Andy's Playing Cards - Decks with Fancy Patterns

VINTAGE PATTERNS
Fancy patterns are particularly popular nowadays, but they are not a modern invention: decks featuring unusual illustrations have been designed since the time playing cards reached the Western countries. Non-standard subjects were common for tarot decks already in the 1500s, and when 52-card decks became more popular, from time to time also these ones were modified, particularly for the making of luxury decks.
Obviously, most early non-standard editions did not have particularly fancy themes, but simply differred from the more common (and cheaper) local pattern because the subjects they bore were more ornate and colourful. There still were, though, rare cases of decks with very innovative illustrations.

	above: Dames de France from a deck by Gustave Houbigant dated 1816, replica by Grimaud (France) with additional indices; left and below: Morden's Playing Cards, printed in 1676, replica by Harry Margary (UK, 1972)

One of them is Morden's deck (1676), with maps of British counties; each one of them, according to the explicative card, features the cheife Towns and Rivers, a Compas for the Bearings, and a Scale for Mensuration, as in the detail on the left. Hearts cover the south-east of England, Diamonds the south-west and Wales, Clubs the north of England and Spades the Scottish counties.

Another fancy deck of similar age is the one below, by an unknown publisher; its theme is the Glorious Revolution, i.e. the coup by which in 1688-89 the Protestant king William III of Orange deposed the Catholic monarch James II and seized the throne of England. Also the deck dates back to the same years.
The etchings focus mainly on the religious aspects of the event, which consisted in a banishment of the Catholic clergy by the Protestants; some of the subjects feature rather gruesome scenes (Hanging Protestants in ye West, or The Midwife cutting her Husband to Peices). Therefore, the deck was likely printed as a means of propaganda.

Each card has a different illustration, with a caption below. The etchings are uncoloured (red was only used for the suit sign of Hearts and Diamonds), and form a numbered series from 1 to 52. The playing card subjects roughly follow the series (the suit of Clubs comes first, followed by Spades, Diamonds, and Hearts), yet not in a regular order (i.e. etching no.1 is the knave of Clubs, no.2 the 1 of Clubs, etc.). Pips never appear in any of the cards, the value being stated in roman numerals in the top right corner, as in the deck with maps previously mentioned. In this case, though, the rank of the courts is spelt in letters.

Revolution Playing Cards, c.1689; replica by Fournier (Spain)

Astronomisches Kartenspiel, 1719; replica by Fournier (Spain)
A similar scheme was followed by the German-suited Astronomisches Kartenspiel ("astronomical deck"), printed in 1719 in Nuremberg. The central part of each subject features a constellation, depicted as the imaginary shape (personage, animal or object) after which it was named. Below is a brief description of the stars it includes. Above the illustration, instead, is the value or rank of the subject, expressed by means of the relevant number of pips, arranged in a row, while the daus and court cards have their names spelt in large letters.

Unlike most German-suited decks, this one is made of 52 cards (the daus acts as an ace, being followed by a regular 2). Two additional or introductory cards, one describing the set of illustrations, the other one featuring an etching with two astronomers, complete the deck, whose purpose was likely educational.

A further example is the French Flags deck, whose theme are the armies that fought in the Napoleonic wars (1801-15). The deck is made of 32 cards (typical French composition), whose illustrations are an interesting example of aquafortis etchings, then coloured by stencil. Each suit represents one army: Hearts are the French, Clubs are the Russian, Diamonds are the Germans, and Spades are the British (English, Scottish and Irish, according to the different subjects); the nationality is stated at the bottom of each subject (see the detail below).

Flags deck, 1814; replica by Fournier (Spain)

The value or rank coincides with the number of featured soldiers. High officers represent the knaves and the kings (one and three officers, respectively), while the personages representing the queens are female . The most innovative feature of this design, though, is that the traditional pips and courts appear on flags, each one carried by the 32 groups and single soldiers (aces, knaves); the pattern they are based upon is the one used in France by the time the deck was printed.

