C. 1830s Handmade, Hand-colored Oversized Cards (Set of 24) Adapted from D.W. Kellogg's Alphabet of Different Nations shapes Paper held to light reveals

Paper held to light reveals watermark "Gates 1824

I believe it is the earliest sets of U

and also it seems in the U

and with lots of character--but I really fell in love when I opened it to find this beautiful backgammon board inside

I’d be pretty confident it was carved sometime in the 1970s—I like to imagine by a teenager in his basement as an act of deep devotion

C. 1830s Handmade, Hand-colored Oversized Cards (Set of 24) Adapted from D.W. Kellogg's Alphabet of Different Nations shapes Paper held to light revealsI think these are absolutely fantastic, purchased in Maine at an antiques show from from a Virginia based dealer with very fine things, and which I absolutely could not leave behind. And after much searching, I found their source on the website of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale: they are from Alphabet of Different Nations: For Teaching Children to Read, published by D. W. Kellogg & Co, Hartford, sometime between 1830 and 1842,