Hand-drawn set of 52 playing cards
An imaginatively hand-drawn set of 52 playing cards by an amateur artist, 18th century.
A complete pack of 52 fanciful playing-cards from the British Museum Schreiber collection, drawn by an amateur artist in watercolour, pen and ink. The cards have representations of a great variety of subjects, chiefly natural history and botany, but also one or two soldiers, 8 sailboats, rural scenes and allegories, while the value of each card is indicated by a miniature card in the upper right-hand corner. These miniature cards have full-length English courts and one-way pips and only the ace of spades has extra decoration. The initials "G R" are inscribed in pen, ink and watercolour on the drum carried by the soldier on the ace of clubs. There are no further inscriptions or titles which might have suggested a use such as cartomancy, except an illegible inscription on the jack of spades. The backs are plain.
![Hand-drawn set of 52 playing cards by an amateur artist, 18th century © The Trustees of the British Museum Hand-drawn set of 52 playing cards by an amateur artist, 18th century © The Trustees of the British Museum](images/countries/uk/anonymous/hand-drawn-english-1.jpg)
![Hand-drawn set of 52 playing cards by an amateur artist, 18th century © The Trustees of the British Museum Hand-drawn set of 52 playing cards by an amateur artist, 18th century © The Trustees of the British Museum](images/countries/uk/anonymous/hand-drawn-english-2.jpg)
![Hand-drawn set of 52 playing cards by an amateur artist, 18th century © The Trustees of the British Museum Hand-drawn set of 52 playing cards by an amateur artist, 18th century © The Trustees of the British Museum](images/countries/uk/anonymous/hand-drawn-english-3.jpg)
![Hand-drawn set of 52 playing cards by an amateur artist, 18th century © The Trustees of the British Museum Hand-drawn set of 52 playing cards by an amateur artist, 18th century © The Trustees of the British Museum](images/countries/uk/anonymous/hand-drawn-english-4.jpg)
Above: 52 hand drawn cards, plain backs, 18th century, 60x80 mm. © The Trustees of the British Museum • Number 1896,0501.982►
Reference
O’Donoghue, Freeman M: Catalogue of the collection of playing cards bequeathed by Lady Charlotte Schreiber (English 80), Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1901 [digital version here]
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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.
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