When the modern printing techniques simplified the manufacturing process, non-standard editions became more and more popular, particularly in the first half of the 20th century.
From the 1920s to the 1940s, the development of graphic art applied to new fields (publicity, war propaganda, etc.), led several professional designers to test themselves also with a deck of cards: new styles, such as liberty, art nuveau art deco, etc., skillfully blended with bright colours, yielded striking results, two samples of which are shown below. The one on the left was originally drawn by Argio Orell for a fancy tarot, but in recent times the same courts have been used also for a Bridge deck (52 cards).

	One of them is Morden's deck (1676), with maps of British counties; each one of them, according to the explicative card, features the cheife Towns and Rivers, a Compas for the Bearings, and a Scale for Mensuration, as in the detail on the left. Hearts cover the south-east of England, Diamonds the south-west and Wales, Clubs the north of England and Spades the Scottish counties.

Each card has a different illustration, with a caption below. The etchings are uncoloured (red was only used for the suit sign of Hearts and Diamonds), and form a numbered series from 1 to 52. The playing card subjects roughly follow the series (the suit of Clubs comes first, followed by Spades, Diamonds, and Hearts), yet not in a regular order (i.e. etching no.1 is the knave of Clubs, no.2 the 1 of Clubs, etc.). Pips never appear in any of the cards, the value being stated in roman numerals in the top right corner, as in the deck with maps previously mentioned. In this case, though, the rank of the courts is spelt in letters.	Revolution Playing Cards, c.1689; replica by Fournier (Spain)

Astronomisches Kartenspiel, 1719; replica by Fournier (Spain)	A similar scheme was followed by the German-suited Astronomisches Kartenspiel ("astronomical deck"), printed in 1719 in Nuremberg. The central part of each subject features a constellation, depicted as the imaginary shape (personage, animal or object) after which it was named. Below is a brief description of the stars it includes. Above the illustration, instead, is the value or rank of the subject, expressed by means of the relevant number of pips, arranged in a row, while the daus and court cards have their names spelt in large letters.

Unlike most German-suited decks, this one is made of 52 cards (the daus acts as an ace, being followed by a regular 2). Two additional or introductory cards, one describing the set of illustrations, the other one featuring an etching with two astronomers, complete the deck, whose purpose was likely educational.

A further example is the French Flags deck, whose theme are the armies that fought in the Napoleonic wars (1801-15). The deck is made of 32 cards (typical French composition), whose illustrations are an interesting example of aquafortis etchings, then coloured by stencil. Each suit represents one army: Hearts are the French, Clubs are the Russian, Diamonds are the Germans, and Spades are the British (English, Scottish and Irish, according to the different subjects); the nationality is stated at the bottom of each subject (see the detail below).	Flags deck, 1814; replica by Fournier (Spain)

	The value or rank coincides with the number of featured soldiers. High officers represent the knaves and the kings (one and three officers, respectively), while the personages representing the queens are female . The most innovative feature of this design, though, is that the traditional pips and courts appear on flags, each one carried by the 32 groups and single soldiers (aces, knaves); the pattern they are based upon is the one used in France by the time the deck was printed.

When the modern printing techniques simplified the manufacturing process, non-standard editions became more and more popular, particularly in the first half of the 20th century. From the 1920s to the 1940s, the development of graphic art applied to new fields (publicity, war propaganda, etc.), led several professional designers to test themselves also with a deck of cards: new styles, such as liberty, art nuveau art deco, etc., skillfully blended with bright colours, yielded striking results, two samples of which are shown below. The one on the left was originally drawn by Argio Orell for a fancy tarot, but in recent times the same courts have been used also for a Bridge deck (52 cards).

two reprints of fancy decks from the 1930s, by Modiano (Italy)
left: pattern designed by Alfredo Thümmel, originally printed by Cambissa, (Italy);
right: pattern copied from a non-standard tarot designed by Argio Orell (above: detail from the jack of Hearts)

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