Gallery of Tarot cards: meaning, description, types. How to make the best choice of tarot deck type

Cards - rectangular pieces of material made of heavy-duty plastic, specially prepared cardboard or thin paper, depicting various motifs, collected in a set for use in a variety of card games, fortune-telling, magic tricks or card tricks. As a rule, all cards are palm-sized so that they are comfortable to hold in your hands.
A complete set of cards is called a card deck, a deck in which 32 cards is called a small deck of playing cards, a deck with 52 cards is called a large or Anglo-American, and the cards that the player holds during the game are his (player's) card hand. The deck of cards is unified, one deck of cards can be used in many different games, some of which include a gambling component - a game for money.
The front side of each card, as it is also called the picture or the face of the card, is marked. The playing card index includes the designation of the strength of the card - deuce (from English deuce) ... five (from English five) ... ten (from English ten), jack (from English jack), queen (from English queen), king (from English king), ace (from English ace) and card suit - hearts (from English hearts - hearts), tambourine (from English diamonds - diamonds), peak (from English spades - spades), clubs (from English clubs - club). The style of playing cards, as a rule, each country has its own: there is a Russian series of playing cards, French playing cards, rich traditions in Italian masters, cards from Germany, Sweden, Austria also have their own distinctive feature, their own national flavor.
The back side of the cards we call the back, in most cases it is a simple and at the same time sophisticated pattern, each card manufacturer uses its own unique pattern, sometimes branded manufacturers place their logo on the back of the cards. The color of the back of a deck of cards is rarely not blue or red, sometimes green and brown, less often there are cards with white and black backs. In exceptional cases, the difference is drastic, for example Bicycle magic cards with a transparent back or playing cards with a multi-colored back "Rainbow cards" from the same Bicycle company.

Cards by purpose are divided into:

1. Playing cards - the most common type of cards on our planet, 92% of the population at least once held one of them in their hands. The history of playing cards has more than four thousand years, the most ancient playing (namely, playing, not fortune-telling) cards came to us from China and date back to 1400 BC. Nowadays, there are more than 10,000 basic card games, plus a lot of variations and varieties of the main card games, for example, the Poker game has more than 200 subspecies, the main of which is Texas Hold'em (from the English. Texas Hold "em). Since There are many types of playing cards, we will look at them in more detail in the next chapter.

2. divination cards , or the most common among them are Tarot cards - depending on the style used, various famous decks received names:
- egyptian tarot - egyptian motifs on pictures of cards
- Marseille Tarot - cards in the French style of the 17th century
- Tarot cards of Visconti-Sforza - the cards are made in the style of the Italian Renaissance
- Rider-Waite Tarot cards - the cards were drawn at the beginning of the twentieth century, this is the most popular deck of Tarot cards, which left many clones and descendants behind it
- Tarot cards of Thoth - the last fundamental work of the master Aleister Crowley, which summarizes all his knowledge and beliefs
- Lenormand Tarot cards - Lenormand cards also belong to the category of divination cards

3. Magic cards or magic trick cards (from English magic tricks cards) - card manipulations and small card magic shows will be available to you with these cards. The best cards for tricks in terms of their characteristics, and these are quality, high slip (which makes them much easier to manipulate) and durability, are Bicycle cards, this brand is the undisputed leader in this area. In our store you can buy magic cards of this company in a large assortment. Videos with card tricks can be found on these sites:
- //www.howtodotricks.com/
- //www.trickmagic.com/
- //www.goodtricks.net/cardmagic.html

4. Solitaire cards (from the English Solitaire Cards Game) - in most cases, standard playing cards are suitable for laying out your favorite solitaire (be it a small 32-card deck or a 52-card large deck of playing cards, it all depends on the type of solitaire). For exclusive solitaire games, separate decks are sold with the required number of certain cards by suit, in addition to the set, there is a booklet with the rules for this solitaire game.

5. Specific cards - cards that could have been included in one of the categories above, but for some reason did not get there, since the emphasis is not on the game or the convenience of handling them in card tricks, but on their specifications, are divided into their subcategories
- cards for kids- developing cards with very bright and memorable pictures with fairy-tale characters
- joke cards- cards with funny pictures, parodies of famous people, also political cartoons and the like
- cards with erotic pictures- erotic cards and cards with porn photos, I think they don't need comments

Cards are divided according to the material of manufacture:

- cardboard cards (from English paper playing cards) - standard cards, as a rule, are the cheapest of all on the market. But remember - good (that means branded) paper / cardboard cards will serve you for a long time, so firm manufacturers use high quality thin corrugated and pressed cardboard.
- plastic coated cards (from the English. plastic coated playing cards) - high-tech cards with a thin layer of plastic applied over the card to give strength and excellent sliding characteristics. Again, in our concept, plastic-coated cards are associated with cheap Chinese consumer goods, what to choose - 5 decks brought from China or 1 normal branded one - it's up to you.
- plastic cards (from English plastic playing cards) - the most durable and durable cards among all the others for the production of one deck of plastic cards use high-tech PVC plastic. 100% plastic cards with proper care and use will serve you up to 500 times more than cardboard,
- exclusive cards - a golden deck of playing cards, cards with silver additions or with inserts of other precious metals - the most elite and expensive cards, but you must admit, they will be a wonderful gift for a gambler.

Playing cards (in English. Playing cards). Diverse characteristics of playing cards, division of playing cards into groups, systematization of playing cards by site version NashPoker.Net

Playing Cards by size:

- standard size playing cards or bridge size (from English bridge size) - playing cards with the following physical parameters: 2.25 "x 3.50" - 2.25 inches wide, 3.50 inches long, which is approximately 5.72 centimeters by 8.89 centimeters.

- poker playing cards or poker size cards (from English poker size) - playing cards with a wider base, the width of poker cards is 2.50" inches, the height of the cards is 3.50" inches or 6.35 cm by 8.89 cm.

- cards of unusual shapes (triangular, round or 5x) - these cards are made for fun rather than serious card play and can be great and original gift for the gambler.

Playing cards are divided according to the number of cards in the deck:

- small deck of cards - there are 36 cards in the deck, the rules of such games as fool, whist, preference, point, king, thousand allow playing with a small deck ...
- large deck of cards - there are 52 cards in a deck plus an additional 2 jokers, a large deck of cards is necessary condition for such card games: poker, bridge, blackjack, baccarat, seca…
- cards for a specific game - the number of cards in such decks is non-standard, such a deck always includes the rules of this game. For example, a deck of cards for playing pinochle (from English pinocle or pinochle) has 48 cards - 2 sets of tens, jacks, queens, kings and aces, for another exciting game of canasta (from Spanish canasta) a double large deck with additional jokers is supposed . There are still a lot of new card games, often decks for such exclusive games are produced by branded playing card manufacturers: Modiano, Copag, Bicycle, Piatnik, Bee, Dal Negro, Kem, Fournier.

