Russell Manufacturing Company of Leicester, Massachusetts spent the better part of the early twentieth century making cards. By the 1930s, they had landed on an elegant retail idea: package six miniature card games as a row of leather-bound "books," slip them into a matching white case printed "LIBRARY OF GAMES" along the front, and sell the whole assembly as a single object. The result looks more like a shelf of pocket-sized novels than a children's toy. Kids loved them. Adults still do.
This is the complete six-volume set in its original slipcase, each "volume" containing a different game in its own book-shaped card box:
Vol. I — Old Maid
Vol. II — Authors
Vol. III — Dr. Quack
Vol. IV — Slap Jack
Vol. V — Animal Rummy
Vol. VI — Crossword
The illustrations on the cards are the real story. Russell's character designers gave these decks a midcentury cheerfulness that has aged into genuine charm: Curly Locks, Miss Muffett, Tomboy Tillie, Bill Pig, Prudy Prim, Big Hop, Bo Peep, Harry Homer. Mistress Mary smells the flowers. Bill Pig contemplates a stolen apple. The little walking bookworm mascot stamped on every spine carries his suitcase down the row.
Condition: Good. The slipcase is sound and graphically intact. The six "volume" boxes show notable wear along the top edges — frayed paper from decades of being slid in and out — but all are present, all hold their cards, and the front-facing graphics remain bright and legible. All six decks appear complete; the Old Maid cards are photographed in detail for reference. A working set, not a museum-grade specimen.
A piece of working-class American design from a country that briefly thought a children's card game should look like a library.
Russell Manufacturing Company of Leicester, Massachusetts spent the better part of the early twentieth century making cards. By the 1930s, they had landed on an elegant retail idea: package six miniature card games as a row of leather-bound "books," slip them into a matching white case printed "LIBRARY OF GAMES" along the front, and sell the whole assembly as a single object. The result looks more like a shelf of pocket-sized novels than a children's toy. Kids loved them. Adults still do.
This is the complete six-volume set in its original slipcase, each "volume" containing a different game in its own book-shaped card box:
Vol. I — Old Maid
Vol. II — Authors
Vol. III — Dr. Quack
Vol. IV — Slap Jack
Vol. V — Animal Rummy
Vol. VI — Crossword
The illustrations on the cards are the real story. Russell's character designers gave these decks a midcentury cheerfulness that has aged into genuine charm: Curly Locks, Miss Muffett, Tomboy Tillie, Bill Pig, Prudy Prim, Big Hop, Bo Peep, Harry Homer. Mistress Mary smells the flowers. Bill Pig contemplates a stolen apple. The little walking bookworm mascot stamped on every spine carries his suitcase down the row.
Condition: Good. The slipcase is sound and graphically intact. The six "volume" boxes show notable wear along the top edges — frayed paper from decades of being slid in and out — but all are present, all hold their cards, and the front-facing graphics remain bright and legible. All six decks appear complete; the Old Maid cards are photographed in detail for reference. A working set, not a museum-grade specimen.
A piece of working-class American design from a country that briefly thought a children's card game should look like a library.
