Cartes Questions-Devinettes

Published May 05, 2011 Updated July 11, 2023

A “Questions & Answers” family game from France produced by Imagerie Pellerin.

1840 France Pellerin & Cie Questions Card Games

Imagerie Pellerin “Guess What?” card game

outer wrapper from Imagerie Pellerin's Cartes Questions-Devinettes

A “Questions & Answers” family game produced by Imagerie Pellerin, Épinal, France, c.1840.

Pellerin was a celebrated publisher of popular art, including playing cards and games. In 1796, Jean Charles Pellerin had set up the “Imagerie d’Epinal” and popularised printed images of everyday scenes. Épinal, France is best known for the “Images d'Épinal”, the popular prints created by Imagerie Pellerin and the Pellerin family. These hand-coloured woodcuts or lithographs of military subjects, storybook characters and other folk themes were widely distributed throughout the 19th century. Pellerin ended up becoming the leading French firm in the field of popular imagery and also published playing cards and tarots.

Right: outer wrapper, printed in red, which mentions that the set contains 40 cards and is no.3 out of twelve different collections. The cards themselves are printed in blue and are uncoloured. The cards are also designed as optical illusions, and hidden images or faces appear depending on how you look at the drawings.

Imagerie Pellerin's Cartes Questions-Devinettes

See also:   Black Peter   Cromy   Card Games   Happy Families   Hijitus   Illustrated Proverbs   Jaques' Happy Families   Noddy Happy Families   Pekka-Peli   Peruvian Animals Quartet   Reshuffle   Walt Disney   Zoo Comics  

avatar
1,479 Articles

By Simon Wintle

Member since February 01, 1996

Founder and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.

Related Articles

1999 Le Journal de Mickey

Le Journal de Mickey

Perforated sheet of cards with Disney characters issued with the magazine Le Journal de Mickey.

1897 Tarot hiéroglyphique égyptien

Tarot hiéroglyphique égyptien

The design of the cards draws inspiration from various religious and philosophical traditions merged...

2024 La Réussite (Sébastien Féraut)

La Réussite (Sébastien Féraut)

Sébastien Féraut’s designs inspired by the animal kingdom for a set promoting patience games.

2021 Le Tarot de Sète

Le Tarot de Sète

Reinterpretation of the Tarot de Marseille by Julien Labat, an artist from Sète.

2022 Oracle Rock

Oracle Rock

Cartomantic set depicting rock and pop stars, designed by La Rata, with a book by Virginie Despentes...

1994 Jeu Numismatique

Jeu Numismatique

European coins of all periods replace the traditional courts and pips.

1990 Jeu Philatélique

Jeu Philatélique

Cards with French postage stamps featuring famous literary figures.

1990 Tarot Philatélique

Tarot Philatélique

Tarot game pack with French postage stamps on all the courts, aces and trumps.

1945 Jeu Philatélique – Les Colonies Françaises

Jeu Philatélique – Les Colonies Françaises

Philatelic card game featuring real postage stamps from the French colonies.

1999 Polygo™

Polygo™

Cards of irregular, four-sided shape for playing word and colour games as well as more traditional o...

1984 Tarot Actuel 1984

Tarot Actuel 1984

Major arcana to cut out, issued with the French magazine Actuel, using photographic images.

2007 Verkeers Kwartet

Verkeers Kwartet

A helpful quartet game celebrating the 75th anniversary of road safety exams making traffic safer.

2005 Pirritx eta Porrotx

Pirritx eta Porrotx

Happy Families card game from the Spanish Basque Country.

1865 Spanish pattern by Eugène Boisse

Spanish pattern by Eugène Boisse

Spanish pattern published by Eugène Boisse, Bordeaux.

1860 Catalan pattern by B.P Grimaud

Catalan pattern by B.P Grimaud

Standard Spanish Catalan pattern deck made in Paris by B.P Grimaud.

1920 Question and Answer Games

Question and Answer Games

A card game called “Impertinent Questions and Pertinent Answers” was launched in the early 1920s by ...