Playing cards according to the size of the index are classified:

- cards with standard index (in English Regular Index or Standard Index) - cards with a regular index of medium size

- high index cards (in English Jumbo Index or Large Index) - playing cards with the index size that is optimal in our opinion

- huge index cards (in English Magnum Index or Super Index) - these cards are made specifically for people with poor eyesight

Playing cards for the number of indices are divided into:

- (abbreviated designation 2 Pips) - one index is located in the upper left corner, the second in the lower right, this arrangement of indices is more familiar to us and is generally accepted in the USA, but does not take into account left-handed card game lovers.

- (short designation 4 Pips) - these cards are more common in Europe and are available in a large assortment from any European manufacturer of playing cards, be it Modiano, Piatnik, Dal Negro or Fournier.

The cards are divided by the color of the index and the picture:

- (from English standard color playing cards) - the most common playing cards in our time with a standard color of indices and suits - red is provided for worms and tambourines, black for spades and crosses, drawings of senior cards are painted in free colors.

- four color playing cards (from English 4 color playing cards) - these playing cards are gradually fading into history, they were popular in Europe until the middle of the last century, their distinguishing feature is four (instead of two for ordinary cards) reserved colors for suits and indices. Red color is provided for the suit of hearts, blue is responsible for diamonds, black color corresponds to spades suit, and green color is reserved for crosses, jacks, queens, kings and aces are painted in a moderate style only in primary colors.

- two-color exclusive playing cards (from English. 2 color exclusive playing cards) - special and rare playing cards, can be made in one color or two colors with different variations of shades. These cards also include gold and gold-plated playing cards - they look very impressive.

Gradation of playing cards by shirt color:

- playing cards with one main back color - the pattern of the picture and the face on the back of the cards is made in one color, as a rule, this color is blue or red, although there are no exceptions to others.
- playing cards with colorful background on the shirt - there are playing cards, where the card back is painted in all the colors of the rainbow, a very interesting effect arises when such a deck is shuffled, and cards with a multi-colored pattern on the back also belong here.
- backside playing cards - the patterns on the shirt are different, maybe it's something neutral - a flower, a landscape, a cute animal, a picture of a car, a frame from a movie or just an advertisement ...

Cards by manufacturer:

- branded playing cards - you can find the highest quality playing cards in the line of one of the world's leading card manufacturers, whether it is cardboard cards, playing cards with plastic coating or 100% plastic cards - you are guaranteed to enjoy the game. Manufacturers giants in the playing card market:
1. The American company United States Playing Card Company (abbreviated as U. S. Playing Card Co. or USPC) owns such well-known brands of playing cards - Bicycle Bee KEM Hoyle Aviator Congress Maverick Streamline.
2. The Italian company Modiano is the leader in the production of cards in Europe.
3. The Brazilian playing card company Copag is a major player in the American playing card market.
4. The Spanish company Fournier - produces high-quality and affordable playing cards.
5. The Austrian company Piatnik - the accumulated 150 years of experience in the production of playing cards are reflected in the quality of products, Piatnik is rightfully proud of its traditions.
6. Another representative of the Italian school of playing card manufacturers, Dal Negro company - quality, quality and once again the quality of the released products.
7... There are a lot of manufacturers in the playing card market, but the share of these companies is very small...

- unbranded playing cards - as a rule, playing cards made in China, the name written on the box resembles or is consonant with the global brand of playing cards, the quality is naturally several times lower, of course this also applies to the price.

- playing cards on order - you can order your own deck with the image of your friends, family or your colleagues. The design can be either yours or the manufacturer's. The cost of a deck of cards to order depends on the quantity of the order, the more decks with cards you need, the lower the price of one deck.

We have considered the main categories of playing cards and now we can easily read the symbols on any deck, for example:
Example #1: Modiano Cristallo red plastic playing poker cards size 4 pips jumbo index
Example #2: Copag 139 blue plastic coated playing cards poker size 2 pips regular index

We hope this article will become a guide to playing cards and help you make right choice when buying playing cards. The article is live, send us your wishes and clarifications by mail ...

Once again, a deck of cards flashed before my eyes and I thought, who even drew the cards with which we usually play? Now there are many different cards, but since the time of the Soviet Union, the deck has been about the same, just like in the top picture.

Those cards that we are accustomed to since childhood came to us at the beginning of the 17th century through Poland and Germany from France. The "Russian deck" of 36 cards is a truncated (i.e., starting with sixes) 54-card "French deck". But let's start from the beginning...

The invention of this entertainment, an inexhaustible source of joys and sorrows, is attributed to the cunning Egyptians, the fatalistic Indians, and the cheerful Greeks in the person of Palamedes. However, during the excavations, if they found the "tools" of gambling, then mainly in the form of hexagonal cubes.

It is generally accepted that the first maps appeared later, in the XII century in China. Masters in filling their leisure time, court aristocrats, found in drawing small pictures with allegorical signs of animals, birds and plants at first aesthetic fun. Then - a convenient way to transfer secret information in the case of palace and love intrigues. And later - the possibility of risky games with the all-powerful Fatum.

But much more popular is the Egyptian version of the origin of the cards, replicated by the latest occultists. They claimed that in ancient times the Egyptian priests wrote down all the wisdom of the world on 78 golden tablets, which were also depicted in the symbolic form of cards. 56 of them - the "Minor Arcana" - became ordinary playing cards, and the remaining 22 "Senior Arcana" became part of the mysterious Tarot deck used for divination. This version was first published in 1785 by the French occultist Etteila, and his successors the French Eliphas Levy and Dr. Papus and the English Mathers and Crowley created their own systems for interpreting Tarot cards. This name allegedly comes from the Egyptian “ta rosh” (“the way of the kings”), and the cards themselves were brought to Europe either by Arabs or by gypsies, who were often considered to come from Egypt.

True, scientists have not been able to find any evidence of such an early existence of the Tarot deck.

