Antique Playing Card Designs


Book Description

Nearly 500 elegant illustrations that once graced European regular and tarot card decks. Face cards, musical instruments, fantasy figures, and other motifs -- 251 black-and-white illustrations, 245 designs in color.




Antique Playing Cards


Book Description

Over 900 elaborate, decorative images from rare playing cards, 14th20th centuries: Bacchus, death, dancing dogs, hunting scenes, royal coats of arms, players cheating, much more. "




Price Guide for Collectible Playing Cards


Book Description

Playing cards have been around a thousand years or more and are infinite in their variety. This makes individual playing cards and complete decks rich in history and every bit as collectible as coins and postage stamps. The Price Guide for Collectible Playing Cards is intended to be a basic resource for collectors of playing cards and decks of playing cards and to give at least some idea of what different decks of cards may be worth among other collectors. Volume I presents examples of different decks in the categories of Advertising, Humor, Patience, Pinup, and Transportation. Volume II presents examples of different decks in the categories of Standard and Souvenir. Volume III presents examples of different decks categorized as Non-Standard.




Playing Cards


Book Description

First published in 1931, this vintage book explores the history and origins of playing cards from traditional English playing cards to tarot cards and card manufacturers in Britain and Europe. Extensively illustrated and full of interesting information, “Playing Cards” is highly recommended for those with an interest in the history of playing cards and is not to be missed by collectors of vintage literature of this ilk. Contents include: “Card Games”, “Preface”, “Many Theories About the invention of Playing Cards”, “The Tarot Cards”, “Varieties of the European Four-Suit Pack”, “Earliest References to English Playing Cards”, “Genesis of the English Pack”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new introduction on card games.




The Oxford Guide to Card Games


Book Description

Imported from the Mamluks of Egypt, card games first hit Europe around 1371 and within ten years had spread from Spain and Italy to France and Germany. By 1420, German and Swiss cardmakers were producing packs by the thousands (first by stencil, later by metal engraving) marked with a bewildering array of suits, including hounds, bears, parrots, roses, helmets, banners, and bells. Games proliferated as well, and by 1534, Rabelais could name 35 different card games in Chapter 22 of Gargantua. Today, of course, there are thousands of games, from the universally popular Poker and Contract Bridge, to national manias such as Swiss Jass, German Skat, and French Belote. This is a historical guide to cards in Europe and America. This is not primarily a book of rules or hints on how to play better, but a survey of where the games originated, how they have developed over time, and what their rituals and etiquette tell us about the people who play them.




Price Guide for Collectible Playing Cards


Book Description

Playing cards have been around a thousand years or more and are infinite in their variety. This makes individual playing cards and complete decks rich in history and every bit as collectible as coins and postage stamps. The Price Guide for Collectible Playing Cards is intended to be a basic resource for collectors of playing cards and decks of playing cards and to give at least some idea of what different decks of cards may be worth among other collectors. Volume I presents examples of different decks in the categories of Advertising, Humor, Patience, Pinup, and Transportation. Volume II presents examples of different decks in the categories of Standard and Souvenir. Volume III presents examples of different decks categorized as Non-Standard.




Collectible Playing Cards


Book Description

400 international designs.







Price Guide for Collectible Playing Cards


Book Description

Playing cards have been around a thousand years or more and are infinite in their variety. This makes individual playing cards and complete decks rich in history and every bit as collectible as coins and postage stamps. The Price Guide for Collectible Playing Cards is intended to be a basic resource for collectors of playing cards and decks of playing cards and to give at least some idea of what different decks of cards may be worth among other collectors. Volume I presents examples of different decks in the categories of Advertising, Humor, Patience, Pinup, and Transportation. Volume II presents examples of different decks in the categories of Standard and Souvenir. Volume III presents examples of different decks categorized as Non-Standard.




Mamluk Playing Cards


Book Description