Smithsonian Libraries

Let the Revels Commence!

Country Life, December 1920 issue.

Happy New Year's Eve from the Libraries!—Elizabeth Periale

Six (Wild) Geese A-Laying . . .

Hopefully this Wild Goose (or Oie Sauvage) won't get too wild . . .—Elizabeth Periale

François-Nicolas Martinet,Ornithologie [Histoire des Oiseaux Peints dans Tous Leurs Aspects Apparents et Sensibles] [Ornithology], 1773-1792, Plate 91: The Wild Goose

From the digital collection, Ornithologie.

Five Golden Rings . . .

Christiaan Huygens, Systema Saturnium; sive, De Causis Mirandorum Saturni Phænomenôn, et Comite ejus Planeta Nova [Saturnian system], 1659, Schematic of Saturn's rings

From digital collection, Christiaan Huygens Systema Saturnium

—Elizabeth Periale

To Celebrate Card Playing Day...

…we are featuring a trade catalog about playing cards.  This 1898 catalog from the United States Playing Card Co. of Cincinnati, OH is entitled Fashion Series Playing Cards in Miniature. 

The catalog includes descriptions and colorful illustrations of a variety of playing cards.  Some of the cards show pictures of different occupations or sports on the face cards.  Others show the traditional images of Kings, Queens, and Jacks.  The designs on the back of the cards are shown in different colors, including red, green, blue, and brown, or show images, such as forest and water scenes.  Several types of Whist playing cards are also included in the catalog.

More trade catalogs from the United States Playing Card Co. are located in the Trade Literature Collection at the National Museum of American History Library.  Images from this catalog and other items in the Trade Literature Collection can be found on the Galaxy of Images.

Happy Card Playing Day! - Alexia MacClain

United States Playing Card Co., Fashion Series Playing Cards in Miniature, 1898, "National Whist Playing Cards ; Ivory Whist Playing Cards" 

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