Snow White 1st edition
Snow White card game 1st edition published by Castell Brothers Ltd (Pepys), 1937.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs card game - 1st edition published by Castell Brothers Ltd (Pepys), price 1/6d.
In 1937, the Walt Disney fairytale film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” made a big impact at the first showing in America. Pepys thought it would be a good idea to produce a Snow White card game to tie in with the general release of the film in the UK in 1938. Artists were despatched to sit through endless showings of “Snow White” making drawings for the cards and Kenneth Collins, Castell Bros managing director, sat down to write the rules for the game.
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Above: Snow White card game 1st edition published by Castell Brothers Ltd (Pepys) with permission of Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse Ltd, 1937. The game was published with rules booklet in several languages (English, French, German).
A new version of Snow White, much more closely based on scenes from the Disney film and looking more modern for the 1950s, was introduced around 1951 see more →
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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)
Member since January 30, 2009
Rex's main interest was in card games, because, he said, they were cheap and easy to get hold of in his early days of collecting. He is well known for his extensive knowledge of Pepys games and his book is on the bookshelves of many.
His other interest was non-standard playing cards. He also had collections of sheet music, music CDs, models of London buses, London Transport timetables and maps and other objects that intrigued him.
Rex had a chequered career at school. He was expelled twice, on one occasion for smoking! Despite this he trained as a radio engineer and worked for the BBC in the World Service.
Later he moved into sales and worked for a firm that made all kinds of packaging, a job he enjoyed until his retirement. He became an expert on boxes and would always investigate those that held his cards. He could always recognize a box made for Pepys, which were the same as those of Alf Cooke’s Universal Playing Card Company, who printed the card games. This interest changed into an ability to make and mend boxes, which he did with great dexterity. He loved this kind of handicraft work.
His dexterity of hand and eye soon led to his making card games of his own design. He spent hours and hours carefully cutting them out and colouring them by hand.
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