According to the third version (European version), ordinary maps appeared on the European continent no later than the 14th century. Back in 1367, the card game was banned in the city of Bern, and ten years later, a shocked papal envoy watched with horror as the monks enthusiastically cut into cards near the walls of their monastery. In 1392, Jacquemain Gringonner, the jester of the mentally ill French King Charles VI, drew a deck of cards for the amusement of his master. The then deck differed from the current one in one detail: it had only 32 cards. There were not enough four ladies, whose presence seemed then superfluous. Only in the next century, Italian artists began to depict Madonnas not only in paintings, but also on maps.

Just at this time, Europe began to carry out major military expeditions to the East - the Crusades (1096-1270), and for the first time Europeans discovered a new and already highly developed culture. Returning home, the crusaders did not forget to take with them the exotic that struck them: light porcelain, the finest silk, painted fans and, of course, charming miniatures on thick rice paper for magic tricks and divination.

However, it took a long time until card games became commonplace. In any case, the first mention in the chronicles of the Saracen game "naib" (Arabic "naib" - cards) dates back to the last quarter of the 14th century. It is characteristic that, in full accordance with the Arabic sound, the word "cards" in Italian is "naibi"; in Spanish "naipes"; in Portuguese “naipe” (this was due to brisk trade with the Arab countries and close contact with local merchants, known for their passion to pay for goods “by chance”, i.e. according to the principle of the unforgettable Nozdrev).

In other European countries, another single-root word has firmly established itself: in France - “carte”, in Germany - “Karten, SpielKarten”, in Denmark - “Kort, SpelKarten”, in Holland - “Kaarten, SpeelKarten”, in England - “card ".

At the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th century, cards were made directly by the artist and by individual order. Naturally, its productivity was not high, and only with the invention of engraving did card printing take on a large scale.

Three main types of playing cards are added at the same time: Italian, French and German. All of them had differences both in suits and in the figures themselves.

The Italian type of cards originated with the invention of the game "tarok". These maps, made like engravings on copper, were very peculiar. In a normal, or "Venetian", tarok, the deck consisted of 78 cards, the suits were divided into bowls, denarii, swords and clubs. Each suit contained 14 cards: king, queen, knight, jack, point cards from ten to six, ace of swords, point cards from five to two. The rest of the cards, 21 in number, starting from Figlyar and ending with the card called Light, were trump cards, or Triumphs. Finally, there was another card called the Fool (by the way, the prototype of the future Joker). In Florence, cards were issued in the amount of 98 pieces, where graces, elements and 12 constellations were added to the usual Triumphs.

There is an assumption that the deck is not a random collection of cards. 52 cards are the number of weeks in a year, four suits are the four seasons. The green suit is a symbol of energy and life force, Spring, West, Water. In medieval cards, the sign of the suit was depicted with the help of a wand, a staff, a stick with green leaves, which, when printed, were simplified to black peaks. The red suit symbolized beauty, the north, spirituality. Cups, bowls, hearts, books were depicted on the card of this suit. The yellow suit is a symbol of intelligence, fire, south, business success. The playing card depicted a coin, a rhombus, a lit torch, the sun, fire, a golden bell. The blue suit is a symbol of simplicity, decency. The sign of this suit was an acorn, crossed swords, swords.

The cards at that time were 22 centimeters long, which made them extremely inconvenient to play.

There was no uniformity in card suits. In early Italian decks, they were called "swords", "cups", "denarii" (coins) and "wands". It seems, as in India, it was associated with the estates: the nobility, the clergy and the merchant class, while the wand symbolized the royal power standing above them. In the French version, swords turned into "spades", cups into "worms", denarii into "tambourines", and "batons" into "crosses" or "clubs" (the last word in French means "clover leaf") . In different languages, these names still sound differently; for example, in England and Germany they are "spades", "hearts", "diamonds" and "clubs", while in Italy they are "spears", "hearts", "squares" and "flowers". On German cards, you can still find the old names of suits: "acorns", "hearts", "bells" and "leaves". As for the Russian word “worms”, it comes from the word “chervonny” (“red”): it is clear that “hearts” originally referred to the red suit.

Mamluk cards. Ten of Cups, Three of Cups, First Counselor of Cups, Second Counselor of Cups

The Hofämterspiel deck reflects the political situation in Central Europe in the middle of the 15th century. Instead of suits, the coats of arms of the four most influential kingdoms of that time were taken: France, Germany, Bohemia and Hungary. The single-headed eagle represents the "regnum teutonicum" kingdom of Germany (as opposed to the double-headed eagle representing the Holy Roman Empire).

Learn more about her HERE.

The early card games were quite complex, because in addition to the 56 standard cards, they used 22 "Major Arcana" plus 20 more trump cards, named after the signs of the Zodiac and the elements. AT different countries these cards were called differently and the rules were so confused that it became simply impossible to play. In addition, the cards were painted by hand and were so expensive that only the rich could buy them. In the 16th century, the cards were radically simplified - almost all the pictures disappeared from them, with the exception of the four “highest suits” and the jester (joker).

Cards of the Italian type appeared in France at the end of the 14th century, and already under Charles VII (1403-1461) cards appeared with their own national suits: heart, crescent moon, shamrock and spade. And at the end of the 15th century, the type of suits that is still used is finally established in French cards: worms (coeur), diamonds (carreau), clubs (trefle) and spades (pique). Since that time, French cards have acquired a stable type, which is characterized by such figures: David - the king of spades, Alexander - the king of clubs, Caesar - the king of tambourines, Charles - the king of hearts, Pallas - the queen of spades, Argina - the queen of clubs, Rachel - the queen of tambourines , Judith is the Queen of Hearts, Hector is the Jack of Diamonds, Ogier is the Jack of Spades, Lancelot is the Jack of Clubs, and Lagier is the Jack of Hearts. This type of card came down to the French Revolution of 1789-1894.

The new republican government entrusts not to anyone, but to the most famous painter of that time, J.L. David (Author) famous painting"The Death of Marat) create new card drawings. Instead of kings, David portrayed the geniuses of war, trade, peace and the arts, replaced the ladies with allegories of freedom of religion, the press, marriage and crafts, and instead of jacks he painted figures symbolizing equality of status, rights, duties and races. It was in France that forms of four colors originally appeared: ivy leaves, acorns, bells, hearts. It is highly plausible that the French suits are symbols of knightly life: a peak is a spear, a club is a sword, a tambourine is a coat of arms or oriflamme (banner, standard), worms is a shield.

On these cards of the French "deck on legs" (1648), the images are signed with their names.

