Building blocks.

[approximately 1930] ([Japan? : publisher not identified])

1 set of building blocks (112 pieces) : wood, color ; various sizes in cardboard box 39 x 32 x 4 cm

Exhibited: "Les jouets et la tradition moderniste = Toys and the modernist tradition", Centre canadien d'architecture, Dec. 15, 1993-May 1, 1994.

Building Blocks includes both plain and decorated elements in basic geometric shapes and bright colours. This combination allows assembly of both traditional and modern structures, as clearly implied on the cover graphic, which shows the blocks assembled into traditional buildings with the modern city rising up in the background.
The set has no visible trade mark or manufacturer's name, a practice common in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when manufacturers sold toys through jobbers who protected themselves by prohibiting the appearance of the firm's name and address on the toy. In Europe this practice had led to the appearance of often cryptic trade marks or initials on toys. While the practice in general disappeared gradually after 1900, unidentified toys can still occasionally be found on the shelves of toy shops.

Wooden toys Japan Specimens.
Blocks (Toys) Japan Specimens.
Toys Japan Specimens.
Jouets en bois Japon Spécimens.
Cubes (Pièces de jeu) Japon Spécimens.
Jouets Japon Spécimens.
Blocks (Toys)
Toys.
Wooden toys.
Japan.

Stacking assembly system toys.
Specimens.

Location: Library main objects 70431
Call No.: TS2301.T7.W6 Z951 1930
Status: Available