In response to the “uneducated cavemen” slur on Stokies, heard about in the last few days, I went looking for a suitable image which might perhaps be adapted as a riposte. But, in the end, such leftist ignorance probably only deserves to be ignored.

But along the way I did find a fascinating subset of ‘the imaginative illustration’ type: the prehistoric visualisation of early man’s history. Many appeared more widely, it seems, than just in books. They also appeared on things like collectable cards and stamps…

There are also many such in large-format, in outstanding children’s picture books such as The Story of Man (1960).

If I could afford to be a collector of originals, rather than a curator of digital copies, I’d consider making a collection of the best of such illustrations.

Incidentally, one example shown above is of collectables given away in chocolate wrappers. People of a certain age commonly associated such cards/stickers sets with cigarette packets and Brooke Bond tea packets. But you have to wonder if modern chocolate manufactures are missing a trick, when it comes to what little collectable cards might be placed inside the wrappers of their non-kiddie products. Perhaps they might not be a set of collectables, but rather be communicative — the card could be stamped with a pre-paid postage mark, and thus encourage the good old-fashioned writing and posting of picture postcards. By having the Post Office track where the cards were sent from the company could build of a ‘heat-map’ of England showing where their most dedicated engagers are. And all without pestering their buyers in any way.