Catch fortune when you can
This advert shows that lotteries are nothing new. Long before the National Lottery, enterprises like the 'New Lottery' were promising 'earthly paradise' for lucky winners. This advert promises the people of Hull a chance to win 30,000 pounds, a huge sum of money at the time. J. Rodford, a Hull bookseller, sold the lottery tickets. He was an agent for 'BISH', a London contractor that probably ran the lottery. The advert has been torn out of a book, possibly a trade directory. Trade directories were the old-fashioned equivalent of the Yellow Pages, with classified listings for all kinds of businesses. #SUBHEADING#Pictogram#SUBHEADINGEND# The fascinating thing about this advert is its pictogram puzzle. It uses clever symbols that must be deciphered to discover the benefits of the lottery. #IMAGE# For those that could not work it out the solution was given at the bottom: 'As every man would rather get money than not, the attention of all is called to the New Lottery, in which, by a small risk, they may get an independent fortune. They should hasten to the nearest lottery office, and then, by purchasing even a share, they may secure what they desire, and which cannot fail to make the mare go, and place them (if money be their deity) in an earthly paradise.'
