Baudelaire playing card collection

Published May 01, 2023 Updated May 01, 2023

Baudelaire playing card collection illustrated by Alméry Lobel-Riche and published by Lo Scarabeo in 2004.

2004 Italy Lo Scarabeo Alméry Lobel-Riche Literature

Published by Lo Scarabeo in 2004, this pack is dedicated to Les fleurs du mal written in 1857 by Charles Baudelaire (1821 – 1867). This cycle of poems has sex and death as its principal themes, and expresses the fleeting experience of life and the changing beauty of nature in the rapidly industrializing Paris of the mid-19th century. See the box

The 54 cards are illustrated by the French painter, engraver, and illustrator Alméry Lobel-Riche (born Alméric Joseph Riche, 1877 – 1950). Particularly known for his sensuous and elegant depictions of girls and women, his art is characterized by an atmosphere of decadent sensuality, which is very much the artistic counterpart of the poetry of Baudelaire. Lobel-Riche illustrated several books by well-known authors such as Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire, Pierre Louys, Valery and others.

Baudelaire playing card collection illustrated by Alméry Lobel-Riche and published by Lo Scarabeo in 2004 Baudelaire playing card collection illustrated by Alméry Lobel-Riche and published by Lo Scarabeo in 2004 Baudelaire playing card collection illustrated by Alméry Lobel-Riche and published by Lo Scarabeo in 2004

Above: Baudelaire playing card collection illustrated by Alméry Lobel-Riche and published by Lo Scarabeo in 2004.

There are 5 additional information cards in different languages.

avatar
531 Articles

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.

Russian Playing Cards

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.

Related Articles

2019 Justice playing cards

Justice playing cards

Ethical concepts in a deck produced by Riccardo Conturbia’s Passione Playing Cards Ltd.

2022 Beowulf

Beowulf

Jackson Robinson's Beowulf playing card deck inspired by the Old English pagan poem.

1981 Alan Tarot Deck

Alan Tarot Deck

Reprint of a Tarock pack originally designed by Argio Orell for the Austrian Lloyd shipping company....

2011 2011 Worshipful Company Pack

2011 Worshipful Company Pack

Celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, with characters adapted from drawings b...

1990 Jeu Philatélique

Jeu Philatélique

Cards with French postage stamps featuring famous literary figures.

1991 Il Tarocco del Mondo Nuovo

Il Tarocco del Mondo Nuovo

Imaginative Tarot card designs by Amerigo Folchi relating to Columbus and the New World.

1992 22 Artisti Liguri in 22 Arcani

22 Artisti Liguri in 22 Arcani

Collaborative set of major arcana devoted to Christopher Columbus and his voyages of discovery.

1992 Carte di Colombo

Carte di Colombo

Fully illustrated pack designed by Pier Canosa commemorating the 500th anniversary of the discovery ...

1983 Carte di Natale

Carte di Natale

Designed by Pier Canosa as a Christmas pack for the Cortina Art Gallery in Milan.

Lyon pattern made in Italy by Pietro de Santi

Lyon pattern made in Italy by Pietro de Santi

The Lyon pattern was initially developed in France during the 16th century. As Lyon was a trading hu...

2024 Agatha Christie and card games

Agatha Christie and card games

Agatha Christie uses card-play as a primary focus of a story, and as a way of creating plots and mot...

Laurenzo Propagine

Laurenzo Propagine

Spanish-suited cards made in Italy by Laurenzo Propagine.

1988 Il Tarocco Mitologico

Il Tarocco Mitologico

Fully pictorial Tarot designed by Amerigo Folchi with figures mainly from Greek mythology.

1875 Neapolitan pattern by Luigi Pignalosa, Naples

Neapolitan pattern by Luigi Pignalosa, Naples

Two versions of the Neapolitan pattern from the British Museum by Luigi Pignalosa, Naples, 1875 & 18...

1995 Dylan Dog

Dylan Dog

Characters and objects from the Italian comic book series Dylan Dog, written by Tiziano Sciavi and d...

2006 Royal Britain

Royal Britain

Pack devised by Pietro Alligo depicting English monarchs from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II.