Accession No

6795

Brief Description

proto-steampunk card game, 'The Age of Invention', published by D. Carvalho, English, 1833-37

Origin

England; London; 167 Fleet Street

Maker

Carvalho, David

Class

games

Earliest Date

1833

Latest Date

1837

Inscription Date

Material

paper

Dimensions

60mm (width) 95mm (depth) 12mm (height)

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from Antiquates Fine & Rare books, Dorset, England in May 2023

Inscription

THE AGE OF INVENTION [top]
A New Game with full Directions. [sub header]
Published by D. Carvalho 167 Fleet Street [footer]

Two hours to the moon is no joke [speech from airship passengers]

I say master Mercury over charged that last letter from Venus [unsure, text is very small] [speech from the man on the moon]

Description Notes

Proto-steampunk card game, 'The Age of Invention', published by D. Carvalho, English, 1833-37. A pack of cards. On the face is an illustration of passengers of an airship going to the moon, with the heading "THE AGE OF INVENTION A New Game with full Directions". It has a gilt border. The paper case is a dusky pink, the front face has discoloured to brown. the edges are worn. 20 cards.

Description from Antiquates catalogue:

Dimensions: 950 x 600mm. Title and imprint from slipcase. 20 hand-coloured etched cards, with powder blue backing, contained within original pink card slipcase, featuring hand-coloured engraved illustration of a hot air balloon, within gilt border. Cards crisp but for very slight marking, some wear and soiling to slipcase.

A remarkable, proto-steampunkesque collection of cards, consisting of twenty hand-coloured caricatured etchings; each examples of the march of industrial and political progress - very much in the manner of Cruikshank - featuring eminently contemporary and fantastical inventions, largely powered by steam, designed to speed industry, travel and leisure in the increasingly consumerist society of the post-Regency era.

The set is absent - as with all known copies - any form of instructions, and belies any obvious understanding of game
play. The only dating available is from the years of operation of D. Carvalho's 'Cheap book Warehouse'

The pack is divided into four sequentially numbered runs, each containing five lettered Classes.
Amongst the cards are examples both real industrial achievements, and obvious pipe-dreams. Thus, 'No. 1 Class A'
depicts newspaper carriers rushing from the Atlas Newspaper office, captioned 'The Age of Printing', with a quote
from the Register of Arts: 'This day 20,000 of the Atlas Newspaper was struck off in a few hours, each copy containing
40 feet of printed superfices, and the whole capable of covering 20 Acres of Land', and 'No. 4 Class E' depicts the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway'. Meanwhile, 'No. 3. Class E', captioned 'The Calais Tunnel Steamer' claims,
somewhat ludicrously, submarine-tunnel travel 'from Dover to Calais in 5 Minutes', and 'No. 2 Class D', 'India Balloon
Steamer' features an advertisement promising 'London to India in two days. Fares 20s each, no smoking'.

OCLC locates just two other copies of this rare, curious and imaginative set, both in the US: at the Morgan and Yale

References

Events