The printed text on this fan leaf describes the aims and rules of ‘Connections'. A new game at cards invented by their Royal Highnesses the Princess Elizabeth and Duchess of York which is played in the first circles of fashion. The border features a foliate design with symbols of all four card suits. In the centre a conventionalised ducal coronet is set within an aureole. In the previous year (1793) the Royal Casino Fan had been issued, also including the rules of a card game, and with a dedication to the Duchess of York. Both fan leaves were published by Stokes, Scott & Croskey, of Friday Street, London, by whom a number of other printed fans are known. However, Stokes, Scott & Croskey were neither fan-makers nor print publishers - nor were they even stationers or milliners; they were an established firm of silk weavers off Cheapside in the City of London. The firm was founded by Henry Stokes before 1783 at 18 Friday Street. By 1792 Messrs Stokes & Scott were located at 19 Friday Street. By 1793 Croskey had joined the partnership, but it had reverted to Stokes & Scott in 1800. The firm continued to be recorded as weavers and occasionally as warehousemen at 19 Friday Street until 1803. Their brief excursion into fan publishing, between 1793 and 1798, cannot be easily explained.

The design of this fan leaf, with a predominance of words, is typical of English printed leaves of this period. The inventors of the card game to which it relates are named as Princess Elizabeth (1770-1840), the talented third daughter of George III, and the Duchess of York (1767-1820), the Prussian wife of Frederick, Duke of York. Card-playing was a popular pastime for the royal ladies.

Text adapted from Unfolding Pictures: Fans in the Royal Collection, London 2005