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Harry Rountree

Published July 03, 1996 Updated December 14, 2021

Designs by Harry Rountree (1878-1950); Waddington's 1933 Trade Brochure.

United Kingdom Waddingtons Harry Rountree Rountree

Playing Card back designs by Harry Rountree (1878-1950)

for John Waddington Ltd, 1930s

Harry Rountree was born in New Zealand and moved to England in 1901, when he was 23 years old. He settled in London, struggling to make a living as a magazine and book illustrator. Eventually, the editor of Little Folks magazine took him on, and this proved Rountree's big break. From 1903 on, he was one of the most popular and well-known illustrators in London. He illustrated the books 'Fairy Tales' by Dumas (1904), 'Alice in Wonderland' (1908), 'The Story of Wicked Tim' (1917) and many more. In 1919, he was the chief illustrator for comic magazine Playtime, the first succesful comic in half-tabloid format.

Golden Eagle by Harry Rountree design by Harry Rountree design by Harry Rountree Polar Bear by Harry Rountree
Fed Up by Harry Rountree Repentant Sinner by Harry Rountree
Young England by Harry Rountree Young Scotsmen by Harry Rountree
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1,469 Articles

By Simon Wintle

Member since February 01, 1996

Founder and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.


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