It should also be said that for many centuries the cards were “single-headed”, i.e. the figures on them were depicted in full growth. The first cards that did not have a "top" and "bottom", "two-headed", were issued by Italy at the end of the 17th century. At that time, these cards were not widely used. Then a similar attempt was made in Belgium, and at the beginning of the 19th century, France began to issue such cards.

Traditional deck. Germany

Traditional deck. Switzerland

By the way, the tradition of magnificently decorating the ace of spades came from the fact that during the reign of King James I of England (1566-1625) a decree was issued according to which information about the manufacturer and its logo should be printed on the ace of spades (since this card is the first in the deck). . A special seal was placed on the same ace, indicating the payment of a special tax on cards.

In addition to these basic types of maps, so-called "thematic" maps were issued in various European countries. There were "pedagogical" decks that taught players geography, history, or grammar. Enjoyed the success of illustration cards for the dramas of Shakespeare, Schiller, Moliere. In "toys for adults" heraldry, palmistry and even fashion were displayed. For example, in the middle of the last century, cards were printed in France, on which the clothes of kings, ladies and jacks were latest models season...

By the 13th century, cards were already known and popular throughout Europe. From this point on, the history of the development of cards becomes clearer, but rather monotonous. In the Middle Ages, both fortune-telling and gambling were considered sinful. In addition, cards have become the most popular game during the working day - a terrible sin, according to employers of all times and peoples. Therefore, from the middle of the XIII century, the history of the development of maps turns into a history of prohibitions associated with them.

For example, in France in the 17th century, householders in whose apartments gambling card games were played were fined, disenfranchised, and expelled from the city. Card debts were not recognized by law, and parents could recover a large amount from a person who won money from their child. After the French Revolution, indirect taxes on the game were abolished, which stimulated its development. The “pictures” themselves have also changed - since the kings were in disgrace, it was customary to draw geniuses instead of them, ladies now symbolized virtues - in other words, a new social structure came to card symbolism. True, already in 1813 jacks, queens and kings returned to the cards. The indirect tax on playing cards was only abolished in France in 1945.

Maps appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 17th century. The largest Russian critic and art historian V.V. Stasov believed that the maps came to the Slavic peoples from the Germans, without denying, however, that Poland played the role of the main mediator in this matter. But no matter how the playing cards got to Little Russia or Muscovy, they spread extremely quickly. Of the legislative monuments, the Code of 1649 first mentions the maps and their undeniable harmfulness to society. For more than a century, card games were prosecuted in Russia by law, and players caught hot were subjected to various punishments, until in 1761 there was an establishment on the division of games into prohibited - gambling and permitted - commercial.

By decree of 1696, under Peter I, it was ordered to search all those suspected of wanting to play cards, "... and whoever had the cards taken out, beat with a whip." These punitive sanctions and similar subsequent ones were due to the costs associated with the spread of gambling card games. Along with them, there were so-called commercial card games, as well as the use of cards to show tricks and play solitaire.

The development of "innocent" forms of using cards was facilitated by the decree of Elizabeth Petrovna of 1761 on the division of the use of cards into those prohibited for gambling and permitted for commercial games. It is not entirely clear how the maps penetrated into Russia. Most likely, they became widespread in connection with the Polish-Swedish intervention during the Time of Troubles at the beginning of the 18th century.

The card game, which found a warm welcome in boyar houses and palace chambers, was certainly forbidden for the common people. In 1648, shortly after the accession of Alexei Mikhailovich, a royal decree followed, aimed at eradicating harmful customs and beliefs that still persisted among the urban and especially rural population. The decree listed in detail the numerous sins that required immediate eradication:

“... Many people, male and female, converge along the dawns, and in the night they enchant, from the first sunrise of the first days of the moon they look, and in a thunderous thunderstorm (during a thunderstorm) on rivers and lakes they bathe, they hope for themselves from this health, and wash themselves with silver, and bears lead, and dance with dogs, grains (bones) and cards, and chess, and play with anklets, and disorderly jumping and splashing, and singing demonic songs; and on Holy Week, young women and girls jump on boards (on a swing), and about the Nativity of Christ and before the Epiphany days, many people converge, male and female, into a demonic host due to devilish charm, many demonic actions are played in every demonic game ... ".

It should be noted that along with gambling, such completely innocent fun as riding a swing fell under the ban!

The decree of 1648 introduced a whole range of measures to combat the card game and other "disturbances". It was ordered to be read out “many times” at auction, lists from it “word for word” were sent to the largest villages and volosts, so that “this strong order of ours was known to all people” and no one could later excuse him with ignorance.

Buffoon clothes, hari and masks, musical instruments, chessboards and decks of cards were ordered to be taken away and burned, and in relation to people seen in violation of the decree, the governors were ordered “where such outrage will be declared, or who will say such outrage against whom, and you would they ordered to beat the batogs; and which people will not lag behind such outrages, but will take out such bogomer card games and others, and you would order those disobedient to beat the batogi; and which people do not lag behind, but turn up in such guilt in the third and fourth, and those, according to our decree, are ordered to be exiled to the Ukrainian (i.e., border) cities for disgrace. Yes, and the governors themselves, so that they would not skimp on the implementation of the decree, a strict suggestion was made: “But you won’t do this according to our decree, and you will be from us (Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich) in great disgrace”

It must be assumed that initially the decree was carried out with all its inherent rigidity, and more than one gambler was stripped of his back with whips or sticks at the auction. But according to the saying “the cruelty of laws in Russia is mitigated by the possibility of their non-execution”, the effect of this decree gradually came to naught - mainly due to the physical impossibility of its execution.

Another and very tangible blow to playing cards was dealt in the following year, 1649. The compilers of the famous "Code" of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich attributed the card game and its consequences to the crimes of a purely criminal offense, severely punished by mutilation and death. In the edition of the Code of 1649, an article related to the "card game" is placed in the chapter "on robbery and tatin affairs."

“And which thieves,” this article says, “steal in Moscow and in cities, play cards and grains, and, losing, steal, walking the streets, they cut people, tear off their hats and rob ...”, then they should have, after interrogation with torture, “make a decree (sentence) the same as that written above about tatehs (robbers), that is, imprison, confiscate property, beat with a whip, cut off ears (in the subsequent edition of the Code - fingers and hands) and execute death ".

The classification of the card game as a serious crime had a great influence on the trading of playing cards. The surviving customs books show that after 1649 the import of cards, for example, to Veliky Ustyug, was halved compared to previous years, and after 1652 it stopped altogether. But has the card game stopped?

