The Presidents playing cards
The Presidents playing cards first published by Arcturus LLC in 2007, reprinted in 2009.
This pack was first published by Arcturus LLC in 2007, but was reprinted in 2009 to accommodate inclusion of Barack Obama, the 44th US president (2009-2017). A photograph of each president is shown on each card, below which are interesting facts and memorable quotes. As there were only 44 Presidents at the time of publication, some Presidents appear on several cards (but with different quotes). The two jokers are Samuel J. Tilden and Al Gore – two Presidential candidates who won the popular vote by several hundred thousand votes but lost subsequently in the Electoral College. There are two extra cards: the first detailing image credits for the photos; the second displaying the Presidential Oath or Affirmation. See the box►
Above: The Presidents playing cards first published by Arcturus LLC in 2007, reprinted in 2009.
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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