Redwall is a series of children's books written by Brian Jacques. The stories are set on an Earth where there are no humans (though they were apparently present in the past) and the animals talk. They've built buildings and formed a civilization. The books were published from 1986 to 2011 - the year of Jacques' passing.

I bought a set of 7 cards around 2000 vaguely aware of the books but not knowing how the cards were distributed. These cards each showed the cover art of of the first 7 books in the series. Until about five years ago, these were all the cards I knew of but then I noticed one lot of cards for sale while looking for something else. The lot included what I was told was a set of 19 American cards plus some extra singles and four cards from another set said to have been distributed through a book club in the UK. I didn't know how many were in the set at the time but the highest number in the group was 12 (Edit: it is a 12-card set - the #12 card doesn't promote the release of the next book like the others do).

A couple of weeks ago, I went through my collection to organize these cards because I was planning on writing about them for Card Talk to pass on what I know and hopefully learn from what others know. I started scanning samples of the cards and noticed that one of the singles was numbered "20."

Below are the fronts to card #1 of the 7-card set, card #1 of the 19-card set, and card #12 of the UK set.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

Are these standard sized cards? I like the look of them.

Yes, they are standard-sized. I have more info on these cards and will try to get to that tonight.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by pcetodd:
Are these standard sized cards? I like the look of them.

While getting ready to scan samples of the Redwall cards I have, I intended to do a scan of the front and back of a #19 card of which I had two. However, I noticed that the fronts were slightly different. It says "A Tale from Redwall" in tiny print at the top on the first; on the second it says "New York Times Best-Selling Author" in tiny print at the top and "A Tale from Redwall at the bottom. Below is a scan of the backs of the two #19 cards which are also different. As you can see, the amount of text is different and company is given as Philomel Books on the first one and Firebird on the second.

I have been told that the Firebird set was inserted with the 20th Anniversary slip-cased collection of Redwall books from 2007 and that it is a 19-card set. You can find opened and unopened collections for sale online. The cards are usually included.

I don't know how the Philomel set was distributed but it appears it was printed around the time the 20th book in the series, "Doomwyte," was released (2008) because it includes "Doomwhyte" as the 20th card.

One additional and weird note about these cards is that I have a clear plastic pack of the Philomel cards but it contains just ten cards and all of them are #18.

I just checked my No. 19 card and it's the version with the tiny lettering at the top, a tale from Redwall and mentions Philomel Books on the back. It's the only one I have at the moment, might have to find some more...

Do you remember where you got it? I'm thinking the Philomel cards were given out one at a time. That would explain why there's a pack with all the same cards in it. I know the 7-card set was given out in bookstores so that might be how the Philomel cards were distributed as well.

quote:

Originally posted by cardscout182:
I just checked my No. 19 card and it's the version with the tiny lettering at the top, a tale from Redwall and mentions Philomel Books on the back. It's the only one I have at the moment, might have to find some more...

I have one more Redwall set to report. It's a 10-card set. I've seen only the front of the #1 card and back of the #10 card in a sealed plastic pack. The front of the #1 card is the same as the #1 of the 7-card set. The back of the #10 card lists the other nine books of the series while each card of the 7-card set lists the other six cards besides itself. None of the cards are dated but you can figure out the year by the books listed on the back (7-card set, 10-card set, 12-card UK set) or the last card in the set (19-card set, 20-card set).

As for values, the 7-card set is not often seen and I didn't even know about the 10-card set until this year. Sometimes, the 19-card set is sold separately but it's often included with the purchase of the 20th Anniversary collection of books. You might find it for about $15 plus shipping. You might find any of the cards for $10-15/set.

The UK cards are elusive but when you do find one or a small lot, they tend to be for about $3-5 each.

Here are the backs of the #5 card from the 7-card set and the #10 card still in the sealed pack of the 10-card set.

sorry cats.. i just received it as part of a bundle of promos from a local seller here in Australia, but yes, they look really cool and the pics and info you've provided, makes me want to find more, thanks for the info

I posted this image of the 7-card set in another thread - might as well add it here. It is said to have been released around 1998.