McLoughlin Brothers are considered the foremost American children's book and game makers of the late 19th century. The colorful chromolithographic artwork used for box covers, game boards, and cards were illustrated by a largely anonymous group of artists employed by the company.
McLoughlin Brothers produced lavishly illustrated children's books, board games, blocks and puzzles, and a plethora of card games. The majority of the illustrations for these novelties originated from previously published books by the company, including general portrayals of children, animals and holiday celebrations. Many of the images used for the playing cards in The Merry Christmas Games were originally used in McLoughlin Brothers ABC and Animal books.
Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes were a popular literary theme that offered a variety of subjects for publishers.
The Lilly Library's collection includes card games for Mother Goose, Jack and Jill, Little Jack Horner, Jack Sprat, Baa Baa Black Sheep, and Old King Cole. While slight differences exist in the play of each game, all are a variation of Old Maid or matching cards.
The additional image pages for each game include illustrations of playing cards, as well as corresponding book illustrations from the Lilly Library collection.
NURSERY RHYME GAMES IN THE LILLY LIBRARY COLLECTION
The Merry Christmas Games are a collection of six previously produced card games, packaged together by McLoughlin Brothers as a larger gift for the 1890 Holiday season. Each of the six card games includes color–pictorial playing cards, most of which are based on matching and pairs.