Zodiaque
“Les Signes du Zodiaque” playing cards designed by Youdi des Aubrys.
This is a novel and original pack printed by Grimaud and designed by Youdi des Aubrys in 1980. The court cards display signs of the zodiac while the four elements (air, water, earth and fire) are shown on the aces. There are two identical jokers which may perhaps be a caricature of the artist. The reverse of the cards is brightly coloured, showing the sun, the moon and other elements within a green border.
Above: ‘Zodiaque’ playing cards designed by Youdi des Aubrys and printed by Grimaud in 1980.
Youdi des Aubrys has designed at least one other pack of cards: Marionnettes Wayang►
Reference
Fournier Museum, Playing cards II, France 574.
By Peter Burnett
Member since July 27, 2022
I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.
Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.
Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.
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