Karl Gerich no.23: “Beautiful Bath”
Beautiful Bath is a hand-made pack by Karl Gerich which was published in 1996.

Beautiful Bath is a 52-card pack which was published in 1996 in an edition of about 30 packs, some with a joker and others not. Each card depictss some part of the story of the city of Bath.
The French-suited pip cards have been treated like German-suited cards in that the pips are placed in the upper two thirds of the card with the lower third being used to illustrate some feature of Bath. Gerich has been systematic in his approach in that the diamonds show churches and chapels, the clubs parks and open spaces, the spades building and streets while the hearts show bridges and water features. The court cards show three-quarter length portraits of people, whether real or mythical, who have featured in Bath's history.
All of the cards have been etched and delicately hand-painted. The backs are decorated with Florentine patterned paper. Each card measures 60mm x 93 mm. The pack was offered in two variations with different thicknesses of paper and different styles of box.
Below: slideshow showing six hand-coloured uncut sheets of Karl Gerich’s Beautiful Bath playing cards no.23, 1996. The pip cards show scenes from Bath whilst courts show personalities associated with Bath.
Below: the 12 court cards click image to zoom.

Notes and References:
The pack was reprinted in 2019 to mark the 35th anniversary of the EPCS. Limited edition of 150 packs - 52 cards plus joker and a self-assemble wooden Bath Georgian House card box (front door number 11, in recognition of the late Donald Welsh who lived at number 11). The box was designed and produced by Robert Kann and the whole project managed by Barney Townshend.
♠ Tregear, Mike and Daphne, "Karl Gerich: Card Designer and Maker", privately published.
Copyright:
Copyright for all images remains the property of the Artist.

By Barney Townshend
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.
Related Articles

Baraja de Juan Martín Zamorano
Deck inspired by El Pendón de los Zamorano, a military pennant dating from 1501, published by Priego...

Disney’s Aladdin playing cards
Characters from the 1992 Disney film Aladdin.

2011 Worshipful Company Pack
Celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, with characters adapted from drawings b...

Jockey Club de Buenos Aires
Spanish-suited pack by Chas Goodall & Son Ltd for the Jockey Club, Buenos Aires.

New interest in old games
Games once fashionable are now eclipsed by quicker gratifications.

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

Treasures from the Bodleian Library
Rare books, manuscripts, music scores, portraits, maps, gospels, chronicles and other valuable artef...

Victorian grocer’s scale plate
Large flat plate decorated with highly coloured English cards and royal arms.

Queen of Arts
A wide variety of women artists celebrated on cards with illustrations by Laura Callaghan.

The Glasgow Pack
Issued to celebrate Glasgow’s reign as European City of Culture in 1990, with city views and works o...

Cathedrals, Abbeys & Minsters playing cards
54 pictures of different famous cathedrals, abbeys and minsters in England and Wales.

Baraja Turística del País Vasco
Basque poker deck of 55 cards published by Fournier with scenic views of the Basque Country.

Christmas Carols
Christmas Carols playing cards illustrated by Stuart Dilks

Pam is the Knave of Clubs
Playing cards as metaphors in 18th century art - from fate, chance and social hierarchy t...

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

Dr Sacheverell
Dr. Henry Sacheverell's impeachment in 1710 sparked widespread public unrest and political upheaval,...
Most Popular
Our top articles from the past 28 days