The history of the deck
Where playing cards came from, how they reached Europe, when the suits we know took shape, and why one Russian deck design is recognised at a glance.
the card as a picture: a magazine about the art of playing cards
Startpoker1: the card as a picture
Most of the time a deck is shuffled, laid out and put back in its box without anyone really looking at it. Yet every card is a small print that a designer, an engraver and a printer all worked on. The court cards preserve the costumes of long-vanished times, and the card backs carry ornaments worthy of a book headpiece. Startpoker1 is an independent magazine that looks at playing cards as works of graphic art and helps you see a page from the history of art and printing in a familiar deck.
A deck is a pocket gallery: a few dozen prints that have passed from hand to hand for centuries.
Where to start reading
Suits and court cards
Kings, queens and jacks as characters: how artists composed a court figure, what the card heroes hold in their hands and why the image was made double-ended.
Printing and graphic art
The woodblock, the copper plate, the lithographic stone and the offset press: how the way cards were reproduced changed, and how to recognise it from the sheet itself.
Collecting
Why people collect decks, what connoisseurs look for, how to describe an old find and how to store fragile pasteboard carefully so the colours do not fade.
Magazine sections
- Articles
Six themes of the magazine, from the first decks to caring for old cards, plus the catalogue of English-language articles.
- History
The journey of the playing card from Tang-dynasty China to the European suits and the Russian "Atlas" deck of 1862.
- People
Designer, engraver, printer, card maker, collector and curator: the people behind every deck.
- Collections
Three reading routes: court cards and kings, card backs and patterns, small decks and patience.
- Events
Print exhibitions, collectors' fairs, museum talks and printmaking workshops, and how to check an announcement.
- Analysis
How the picture of a card king is built, and how to tell woodcut, copper engraving, lithography and offset apart by the print.
- Archive
The magazine's contents and why pages of the former website on this domain are not being restored.
How to examine an old deck in five steps
Turn the cards face down
The pattern on the back often says as much about the date as the face does. Plain colour, a fine lattice, a floral ornament or a check: note which design you have and whether it is the same on every card.
Look closely at the court cards
See how the kings, queens and jacks are dressed, whether they are single-ended or double-ended, and how the faces and folds are drawn. The designer's style often hints at the country and period.
Identify the printing method
Take a magnifying glass. A slightly rough outline with colour laid over the lines, a fine engraved line, a soft grain or a regular grid of dots point to different techniques. A detailed table is in the Analysis section.
Feel the paper and the edges
The thickness of the pasteboard, the number of layers glued together, the shape of the corners and the cut edges all matter for dating. Rounded or square corners, gilt or plain edges: write it all down.
Look for inscriptions and marks
Individual cards and the box may carry workshop names, marks of official permission to issue, stamps and owners' notes. Copy them out in full, even if their meaning is not yet clear.
Readers' questions
Are you connected with gambling?
No. The magazine has nothing to do with gambling, does not advertise it and does not link to such services. We are interested in the card as an image, not as a means of play.
Do you teach card games?
No. We do not publish rules or give advice on games. The magazine is about cards as art: design, printing, history and collecting.
Do you read fortunes with cards?
No, we do not do fortune-telling or predictions.
Where do the dates come from?
From open sources: encyclopaedias on the history of playing cards and book illustration, museum catalogues and publications on printmaking. A list of sources is given at the bottom of every page.
About the project
This domain used to host an advertising website connected with gambling. The current magazine has no connection with it, does not restore its content and has nothing to do with gambling. The name Startpoker1 was kept from the domain and says nothing about what the magazine covers.
We write about playing cards as part of the history of graphic art and design: the first decks and how the suits took shape, the craftsmen who drew, cut and printed cards, card designs from different countries, cards in paintings and book illustrations, and how to collect and store old decks.
Read next
- History
The journey of the playing card from Tang-dynasty China to the European suits and the Russian "Atlas" deck of 1862.
- Articles
Six themes of the magazine, from the first decks to caring for old cards, plus the catalogue of English-language articles.
- Analysis
How the picture of a card king is built, and how to tell woodcut, copper engraving, lithography and offset apart by the print.
- Collections
Three reading routes: court cards and kings, card backs and patterns, small decks and patience.
- Archive
The magazine's contents and why pages of the former website on this domain are not being restored.
Sources
- Encyclopaedic sources on the history of playing cards
- Encyclopaedic sources on the history of book illustration
- Museum catalogues and publications on printmaking
Dates and facts about the history of playing cards come from open encyclopaedic and museum sources; where historians disagree, we try to say so. Please check the times, venues and admission arrangements for exhibitions and lectures with the organisers.