Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

Published October 11, 2012 Updated May 05, 2023

One of a series of sumptuous Venice Simplon-Orient-Express playing cards produced by B.P. Grimaud for the VSOE gift collection. The 3/4 length court cards depict people in Oriental costumes.

FranceArt Nouveau & JugendstilLuxuryOrientalismRailwaySouvenirVsoeGrimaud
Cartes Indiennes, Grimaud, c.1890 - Bibliothèque nationale de France

Above: kings of spades and clubs from 1890 editions of Cartes Indiennes by B.P. Grimaud.

One of a series of sumptuous Venice Simplon-Orient-Express playing cards produced by B.P. Grimaud for the VSOE gift collection. The 3/4 length court cards depict Bibliothèque nationale de Francepeople in Oriental costumes and are reminiscent of Dondorf's “Vier-Erdteile” (Four Continents) deck. The deck was originally published by Grimaud in 1890 with no indices as Cartes indiennes, but indices have been overlaid in the present edition. The tax stamp visible on the Ace of Clubs was in use in France until 1940.

See also: Venice Simplon-Orient-Express Playing Cards →

Venise-Simplon Orient Express Playing Cards produced by B.P. Grimaud, Paris

Above: Venice Simplon-Orient-Express Playing Cards produced by B.P. Grimaud, Paris. Images courtesy Barney Townshend.


Further Reading

Kamayani Sharma: How Mughal badshahs and begums became a source of inspiration for 19th-century French playing cards

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By Barney Townshend

United Kingdom • Member since October 06, 2015

Retired Airline Pilot, interested in: Transformation Playing Cards, Karl Gerich and Elaine Lewis. Secretary of the EPCS. Treasurer of the IPCS.

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