The forum for Cardistry, Magic, Custom Decks and All Things Playing Cards.
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I'm never active on the discord and just so happened to be driving when a notification popped up on my Android Auto. The universe gave me a win that day. I missed the $20 Legal Tender legacy sale the subsequent day but overall, can't complain.
Yup, the gilded decks had boxes that said Gold Edges on the label irrespective of the color of the box. Some white boxes also say "Gold Edges." There's no rhyme or reason to which color box has which backs either. I did only see red and white boxes, while the recent PCD reproductions opted for red and green boxes.
Great insight! I looked through the cards and I was consistently able to identify the brighter cards as A/2-9, meaning 9-K/A were being used in a game. The closest guess would be Euchre, which is played with 9 through Ace. Awesome to have a visual depiction showing this deck was used for gameplay, as that's what it was meant for. Also crazy to imagine this deck has passed hands for the last 130 years.atzenhofer wrote: ↑Wed Jul 02, 2025 4:35 am Awesome deck!
I think the cards were used for a game with 36 or 32 cards, so some cards are in better condition. I guess the brighter edges are the number cards 2-5 from each suit?
I have a few used decks with the same wear pattern which only stands out if they're sorted and unshuffled.
ChatGPT wrote: William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) was a British novelist, essayist, and illustrator best known for his sharp social satire and keen observations of Victorian society. Born in Calcutta, India, he was educated in England and originally intended to study law before turning to art and literature.
Thackeray’s most famous work is *Vanity Fair* (1847–1848), a sprawling panoramic novel that portrays the moral ambiguities and hypocrisies of early 19th-century English life through the ambitious and witty heroine Becky Sharp. His writing often balanced humor with moral reflection, exposing the pretensions of the upper and middle classes while maintaining a sympathetic understanding of human weakness.
Beyond *Vanity Fair*, his other notable works include *Pendennis*, *The History of Henry Esmond*, and *The Newcomes*. Thackeray was also a skilled caricaturist and often illustrated his own books, giving his work a distinctive visual personality.
In his lifetime, he was regarded as one of Charles Dickens’s chief literary rivals, admired for his irony, realism, and psychological depth.
Two For His Heels, rubylane.com wrote:Justly celebrated set of transformation playing cards designed by the famous 19th century British novelist, William Makepeace Thackeray, author of "Vanity Fair" among many famous works. Thackeray was also a favorite caricaturist for Punch and other British publications, and 13 years after his death, his daughter published a book entitled, "The Orphan of Pimlico" as a tribute to Thackeray's artistic abilities, which included these transformation cards.
In Orphan there were a total of 21 playing cards in 5 groups appearing on 5 pages of the book. Thackeray's daughter supplied comments about the cards, and those comments appear on on the opposite facing pages. Each of the 5 groups had a title: (i) "Playing-Cards"; (ii) "Clubs and Croziers"; (iii) "Shakespeare, Byron, Miss Smith, etc."; (iv) "List, List, O List!"; and (v) "La Raison du Plus Fort"
PLAYING-CARDS
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I.
Assyrian bas-relief and battle-scene. See Herodotus.
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II. and III.
American notes and reminiscences.
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IV.
Mr. GIBBON, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. JOHNSON.
The Playing-Cards were originally intended to form a completed pack, but only a certain number were ever finished. They amused my Father very much at the time he drew them. He was specially pleased with the likeness to Mr. Gibbon which he discovered in the three of spades. I think this is almost the trump card of the whole hand as it is dealt out here.
CLUBS AND CROZIERS
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I.
This three of clubs represents Marlborough at the Battle of Malplaquet.
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II.
HENRY IV., PART II., ACT IV., SCENE IV.
P. Hen. — I never thought to hear you speak again.
K. Hen. — Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought.
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III.
We have a poem in my Father’s handwriting which seems applicable here:—
The apes of Brazils,
When afflicted with ills,
Retire to the Hills.
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IV.
MACBETH, ACT I., SCENE I.
Thunder and Lightning. Enter three Witches.
Happily St. Augustin, with his crozier, is not St. Patrick.
He has not quite exorcised witches out of the country,
nor have the contents of their caldron suffered as yet.
SHAKSPEARE, BYRON, MISS SMITH, &c.
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I.
MACBETH, ACT I., SCENE III.
