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One of the most prolific issuers of cards in Holland has been the Verkade Company which is based in Zaandam on the outskirts of Amsterdam. The company have been baking biscuits, rusks and other similar products for nearly a century but, in the past, have also been associated with the manufacture of wax nightlights (which they exported to Britain).

Whilst details of around half-a-dozen Verkade sets appear each year in the catalogues of Britain's two main card dealers, very little additional information is available in this country. In reality, Verkade have issued over 4,000 cards & plates within a total of 33 album sets dating back to 1903. The vast majority of albums contain well in excess of 100 cards ranging from the "standard" size (88 x 49mm) up to full page "Album Plaatjes".

This is the cover of the very first Verkade Album issued in 1903.  Other than the generic "Verkade's Plaatjes Album" there was no specific title  given to this album but it (and the 2 albums which immediately followed it)  have been unofficially entitled the 3 "Sprookjes" Albums (Fairy Tales).  This is no doubt because the name of the very first series of cards featured  Hansel & Gretel, Snow White and other well-known Fairy Tale Characters.  Whilst there are a number of such series within the 3 albums there is also a  wide variety of other subjects - which have been separately listed in the  within the Index of Verkade Issues referenced below.

By way of scene-setting, it is important to realise that a significant difference between card collectors in Britain and in Holland is that, on the whole, the Dutch prefer to collect completed albums rather than the cards that go into them. This is reflected by the fact that few Dutch dealers carry stocks of loose cards. Those that do will very often carry them solely to make-up partially incomplete albums they obtain. Having said that, it is nevertheless quite possible to build up sets of loose cards but a full set of cards will inevitably take much longer to obtain and cost more than the equivalent completed album.

Perhaps one reason for this trend is that, in the main, Dutch albums are vastly superior to their British equivalents. With a few exceptions, the albums of most Dutch issuers are large hard-backed books containing many pages of text and illustrations (normally line-drawn). The coloured cards (and larger album plates) are designed to be inserted into the body of the book to produce the finished effect.

The Verkade Main Page records all of the albums (together with some other printed ephemera) produced by Verkade from the very first issue through to the present day. I have included illustrations of the cards and albums to provide a better flavour of the material available.

The Summary is supported by a chronological listing of Verkade issues and, to provide an overview of the many subjects covered, a thematic index is included within the Index of Verkade Albums.

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