By special nominal royal decrees of 1668 and 1670, a special regime was introduced in the Kremlin: people of various ranks - from the stolnik and below - were strictly forbidden to enter the Kremlin on horseback, to gamble during the sovereign's visits to the cathedral churches, and when the tsar appeared, they were ordered to stand without caps "peacefully and serenely."

Significant government spending on the conduct of hostilities required a constant search for new sources of income. A curious document has been preserved dating back to the end of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich and testifying that among the Moscow administration, which was probably convinced of the ineradicability of the card game, a happy idea arose to turn it into a source of state income. The Moscow government has repeatedly acted so wittily before, replacing the cruel persecution of the use of vodka and tobacco for a monopoly state-owned trade in these goods, to a greater increase in the treasury.

The mentioned document is a charter given to Siberia to the Turin governor Alexei Beklemishev in 1675. It turned out that before that, from Tobolsk to Moscow, “voivode Pyotr Godunov and clerk Mikhailo Postnikov wrote that they (it is not known on what basis) gave away grain and cards in Tobolsk”, in other words, allowed at the expense of the treasury and under its cover to open gambling Houses. (Let's note in parentheses that along with the cards, the enterprising voivode also farmed out "unmarried wives for fornication" - and all for the good of the treasury!)

The seductive initiative of Godunov and Postnikov wanted to be followed by many other cities of the “Tobolsk category”. From Verkhoturye and Surgut, the voevodas wrote, “so that grain and cards were given to them for the same reason.” The great sovereign pointed out to these ingenuous writings: in Tobolsk and other cities, "grain and cards should be set aside and pay off from the grain and cards from the salary." The letter prescribed that the governor of the Turin prison, Beklemishev, do the same, even if, following the example of Tobolsk and according to Godunov's "replies", he had already given away grain and maps. Knowing the morals of local rulers, who easily found loopholes in decrees, the royal charter especially indicated: “the tax farmer himself, he will suddenly be sent from Tobolsk, and not a Turin tenant, and send him from Turinsk, and henceforth make a strong order.”

The persecution of the card game was not only limited to prohibition decrees. In 1672, on the orders of Alexei Mikhailovich, the Lutheran pastor Johann Gottfried Gregory set up a new theatrical temple in Preobrazhensky, and in November the first performance was given before the tsar - the comedy Artxer's Action. This was followed by new productions of a comedic and moralizing nature. The play “History or action of the gospel parable of the prodigal son”, composed by Simeon Polotsky, gained fame. This production is remarkable in that a kind of theatrical "program" was published for it, in which scenes from the action were shown in the drawings, accompanied by explanations. According to the plot, the prodigal son, having received part of the estate from the hands of his father, leaves home and begins a wild life. He hires many servants, plays grain and cards, mingles with mistresses, and, finally, squanders all his estate.

In one of the pictures of this “program”, the prodigal son is shown playing cards and grains at the table, surrounded by players. This is the earliest depiction of a card game in Russia.

After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich in 1676, the persecution against gamblers was significantly mitigated. In the royal decrees sent to the localities, there was no longer the former intimidation of players with mutilations and executions for the very fact of a card game; the whole threat is limited to an indefinite expression - "an order to repair a strong one." The import of playing cards to Russia resumed and even increased significantly, only in Veliky Ustyug in 1676-1680 they were brought in 17136 decks.

Soon after the permission of card games in Russia, its own production of playing cards appeared. Already in 1765, the government of Catherine II established a tax on both imported playing cards and domestically produced cards, and the duty on foreign cards was twice as high. The printing of playing cards in Russia was farmed out, i.e. was in private hands and brought tax-farmers, who sold an average of about one million decks a year, decent incomes. The money received as a result of taxes, came in favor of Orphanages. And on the lands of the family estate of the princes Vyazemsky (P.A. Vyazemsky - one of the descendants of this ancient family - was a close friend of A.S. Pushkin), near the village of Alexandrovo near St. Petersburg, Abbot Ossovsky, having received financial assistance from the government, built in 1798 in the year of the building of the Alexander Manufactory, which at the beginning of the 19th century became one of the largest enterprises in Russia. After a year of work, the manufactory passed into the treasury and was donated by Paul I to the Orphanage. In 1817, the manufactory manager A.Ya. Wilson proposed to the Board of Trustees to open a card factory at the manufactory. A note was drawn up, which was approved by Alexander I on October 12, 1817. The government was going to make a huge profit, because. a factory with a monopoly on the production of cards eliminated any competition from outside. The decision not to grant ransoms, which expired in 1819, and the ban on the import of cards from abroad, provided the treasury with the opportunity to charge any selling price for the cards.

In 1819, the factory produced its first products. During this year, 240 thousand decks were made, which began to be sold throughout the Russian Empire (in 1820, the production of cards increased to 1380 thousand decks).

The new map sketches created did not have their own name. The concept of "satin" in the middle of the 19th century referred to the technology of their manufacture. Satin is a special kind of smooth, glossy, lustrous silk fabric. The paper on which they were printed was previously rubbed with talc on special wheeled machines.

Let us return to our question about the maps of the Pushkin era (“Queen of Spades” was written in 1833). At this time, and up to 1860, the back of the cards had an image of a pelican feeding two children with the meat of its own heart. This allegorical sign was explained by the inscription: "Not sparing himself, he feeds the chicks." The ironic phrase of one of the heroes of the story by N.S. Leskov “Interesting Men”: “In order not to get bored, they sat down to the evening ringing to “cut themselves”, or, as they say, “to work for the benefit of the imperial educational home.” And there was a benefit. In 1835, a dozen decks cost 12 rubles, and were sold for 24. By the mid-50s, cards were produced three times more than the tax-farmers produced in 1818, while the profit increased 4.5 times and amounted to 500 thousand rubles a year .

The maps of that time that we are interested in had the character of popular popular prints (professional artists have not yet been involved in the activities of the factory). They depicted funny German knights on horseback, the size of a pony, and big-headed clumsy ladies. For example, the Queen of Spades, if she wanted to, could not scare the player out of her mind, as happened with the impressionable Hermann. But the more obvious is the brilliant idea of ​​Pushkin, who built the intrigue of the story on the outward discrepancy between funny card characters and their hidden fatal role.

