The Liverpool firm of Cope Bros. was founded in 1842 (taking over Richard Lloyd of London in 1902) and from 1897 to 1917 produced series after series of high quality cards. They resumed issuing cards in 1923 and continued right through until after the outbreak of World War II. The last of these, Castles, under the joint Cope Bros./Lloyd name, came out in January 1940 and almost immediately afterwards the L.C.C.C. received a letter from the Secretary of Copes stating "the circulation of cigarette cards has not ceased" although was we now know they did not issue any other cards. These cards are printed in a brown colour and varnished to resemble photographs. Maxstoke, Donnington, Tantallon, Newark and Lowther are among the lesser known castles, but the set also includes the Tower of London, Windsor, Balmoral, Warwick, Conway, Corfe, Arundel, Edinburgh, Stirling etc. Among the interesting facts on the reverse are that spies were executed in the Tower during the First World War and that the Earl of Leicester entertained Queen Elizabeth I at his Kenilworth castle for 17 days at the expense of £1,000 a day. The set encapsulates wonderful episodes from Britain's history and the cards are size 68 x 38mm.

Number of cards in set: 25