Friendly Animal ABC and Picture Blocks No. 6301

[EPHEMERA] [JUVENILE EDUCATION] [ABECEDARIAN]. (12 5/8" x 10") box of stiff paper board with a lid, chromolithographed titled pictorial on the lid features two young girls and a cow; box side panels with repairs; 9 wooden blocks each measuring (4" x 3 1/8" x ¾") with a titled illustration of an animal on the two large sides, and either a decorative letter or numbered onlay to each long side; blocks near fine, box very good plus with repairs. Not recorded. Scarce in the marketplace and not listed in OCLC.

The nine wooden blocks feature the numbers one through nine plus zero, and the alphabet in both capitals and small case on illustrated paper onlaid down the long narrow sides. The following featured animals are pictured in bright chromolithographs on the large block surfaces: a Dog, Guinea Pigs, a Rooster and Hen, Rabbits, Geese, Goat, Cow, Squirrels, Ducks and Drake Duckling, Kittens, Turkeys, Horse, Donkey and Foal, Pigs, Calves, Pigeon, Pony, Sheep and Lamb. The blocks can be found located in a McLoughlin Brothers order form advertised as one of the "Fifty Cent Blocks." (McLoughlin Order List, held by AAS).

This early educational block set combines visualization of numbers and letters in bright bold formats allowing the child to learn correct order as part of play. The bright animal graphics and the name associated with each animal teach animal identification as well as spelling. The sturdy block construction encourages children to pile the blocks up to create towers or other shapes. The fifty-cent bulk price to merchants found in the order form was close to twenty dollars in today's money, meaning that this was a costly toy once the merchant's price was added.