The sovereign people['s] building block[s].

Title & Author:

The sovereign people['s] building block[s].

Publication:

[approximately 1884] (Philadelphia : Frost & [F]ullerton)

Description:

1 set of building blocks : wood and lithographed paper ; various sizes in wooden box 28 x 39 x 24 cm + 2 instruction sheets ([4] pages : illustrations ; 27 x 18 cm)

Notes:
Title from remains of box label.
Patented 15 March 1884 according to collector's file.
Library copy: 20 pieces.
Library copy: in ms., on side of box: Wash D.C.
In Related Ephemera: 6 col. and 1 b&w photos.

Exhibitions:

Exhibited: "L'architecture en jeux: jeux de construction du CCA = Buildings in boxes: architectural toys from the CCA", Centre canadien d'architecture, Nov. 27, 1990-Mar. 31, 1991.
Exhibited: "L'architecture en jeux: jeux de construction du CCA = Buildings in boxes: architectural toys from the CCA", Centre canadien d'architecture, Nov. 27, 1990-Mar. 31, 1991.

Summary:

Paper-covered hollow wooden blocks. The paper is lithographed with images of neo-Gothic building elements, and varnished. From the time of the American Civil War to about 1900, many American wooden toys were decorated with lithographs, often brightly-coloured.
Construction toys were becoming increasingly popular in America by the second half of the 19th century. During this time and continuing into the 20th century many locking devices were developed to make the constructions more stable. The Frost's Blocks are essentially a stacking toy with a tongue and hollow arrangement for stability. (Cf. K. Hewitt. Educational toys in America. Burlington, Vt., 1979).

Resources:
Image
Image

Subject:

Blocks (Toys) United States Specimens.
Wooden toys United States Specimens.
Toys United States Specimens.
Cubes (Pièces de jeu) États-Unis Spécimens.
Jouets en bois États-Unis Spécimens.
Jouets États-Unis Spécimens.
Blocks (Toys)
Toys.
Wooden toys.
United States.

Form/genre:

Tongue-and-groove assembly system toys.
Color photographs.
Black-and-white photographs.
Specimens.

Added entries:

Frost & Fullerton.
Chas. W. Frost (Firm)

Sovereign people building block
Title on instruction sheets: Plans of a series of buildings which may be erected with a single set of Frost's Blocks

Holdings:

Location: Library main jouets et jeux 60798
Call No.: TS2301.T7.W6 F76 1884
Status: Available

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