The graceful drawings of cards without top and bottom familiar to us today were born thanks to the talent of the academician of painting A.I. Charlemagne. In 1860, the assortment of the factory expanded incredibly: reduced-sized cards, solitaire, travel, children's, educational and fortune-telling cards began to be produced. But the more intensively the production developed, the more “archaic” the drawings on the maps looked in the taste of the folk primitive.

Being a historical painter and battle painter, A.I. Charlemagne tries himself in different areas of art. He makes illustrations for the works of A.S. Pushkin and other famous writers, makes sketches for the Imperial Porcelain Factory and, in addition, creates originals for playing cards. The merit of the artist lies in the fact that he, a talented draftsman and connoisseur of history, managed to find the right tone in solving the figurative structure of all cards. Thanks to him, playing cards began to differ in their original style and integrity of symbolic images.

The factory's products were successfully demonstrated at the World Industrial Exhibitions in Paris in 1867 and 1878. In 1893, playing cards with drawings by Charlemagne were presented at the Chicago World's Fair and received a bronze medal and an honorary diploma.

The created new map sketches did not have their own name and were not called Atlas. The very concept of "satin" in the middle of the 19th century did not refer to a pattern or a special style of cards, but to the technology of their manufacture. Atlas itself was called then, and even now they call a special variety of smooth, glossy, shiny silk fabric. The paper from which the cards were then made was rough, with spots and stains, poorly glued, and often had different thicknesses in the sheet. To give the cards an improved look, the paper on which they were printed was previously rubbed with talcum powder on special wheeled machines, the work on which was extremely unhealthy. Cards made on satin paper were not afraid of moisture, glided well when shuffled and cost more. In 1855, a dozen decks of satin cards cost 5 rubles 40 kopecks, on a par with gold-edged cards made by hand for the imperial court.

A.I. Charlemagne. Solitaire playing cards.1862.

Charlemagne's drawings were used in the manufacture of satin cards, cards of the first and second grade, as well as "Extra" cards already in the 30s of the 20th century. Gradually, all card products began to be made on satin paper, and the own name Satin was firmly entrenched in Charlemagne's cards. In "Price-Courant" retail prices for 1935 "of the State Card Monopoly, which was under the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat of Finance, a deck of "Satin" cards in 52-53 cards cost 6 rubles.

An interesting question - who was the prototype of the card characters? Russian card figures are anonymous, but the French cards that served as the basis for Charlemagne's work have their exact names, which were written and are still written directly on the cards. Charlemagne, king of the Franks, led the suit of hearts; shepherd, singer and Hebrew king David - peak; Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great were given diamonds and clubs. The heroine of the biblical legend Judith became the Queen of Hearts, and the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, Athena Pallas, became especially famous in Russia as the Queen of Spades. The diamond suit has traditionally been associated with wealth, the very symbol of the diamond suit, which we are used to seeing in the form of a rhombus, is still called "diamond" - a diamond.

Playing cards are road. 1870s Based on the originals by A.I.Charlemagne Petersburg. Card factory at the Imperial Orphanage. Collection of A.S. Perelman

In the 16th century, the lady of the tambourine was given the features of Rachel, the heroine of the biblical legend about the life of Jacob. According to legend, she was a greedy woman, which is quite consistent with her new card position. The image of the lady of clubs has become collective. She began to be portrayed in the form, in modern terms, of a sex bomb, to which the nickname Argin, regal, tightly stuck. This word became so popular that all the queens, as well as the favorites and mistresses of the French kings, were called by this name behind their backs. In the form of jacks, Etienne de Vignel, a knight of the times of Charles VII (worms), the noble Ogier of Denmark (spades), one of the knights of the Round Table, Hector de Mare (tambourines), and finally Sir Lancelot himself, the senior knight of the Round Table (clubs), entered the history in the form of jacks. During the time of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, Russian players also called cards by their names. The poet V.I. Maikov in the poem “The Ombre Player” boldly throws Ogier, the jack of spades, onto the table.

From the end of the 18th century, a real card boom began, engulfing the entire Russian culture. For example, in his youth, Derzhavin lived mainly on money won in cards, and Pushkin was listed in police reports not as a poet, but as “a well-known banker in Moscow.” Gambling Nekrasov and Dostoevsky often lost their last pennies, while the cautious Turgenev preferred to play for fun. In the then secular society, especially provincial, almost the only entertainment was cards and the scandals associated with them.

A.E. Beideman Playing cards. Paper, watercolor, ink, pen

Gradually, card games were divided into commercial, based on a clear mathematical calculation, and gambling, where chance ruled everything. If the first ones (screw, whist, preference, bridge, poker) established themselves among educated people, then the second ones (seka, “point”, shtoss and hundreds of others, up to the harmless “thrown fool”) reigned supreme among the common people.

Traditional deck. Italy

In the West, “mental” card games that train logical thinking have even been included in the school curriculum. However, the cards began to serve for very non-intellectual activities. If they show naked girls, it's not up to the bridge. But this is a completely different game.

It must be said that over the centuries there have appeared many who wished to modernize card images, replacing them with animals, birds, and household items. For political purposes, decks were produced, where Napoleon or the German emperor Wilhelm acted as kings. And in the USSR, during the NEP years, there were attempts to depict workers with peasants on the cards and even introduce new suits - “sickles”, “hammers” and “stars”. True, such amateur activity was quickly suppressed, and the cards were not printed for a long time as "attributes of bourgeois decay."
So, what cards do we usually play now?

A.I.Charlemagne. Playing cards. Cardboard, ink, pen, watercolor, gouache. Collection of A.S. Perelman

1875 Satin maps, designed by A. Charlemagne

Drawings of card pieces with Charlemagne's monogram are made in life size card deck. Created by order of the card factory in the 1860s - 1870s and still remain the most famous and popular card drawings in Russia.

Sources
http://ta-vi-ka.blogspot.com/
http://www.jokercards.ru
http://lizi-black.com

But let's still talk in more detail about who they are well, let's also remember. You can also add a theme like this. The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

Tarot decks differ in meaning, scope, and methods of interpretation. Professionals have long developed a number of widely used decks, called universal decks, designed to solve most everyday issues. Some cards are needed for narrower purposes, they are better used to solve specific problems.

Specialists in this case use professional sets of cards that have full descriptions. If you have already come across this question, then you have probably heard of Ryder-White cards, which are classic and suitable for answering everyday questions. True connoisseurs of esotericism will be happy to try new cards, so they may be interested in alternative sets.

Types of tarot decks

Deck Variety

Tarot decks can be divided into four types: classic, universal, author's and special.

