Histoire de France
“Histoire de France” facsimile of French historical deck of 1820.
This pack is a 1984 facsimile reprint by Heraclio Fournier of a pack published originally in Paris in 1820 to commemorate the wedding of the Duke of Berry. It was designed by M. Houbigant and printed in Paris by V. Dambrin. The full-length court cards represent the dynasties of Charlemagne, Saint Louis, Francis I, and Henry IV. The 52 cards have square corners with no corner indices, and there are 3 information cards in French, Spanish and English. See the box►
Above: “Histoire de France”: facsimile of French historical deck of 1820 reproduced by Heraclio Fournier S.A. in 1984.
A facsimile edition based on original prints was also published by J-M Simon titled “Dames de France”
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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