{"id":4469,"date":"2026-01-22T08:02:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T08:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/?page_id=4469"},"modified":"2026-05-29T07:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:43:13","slug":"on-line-exhibit-bookmatches-a-brief-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/on-line-exhibit-bookmatches-a-brief-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Bookmatches, a brief history"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Exhibitor : Tom Gibbard<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bookmatches<\/strong><\/a> post date John Walker\u2019s invention by nearly 70 years.  They originated with American and German patents of 1892. These limited their development and spread until the 1920s.  In the United States they proved popular with cigarette smokers and thus with advertisers who saw the chance to exploit giveaway advertising to a large customer base.  Their use in America resulted in the production of billions from the 1920s to the 1980s.  Their use elsewhere was less widespread but they are found from virtually every country in the world.<\/p>\n

This exhibit traces their worldwide development with emphasis on their British history which was hugely influenced by American ancestry. The story is described in the gallery below, click on an image to enlarge it.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n

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Bonus exhibit : British Railways<\/span><\/h1>\n

This is the story of the railways in Britain, told through bookmatches and a few matchboxes.<\/p>\n

The story of the development of the railways up to 1948 is described on the pages in the gallery below, click on an image to enlarge it.<\/p>\n

ngg_shortcode_1_placeholderThe story of the development of the railways after nationalisation is described on the pages in the gallery below, click on an image to enlarge it.<\/p>\n

ngg_shortcode_2_placeholderClick here<\/strong><\/a> to return to the Exhibition Catalogue.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Exhibitor : Tom Gibbard Bookmatches post date John Walker\u2019s invention by nearly 70 years.  They originated with American and German patents of 1892. These limited their development and spread until the 1920s.  In the United States they proved popular with cigarette smokers and thus with advertisers who saw the chance to exploit giveaway advertising to […] Read more<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4469","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4469"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6334,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4469\/revisions\/6334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}