still considered ok at least for the touring cyclist.

Tim, I do recall borrowing your copy of the booklet, But I am reasonably sure, after a search, that I have not got it now. Possibly I returned it, or possibly I passed it on............

Ged Lawrenson 15 January 2021 at 08:37 GMT

Picking-up the B17 thread - I’ve just finished my Christmas cycling book, Stephen Fabes’s ‘ Signs of Life’, a 6 year 53,000 miles round-the -world cycle trip. He went through 5 Rohloffs, but his B17 lasted the whole trip. Built to last!

Helen Tovey 16 January 2021 at 12:32 GMT

My mum bought a pack of Woodbines with her first wage packet. She couldn't finish the first one either, and never tried smoking again!

Dave F 16 January 2021 at 15:45 GMT

Packet of 5? Oh to be so wealthy. At Fazakerley County Primary, we bought then singly from the news agent for tuppence on the way home from school. My mum however had a sense of smell better than a great white shark, which certainly helped reform my errant behaviour.

Dave F 16 January 2021 at 15:45 GMT

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