The first category includes maps created by the best artists in the world, this tool was created for the cream of society: the nobility and royal families. These include tarot Visconti-Sforza, Renaissance, Marseille, Classical and Egyptian. Some of the sets are only partially preserved, and it will be very interesting for you to study their history.

The group of universal cards includes decks created by famous occultists and esotericists. The most famous of these are the Tarot of Aleister Crowley and Rider White.

Best of all, these types of decks are suitable for those who prefer practice, want to learn how to parse confusing situations, and even learn how to guess. It is believed that each deck has magical properties, and working with them requires a serious approach, because this is not entertainment, but a science that allows a person to understand the true essence of life, people, events.

Cards for "fine work"

Author's tarot decks are the fruit of the painstaking work of individual authors who have their own vision of the interpretation of cards that reflect them personal experience and understanding of the world. Such cards may seem quite interesting to many, which will expand the understanding of esotericism. They are the best suited to complement universal decks, they can bring fresh breath to the perception and interpretation of layouts. Examples of sets of such cards are the Goddess Tarot, the Sphinx Tarot, the 78 Doors Tarot, the Fairy Tarot.

Highly specialized decks are a great tool for dealing with complex issues. They can only be used by those who know how to use them and understand the principles of working with universal decks. Tarot Dwarfs, for example, is ideal for finding answers to everyday and money questions. And Manara is for those who are haunted by intimate questions. For information on amorous affairs, it is better to use the Tarot of Lovers.

Tarot for beginners

If you have not yet had experience with tarot cards, then choosing a Rider-White deck would be ideal. It represents the world's most popular deck, a classic at its best. Learning how to work with it is the easiest, because there are many tutorials and lessons that will allow you to do this without much difficulty. It is suitable for solving most of the issues that arise in your life path. It was with this deck that many modern specialists in the field of esotericism began, and almost none of them had questions along the way.

The best tarot gallery was created by Da Vinci, so if you love beautiful ones, vivid images, it is worth choosing it.

All images on these cards refer to the style of this great creator of the past, and therefore may be of interest to many. However, the deck is distinguished by its original vision of the cards, especially the minor arcana, so it is important to read the manual carefully.

For many of us, the most interesting (if not the only significant) aspect of life is love relationship. A deck that is ideal for solving such issues is the Manara tarot. It is believed that these types of cards are able to penetrate deeply into the plans of the universe and are an ideal tool for love divination. So if you or your clients have new unresolved love issues, feel free to use this deck, because it is literally made for this.

Video: Types of Tarot decks

Playing cards are rectangular sheets of cardboard or thin plastic used for card games. A complete set of playing cards to play is called a deck of cards. The cards are also used for solitaire, magic tricks and divination.

On one side of the card (open), called the face, its value is indicated, the closed side (shirt) is designed the same for all cards of the deck.

For most modern games, a standard (French) deck is used, or a stripped-down version of it. Many games use special decks. Among these games are collectible card games.

A Chinese playing card dating from c. 1400 AD e., Ming Dynasty

The first playing cards appeared in East Asia. Maps were already mentioned in Korea and China in the 12th century. One of the most ancient dictionaries of Ching ze Tung dated the origin of the first Chinese deck to 1120.

There are also earlier references to the game, which used oblong plates - they date to the reign in the ninth century of the Tang Dynasty (618-917)

Indian round cards for the game "Ganjifa"

Before the advent of paper maps, the Chinese and Japanese used flat oblong tablets made of Ivory or tree. Spreading in different cultures, the decks took on various forms and appearance. In India, they played round cards called Ganjifa.

Japanese uta-garuta cards

In medieval Japan, during the time of the shogunate, the Uta-garuta card game was widespread, in which mussel shells were used as a deck, depicting scenes of everyday life, seasons and scenes of poetry.

Four dragons Japan, 18th century

There is no exact data on how the cards got to Europe. It is assumed that the path of distribution of playing cards was as follows: China - Persia - India - Egypt - Europe. For a long time, "import" through the Arab countries, as well as the participation of Muslims in the development of card games, was denied. However, later it was found that the followers of Islam not only played card games, but also created their own deck.

Mamluk deck

The Mamluk cards in many ways resembled the Tarot: 56 minor arcana and 22 major trump cards, divided into 4 suits - Swords, Staves, Cups and Pentacles (also known as Disks and Coins).

The prohibition of the Koran on the image of people, the Mamluks observed and, therefore, only strict geometric ornaments - arabesques were applied to the cards. The first mention of playing cards in Europe dates back to the 14th century. There is an entry in the chronicle of the city of Bern from 1367.

In 1370, the word naipes (playing cards) appeared in a Spanish poetry book. Since 1377, references to maps have become more frequent (most often in connection with prohibitions). The most extensive story appeared that year from the pen of a monk in the city of Freiburg.

It is also possible that the cards were invented in France for the entertainment of the mentally ill King Charles VI the Mad. But this is just a legend. Already in ancient Egypt they played with cuttings with numbers marked on them, in India - with ivory plates or shells; in China, maps similar to modern ones have been known since the 12th century.

By the 13th century, cards were already known and popular throughout Europe. In the Middle Ages, both fortune-telling and gambling were considered sinful. In addition, cards have become the most popular game during the working day - a terrible sin, according to employers of all times and peoples. Therefore, from the middle of the XIII century, the history of the development of maps turns into a history of prohibitions associated with them.

For example, in France in the 17th century, householders in whose apartments gambling card games were played were fined, disenfranchised, and expelled from the city. Card debts were not recognized by law, and parents could recover a large amount from a person who won money from their child.

After the French Revolution, indirect taxes on the game were abolished, which stimulated its development. The "pictures" themselves have also changed - since the kings were in disgrace, it was customary to draw geniuses instead, ladies now symbolized virtues - in other words, a new social structure came to card symbolism.

True, already in 1813 jacks, queens and kings returned to the cards. The indirect tax on playing cards was only abolished in France in 1945.

It is believed that each figure in the cards represents a certain historical character:
King David is King of Spades.
Athena, goddess of wisdom - Lady of Spades.
Alexander the Great - King of Clubs.
Argina, an anagram of the Latin Regina (queen), is the Queen of Clubs.
Julius Caesar - King Tambourine.
Biblical Rachel - Lady Tambourine.
Charlemagne is the King of Hearts.
Helen of Troy - Lady of Hearts.