MACBETH.—Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence, or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting?—Speak, I charge you!
[Witches vanish.]
This might be Macready himself in the character of Macbeth.
Banquo follows the retreating witches with a timid glance. The
caldron, the bellows, and Macbeth’s little dog, give great reality to the
awful scene. Observe the thistle of Scotland sprouting from the heath.
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II.
IN MY COTTAGE.
Captain Brown’s admiration for Miss Smith’s performance needs no comment.
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III.
. . . now will I to my couch, altho’ to rest
Is almost wronging such a night as this . . .
. . . all is gentle: nought
Stirs rudely but congenial with the night;
Whatever walks is gliding like a spirit.
The tinklings of some vigilant guitars
Of sleepless lovers to a wakeful mistress.
. . . the dark
Phosphoric of the oar, or rapid twinkle
Of the far lights of skimming gondolas.
Byron, Marino Faliero.
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IV.
The King is counting his money, the Queen is lunching in the
parlour, the audacious Blackbird is in the very act of flying away with
the Laundry-maid’s nose. . . .
LIST, LIST, O LIST!
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I.
DR. BIRCH’S ESTABLISHMENT.
HERE is a tragic episode from Dr. Birch’s well-known establishment; sitting above is the intellectual first form absorbed in its studies, down below are the boys who go up next. John the footman seems accustomed to his duties, and the Doctor is distinguishing himself with all the generous energy which belongs to the high calling he pursues, and to the spirited system by which youth is led to love literature and to respect those who are set in authority.
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II.
HAMLET, Act I., Scene II.
Ham. — Pale or red?
Hor. — Nay, very pale.
Ham. — And fixed his eyes on you?
Hor. — Most constantly.
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III.
MAZOURKA.
The music still plays as my Father heard it, and the little Polish men almost stamp out of the paper.
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IV.
HUSH!
. . . . The Red Indians, on the contrary, are advancing with the most extraordinary precautions. ‘Are those Indians and warriors so terrible as our Indians and warriors were?’ says one of the ‘Roundabout Papers.’ These Indians are doubtless of a tribe belonging to the prairies of my Father’s favourite Leather Stocking.
LA RAISON DU PLUS FORT
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I.
THE BATTLE OF OLTENITZA.
PLEASE to observe Omar Pacha and his Staff taking observations from the neighbouring heights.
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II.
THE BONNY HOUSE O’ AIRLIE.
The Lady look’d over the Castle wa’,
And oh! she sighed sairly
When she saw Argyll and a’ his men
Come to plunder the bonny House o’ Airlie.
‘Come down to me,’ said proud Argyll,
‘Come down and kiss me fairly,
Or I swear by the sword I hold in my hand
I winna leave a stane in Airlie.’
‘I’ll no come down, ye proud Argyll,
Until ye speak mair fairly,
Tho’ ye swear by the sword ye hold in your hand
Ye winna leave a stane in Airlie.
‘Had my ain gudeman been at his hame,*
But he’s awa’ wi’ Charlie,
There’s no a Campbell in a’ Argyll
Dare have trod a foot on the bonnie green o’ Airlie.’ . . . .
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III.
The readers of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ will recognise a scene out of that celebrated book. Little Eva is in the corner turning away in tears.
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IV.
PIROUETTE.
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V.
My Father once said that one of the achievements in life which had given him most unalloyed satisfaction was the introduction of Napoleon’s waistcoat, as it appears in this battle scene, surrounded by the weather-beaten faces of the Old Guard.
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July, 1640: Lord Airlie being away with Charles I., and Lord Ogilvy imprisoned in the dungeon of St. Andrews.
I tried my best to take close-up photos since the book is rather large at 12-5/8" x 10-1/4" (32.1cm × 26.0cm). The images on rubylane were far too compressed so I definitely wanted higher resolution images to be preserved online!
That's so cool you did that!Honeybee wrote: ↑Sat Nov 01, 2025 2:12 am Thanks for all those links kev. Tempting. Abebooks has me confused thanks to that all black leather offering which looks too good to be true, especially when all the other listed first editions show those red and white boards and only a leather spine.
Buying a book would certainly seem better value than buying just 10 pages from rubylane
How is the binding of yours, not that I would be much help to you but I do love repairing books (a librarian was one of my careers)
