 |
Hilary Page Toys
|
 |
HARRY FISHER PAGE : HILARY FISHER PAGE : PRACTICAL KIDDICRAFT : KIDDICRAFT : BRITISH PLASTIC TOYS Ltd : KIDDICRAFT MINIATURES : GOLD SEAL MINIATURES : HESTAIR KIDDICRAFT
This site has been created to honour the life and works of Hilary ‘Harry’ Fisher Page and Kiddicraft, the company he founded in 1932.
Hilary Page was born in 1904 and sadly took his own life in 1957. During the years 1932 to 1957 he changed the face of the British toy industry and created some of the classic pre-school toys played with by children today.
Perhaps his greatest claim to fame however is the patent for the ‘interlocking building brick’ later to be adopted and modified to become the famous LEGO brick.
Hilary Page was a well-known writer, broadcaster and designer of children’s educational toys. In 1932 he founded Kiddicraft in Purley, Surrey with £100. Kiddicraft initially made wooden toys, but through his frustration with the qualities of painted wood, Page started to experiment with plastics.
In 1937 he made the first plastic “Kiddicraft ‘Sensible’ Toys” initially under the BRI-PLAX name.
The first edition of his book, ‘Playtime in the First Five Years’ published in 1938 is a valuable insight into the start of the pre-school toys industry that we know today.
As we collect more toys, catalogues and history of Hilary Page and his Kiddicraft “Sensible” Toys we hope that this will grow into a permanent archive of the great innovators work.
If you have any information that you can add or contribute to the site then contact us.
We will be happy to acknowledge any contributions to their source.
Please explore the site, which we hope you will find useful and informative. When navigating the site, click on any image for a larger view and thumbnails of associated photographs. Use the browser back button to return to the menu.
HAPPY PANCAKE DAY - Shrove Tuesday 25 February 2020
PRESS CUTTINGS UPDATED
The press cuttings section (under publications) has been updated with many more gems, courtesy of my collaborator on this site, Susan Mayes. Pick a year - perhaps the one of your birth and see how Kiddicraft were featured in the press.
NEW ON THE SITE TODAY
New sections under 'Products', 'Crown Caps' - A summary of identifying caps on beers and mixers. 'Tiger Toys' Petersfield, their products and relationship with Kiddicraft.
GOLD SEAL MINIATURES
After Kiddicraft launched their Miniatures range in 1957, it quickly became apparent that although the groceries with sweets in appealed to children, there was a market with adult collectors for the replica alcohol and tobacco products. Gold Seal Miniatures Limited was set up to market these through other outlets than toy shops. Although the product range was essentially the same as had been launched under the Kiddicraft brand, Gold Seal Miniatures were packed in gold window boxes (bottles) and matchbooks (tobacco). There were a total of 103 bottles and 7 tobacco products all of which you can see on www.hilarypagetoys.com
MAJOR MINIATURES UPDATE
We have updated the Tin, Bottle, Carton and Specials sections with new photography of the best examples we have in the archive. There are still a few missing, so if you have items to sell then please get in touch through the 'contact us' link at the bottom of the page.
Web SIte Update
We have added the following:
Site wide - new images
Products - new Kiddicraft France, Germany and USA product sections.
Catalogues - New UK trade catalogues for 1951, 1952, 1963 & 1974.
WANTED WANTED WANTED WANTED WANTED
Wanted, KIddicraft Catalogues! If you have catalogues you can scan / photograph and send us, or have catalogues to sell we want to hear from you! email - chas@hilarypagetoys.com
New Trade Catalogues
Several new UK catalogues uploaded including 1951, 1952, 1963 & 1974.
New sections in Publications for Games & Toys Magazine and The Nursery World magazines.
Kiddicraft Miniatures
www.hilarypagetoys.com has been updated with the full list of all Kiddicraft Miniatures. The full collection of 327 varieties are listed and almost all are accompanied by a photograph, either from the Hilary Page Archive or from the Susan Mayes Collection. Susan has an amazing collection of Miniatures and has collaborated in the project to produce the definitive list of what was available in the late 1950's and early 60's. A snapshot of brands and packaging of the era, these fantastic miniatures are a record of our social history. We hope you enjoy browsing the archive and if you can add any information then we would be very pleased to hear from you.
Web site enhancements www.hilarypagetoys.com
Web site enhancements www.hilarypagetoys.com
Over recent weeks we have updated the site and now have all 'known' Hilary Page and Kiddicraft toys listed from 1937 to 1975. The only exceptions are the 300+ Miniatures which we are still working on. All products have either a photograph or a catalogue page scan. Next job is to photograph the rest of the archive and upload the pictures which we will do over the coming weeks and months. Where we have no image, we've posted a 'Wanted" sign!
We've added a Flickr page link and this blog which will bring news and more product background.
Come back and see us again soon.
New site
We have added lots of new galleries and functionality to the site, we hope you enjoy!