Old Testament, Israel, publishing house LION

Berlin deck Fritz Fisher, Germany

Great Russia Grimaud, France

Gzhel, Saratov

Grand Dukes of Tuscany, Lo Scorobeo, Italy

Golden Age, deck reprint 1890, St. Petersburg

Tuscany, Dal Negro, Italy

English standard with card numbers, Portugal

Deck Versailles, St. Petersburg

Kaiser deck, 1913 reprint, Lo Scorobeo, Italy

The appearance of maps in Russia refers to the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich. According to the Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich of 1649, card games were considered a serious crime, for which branding with a red-hot iron and tearing out the nostrils were supposed. Under Tsar Peter, the attitude towards cards improved, their production was opened at two small manufactories in Moscow, although Peter himself played them very rarely.

Satin cards thin. A. Charlemagne

Russian style, Color Printing Plant, St. Petersburg

Slavic maps, KTsP, St. Petersburg

Historical maps of KCP, St. Petersburg

Rhine deck Piatnik, Austria

Russian maps, Grimaud, France

Rococo deck, Piatnik, Austria

Trading playing cards has become a source of considerable income. Alexander I introduced a monopoly on the production of playing cards, and the income was directed to the maintenance of the Empress's department, which took care of orphans.

Aluette deck France, Grimaud publishing house, reprint of the deck 1848

Virginia Slims deck, published in the USA by order of Philip Morris

Goethe deck, 1804 reprint, Lo Scorobeo, Italy

Deck Romanov Dynasty, AKM Ltd.

Deck Chervony Palekh, Saratov

Louis XV deck, France, 1890 deck reprint, Grimaud publishing house

Viennese deck of cards, ASS, Germany

Barokko deck, PIATNIK publishing house

Paper for the production of cards was of poor quality and therefore was preliminarily rubbed with talc on special wheeled machines. Such cards were smooth, glided well when shuffled and were called "satin". They were not cheap: a dozen decks of satin cards in 1855 cost 5 rubles 40 kopecks.

Eyeballs, St. Petersburg

Maya deck, KCP, St. Petersburg

Utamaro

From the end of the 18th century, a real card boom began, engulfing the entire Russian culture. For example, in his youth, Derzhavin lived mainly on money won in cards, and Pushkin was listed in police reports not as a poet, but as "a well-known banker in Moscow." Gambling Nekrasov and Dostoevsky often lost their last pennies, while the cautious Turgenev preferred to play for fun. In the then secular society, especially provincial, almost the only entertainment was cards and the scandals associated with them.

Preference, V.M. Vasnetsov, 1879

Gradually, card games were divided into commercial, based on a clear mathematical calculation, and gambling, where chance ruled everything. If the first (screw, whist, preference, bridge, poker) established themselves among educated people, then the second (seka, "point", shtoss and hundreds of others, up to the harmless "thrown fool") reigned supreme among the common people.

Interesting Facts

The most massive manufacturer of playing cards in the USSR was the Leningrad Color Printing Plant (LKTsP, until the 1970s, called the 3rd Leningrad Offset Printing Factory of Glavpoligrafprom. In decks of LKTsP playing cards (52 pieces each), except for jokers, from the 1970s to 2000 1990s, pocket calendars were put in for a year or two ahead with drawings and engravings of Leningrad by various artists, usually plain.

Pocket calendars from LKCP decks.

So, in the deck of 1980 there are 2 calendars for 1982 with green city silhouettes by A. Ivanov, in the deck of 1993 - a calendar with a blue engraving of the Peter and Paul Fortress for 1995, in the deck of 1998 - an image of a sculptural group of Klodt's horses on the Anichkov Bridge orange for 1999

The smallest circulation deck of playing cards is a deck of 6.3 × 8.8 mm in size, published in Omsk in 2010 by A. I. Konenko. The smallest house of cards in the world was built in March 2011 in Omsk by Stanislav and Anatoly Konenko.

In ancient maps, the minimum was one, and not two, as is customary. Such a deck can be seen, for example, in the movie State Councilor. The one and the ace at face value are the same in many solitaire games. The design of the satin deck traditional for Russia has not changed for more than 150 years.

The cards indicated the social status of the player, as they were made from different materials. For example, silk cards were the most expensive. Card games became popular by the end of the 16th century in France, and a little later in the rest of Europe. In London, the book "Skillful Player" (1674) was published, which described 12 card games.

Venice of that time was a center of entertainment with a special way of life. In the houses of aristocrats, special rooms were made for playing cards and communicating with courtesans. The very first casino was opened here in 1638. Appeared in Venice, the game "approximately" became very popular. It was she, most likely, who became the original version of poker.

Artist A.E. Beideman

Artist A.I.Charlemagne

Each city or province brought its own characteristics to the rules of card games and the contents of the decks. At first, such suits as flowers, acorns, monkeys, parrots were used. Later, cards of two-color suits were invented: hearts (church - class of clergy), rhombuses (diamonds - class of merchants), spears (spades - state, power), clubs (clover - class of peasants).

After any major historical event artists transferred his stories to maps. So instead of a lady, one could see Jeanne d'Arc, and the lady herself appeared, displacing the soldier. In Arab countries, the image of a person was not welcome, but Catholic Church had nothing against it. Therefore, playing cards were often decorated with images of biblical characters, historical figures and mythical heroes.

The Queen of Spades is always an insidious, cunning, dark personality.
The Lady of Hearts is flirtatious, romantic, attractive.
The Queen of Clubs is a bold, self-confident brunette.
Tambourine Lady - young, beautiful, bright, kind.

Check out a wonderful selection of female images in playing cards from different times and countries.

Playing cards "Palekh" 1937. Artist P. Bazhenov. This 1937 deck was printed specifically for the Paris World's Fair. The circulation was not very large and only the French could buy such a deck.

The artist Argio Orell for the Modiano factory (Italy) in 1910

Playing cards from the Altenburg factory, 1848. The main advantage of playing cards from Altenburg is their recognizable style. Soft, flowing images, elegant characters and unique colors in the design of the decks have become literally "calling card.

Rococo playing cards (French version). Factory Grimaud (France) 1918

Grimaud company cards, 1889. According to some reports, they were made especially for the Orient Express.

Maps in Japanese style. Artist Inna Yankevich.

German oval from the WUST factory, 1930.

"Modern" - these playing cards were first printed at the imperial card factory in St. Petersburg, 1910.

Playing cards. This is a whole art! The images of playing cards have always evoked certain sensations. Each card has its own special energy! Graphics, composition, costumes from different eras and peoples, color and mood - it's like a costume show!

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