Alexander I of Serbia becomes King of Clubs

The Maker

The King of Hearts bears the name of the manufacturer: “ETABL. BREPOLS Ste Ame TURNHOUT”.

In 1795, a printer named Pieter Corbeels moved to Turnhout in Belgium with his assistant, Philippus Jacobus Brepols, in flight from the French army. Corbeels established a small printing firm in the city before his death at the hands of the French army in 1798, forcing Brepols to take over responsibility for the business. He soon expanded the firm by offering bookbinding services and setting up a shop. In 1826, Brepols began printing playing cards and quickly became Belgium’s leading card-maker, largely thanks to his early adoption of lithography, and later chromolithography.

Remarkably, after Brepols’ death in 1845, the publishing house remained in the hands of his descendants until 1971. During this period, it continued to flourish by incorporating new technology, such as the steam engine, and expanding to open new departments, including wallpaper. Brepols publishing house persists today as one of the largest printing companies in the world, as well as an active publisher of historical material.

The Cards

Following the Allied triumph over Germany in 1918, Brepols published a 32-card deck entitled ‘Guerre Mondiale’ (‘World War’). This deck celebrating the victors of the First World War, with King George V and President Woodrow Wilson, among others, featuring on its King cards.

The present deck is a sequel to this earlier deck, with which it shares a title, and has been expanded to 52 cards. Each Ace shows two scenes or events from the First World War, such as the ‘Entrée du Roi à Bruxelles’ (‘the entrance of the King into Brussels’) and the Hôtel de Ville in Reims, which was burnt down in March 1917. The double-figure court cards show portraits of the leaders and commanders who had won significant victories during the war. They are identified by name or title, and accompanied by their national flag; the suit marks are shown in the upper left and lower right corners.

The deck can be dated by reference to the King of Clubs, which shows Alexander I of Serbia. It was not until the death of his father in 1921 that Alexander ascended to the Siberian throne, providing an ante post quem for the cards.

LIT INDUSTRIAS MADRIGUERA, S A-BARNA

[Soccer Stars playing cards].

Publication [Spain, c1925].

Description

40 chromolithograph playing cards, portraits and text to versos.

Dimensions 97 by 60mm (3.75 by 2.25 inches).

References Van den Bergh pp.198-199.

The Makers

The name of the maker of the lithographs is found just outside the framework of the card. Lit. Industrias Madriguera was a printing firm based in Barcelona during the first half of the twentieth century.

The Cards

The traditional Spanish suit system of cups, clubs and swords, is used, with the exception that instead of coins, there are balls. This was no doubt designed to appeal to children, a fairly rare target market for card-makers of the early twentieth century. The symbols are integrated into playful images of children playing with balls, swinging from swords, balancing cups and toppling wooden skittles.

On the back of the cards are the profiles of famous football players. In the centre is a lifelike image, accompanied by text explaining their name, position and the club they played for. One example is the legendary goal keeper, Ricardo Zamora, nicknamed ‘el Divino’ (‘the divine’). A native Catalan, he played for Espanyol and Barcelona, before later moving to Real Madrid, as listed on the present example. The trophy for the goalkeeper who has the lowest “goals-to-games” ratio in the Primera División is named after Zamora.

The distinct images on the back of the cards effectively make them redundant as a playing deck, and it is more likely that they were designed as trading and collectable items for children.

CEBRIAN, J.

Baraja Cinematografica.

Publication

[Barcelona, J. M. Arnau, c1925].

Description

48 chromolithograph playing cards, with advertisement to versos.

Dimensions 93 by 57mm (3.75 by 2.25 inches).

References Van den Bergh p.196.

Chocolate film stars

The Maker

The One, Ten, Eleven and Twelve of each suit shows the name of the maker as ‘TIP.LIT. J.M. ARNAUMUNTANER, 66-BARNA’. J. M. Arnau worked on a range of ‘chocolate cards’ for the Spanish chocolate market. The design for the present deck was the work of artist and illustrator J. Cebrian, and seems to have been his only foray into the world of playing cards.

The Cards

Using the traditional Spanish suits of coins, cups, clubs and swords, the suit symbols are incorporated into the design of each card in this deck.

Entitled ‘Baraja Cinematografica’ (‘Film Cards’), the court cards depict famous movies stars of the day, including Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Harold Lloyd, and Tom Mix. The pip cards show whismical and humorous scenes, the likes of which would often be seen on the silver screen.

On the back of the cards is an advertisement for ‘Chocolates Jaime Boix’, along with scenes from various movies accompanied by their Spanish titles. These designs effectively made the deck redundant as playing cards, as they could be roughly identified by the images on the reverse.

MESTRES, Apeles

Los Ases del Cine.

Publication

Barcelona, [Litografia Bano, c1925].

Description

48 chromolithograph playing cards, blue printed chocolate advertisement on verso.

Dimensions 94 by 57mm (3.75 by 2.25 inches).

References Van den Bergh p.191.

The Maker

Apeles Mestres was a Catalan painter and illustrator whose career spanned the end of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth. He designed decks for various card-makers across Europe.

The Cards

1920s movie stars feature in this deck, which uses the traditional Spanish system whereby the suits are represented by coins, cups, clubs and swords. Some cards show famous figures from the silver screen, including “Charles Chaplin” and Harold Lloyd, while others depict typical scenes from action movies. The Ace of Coins bears the title of the deck: ‘Los Ases del Cine’ (‘The Aces of Cinema’).

The dating of this deck is based on the One of Swords, where Douglas Fairbanks is imaged as “the thief of Bagdad”, after a film that he made in 1924. Fairbanks was co-founder of the ‘Motion Picture Academy’ that hands out the annual Academy Awards to this day. On the Twelve of Cups is pictured Ben Turpin, an actor famous in the early 1920s, but who stopped making films when it became clear that silent movies were a thing of the past.

On the back of each card is shown an advertisement for a Spanish chocolate company, “Chocolates Amatller S. A. Barcelona”, which remains active today.

[ANONYMOUS]

Cine Manual.

Publication [Valencia, ?Graficas Valencia S.L., c1927].

Description

48 chromolithograph playing cards.

Dimensions 92 by 57mm (3.5 by 2.25 inches).

References Van den Bergh p.195.