The Society and its History

For 70 years, the Cartophilic Society has pioneered and developed card collecting. It has removed Cartophily from its tangled wilderness by continued, unrelenting research; it has provided advertising card collectors with a wealth of reference material; it has cemented many enduring friendships; banded together card collectors throughout the world; and it has promoted Cartophily to it's rightful status and preserved a fascinating and Picture reproduced from the John Townsend Collection of Historical Advertising Ephemera captivating hobby to be prized and enjoyed by generations to come. It is impossible here to pay tribute to all of those who have advanced card collecting by reducing complexity to simplicity. Many cartophilists have devoted their brains and unpaid time, but none more than the late Colonel Charles Bagnall, Eric Gurd and the former President, Edward Wharton-Tigar.

The collecting of pictures is a primeval instinct, which for many evolves during the infancy years. In the earliest times, the cave man devised crude tools to make sketches upon the walls of his dwelling. In our present day, those who can afford to do so, spend enormous sums upon paintings to adorn the walls of their elegant homes. Card collecting (Cartophily) meets this inborn desire of beauty.
Picture reproduced from the John Townsend Collection of Historical Advertising Ephemera

Cartophily was not always the unentangled, mature hobby now appreciated by thousands of card collectors. When Colonel C. L. Bagnall, DSO, MC, laid the foundation stone of Cartophily in the 1920's, no records or organisations existed to help the collector. It was not until 1935 that the first card club was conceived in London. The Cameric Cigarette Card Club, as it was known, successfully attracted isolated collectors into forming a unique fellowship. The Cartophilic Society was formed in 1938. Several years later, in December 1964, the two movements amalgamated as The Cartophilic Society of Great Britain.

For the benefit of all who appreciate and collect cards, the work of the Society will continue. There is still much ground to unearth; tracing back the development and origins of cards; establishing their historical and social attributes, etc. This and much more, will be undertaken by the Cartophilic Society.

Every collector interested in the welfare of card collecting is welcome to the Society. By joining, you will certainly derive greater pleasure from your hobby.