France

[Jock1971]

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[Jock1971]

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[Jock1971]

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[Jock1971]

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[Magasaki]

Hi guys. I picked up couple of grimaud decks from 1983 and 1985. One representing the story of the Montgolfiers and the invention of the hot air balloon, and another very cleverly representing Parisian life in the areas of the 52 stations of the metropolitan, along the 13 lines. The decks were both accompanied by small booklets in French which I have managed to translate into English and pave posted on my site at the links below. There's some really interesting concepts behind the artwork and the descriptions of the cards really help understand the deck. I hope you enjoy reading them!

Correspondences - http://www.magasaki.com/#!correspondances/c12yo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Montgolfiers - http://www.magasaki.com/#!les-montgolfieres/c1grj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dazzleguts]

Thank you for translating Magasaki. I have the Montgolfiers myself and I really appreciate beeing able to read about each balloon in the deck.

Cool to see Pere Ubu on the 5 of Hearts. That figure appears in the surrealist Jeu de Marseilles deck as well.

[Jock1971]

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[dazzleguts]

Great layout of the deck, as usual Jase.
Funny deck and great illustrations. Kind of scary seeing these goofy people using power tools.

[volantangel]

Love this deck ! The back design is absolutely terrible lol but the courts are just so fun !

[Jock1971]

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[DragonSoul]

I don't have a scanner so these are sloppy pictures but, I just acquired a Grimaud deck that I love. It's Great Explorers, 1980?, artwork by Jean Delpech. I wish I could remember more from my college French class so that I could read the information cards!
I do wonder if the plastic is not the original box?

[dazzleguts]

Pretty good for not having a scanner. Thanks for showing these DragonSoul.

Jean Delpech made another deck called "Chasseur des Mines Tripartite" that is very similar and much more rare. Joop and Miriam talk about both decks on their DXPO site and had this info:

"The Grand Navigateurs deck was printed and published by Grimaud in 1976. The deck was published to honor Eric Tabarly, who in that year had won the OSTAR (Observer Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race) solo sailing race for his second time. His portrait is on the backs."

http://www.dxpo-playingcards.com/xpo/de ... 4-12b.htm"

[volantangel]

That's a lovely deck ! Very very nice, nice score !

[dazzleguts]

Fancy Miniature French Pattern c.1820
maker unknown

This deck is an antique miniature version of the French national pattern, which is also known as 'Portrait Officiel', or as the Paris (Parisian) pattern as mentioned by Jock1971 early in this thread. Each court is a portrait of a famous historical figure whose name is printed to one side of the card.

The cards vary slightly in size and shape but average about 38 mm x 28 mm.

s1820 size.jpg (115.08 KiB) Viewed 9847 times

They have plain green backs and there is no joker since jokers did not yet exist. There is at least one alternate colour of back since the Fournier Museum has the same deck but with a plain pink back. You can see 4 cards from their deck in Volume 1 of the Fournier Museum Catalogue, page 143, # 168 of France, or see the back and 8 cards on page 31 of the Online Fournier Catalogue.

You can go to the Online Fournier from the link in the "Resources" section of the Worldwide Time Machine. I would place a direct link here but it's a difficult site to access and you need to follow the directions that go with the link.

s1820 box_back.jpg (71.01 KiB) Viewed 9847 times

The box the deck is in looks to be the outer sleeve of a 2 part slide box, with it's crescent shaped finger grips cut out of the end. The back of the box has a card glued to it. The paper covering the box shows a delicate embossed pattern of flowers and birds.[/color]

[Jock1971]

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[dazzleguts]

Hi Jase
Good eye. It's almost like you've seen this deck in person

It does look hand touched, and that's part of it's beauty.
The online Fournier Catalogue says lithography, but 1820 is too early for colour lithography. I think the black lines were printed by litho and then colour was applied by hand. The expensive gold is very carefully applied, while the colours often go over the lines with what looks like brush strokes. The Fournier deck is definitely coloured differently from this one, with fewer colours and no blush to the faces. Each deck made must have been a unique finished piece. Even the litho stone would have printed with variation.

Here's a comparison of the 2 Jacks of Diamonds. The Fournier is on the left:

1820 2 jacks.jpg (26.16 KiB) Viewed 9832 times

Thanks for the question. I should have talked about this in the posting.

[Jock1971]

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[dazzleguts]

Really like the drawings in this deck Jase, nice find!
Also enjoyed the odd subject of the previous deck - plumbing in the 18th century .
Many thanks for these, and your many other, great contributions to the Worldwide.

[Jock1971]

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[shermjack]

As always, great postings of beautiful decks, Jase! The Zodiaque is definitely one to put on the list to get!

[Jock1971]

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