Original published by Éditions Rencontre in Lausanne, Switzerland who specialised in subscription encyclopaedias and other educational toys in the 1950s and 1960s. Intended explicitly from the very beginning to democratise learning and bring the classics of French-language literature to the public at an inexpensive cost, one of Rencontre's other collectible marketing schemes was L'Encyclopédie du monde actuel, a set of fact cards that could be assembled by the child collector to form a full set of encyclopaedias. They were distributed by mail usually from adverts in the popular press or TV adverts. English language versions were Safari Cards (Animals) Sportcaster Cards (Sports).