St Hubert’s Bridge

Published May 20, 2016 • Updated June 18, 2022

“St Hubert’s Bridge” published by Éditions Philibert, Paris, c.1956.

“St Hubert’s Bridge” playing cards published by Éditions Philibert, Paris, 1956, featuring original watercolour artwork by Eugène Leliepvre celebrating the Feast of St. Hubert of Liège (3rd Nov), the patron saint of hunting. The stylised scenes are as follows: spades = boar hunting in the middle ages; diamonds = fox hunting in XIX century England; clubs = falconry in the Renaissance; hearts = deer hunting in the XVIII century. (images are reversible - click to see up-side-down.)

St Hubert’s Bridge published by Éditions Philibert, Paris, c.1956

(images are reversible - click to see up-side-down)

Above: “St Hubert’s Bridge” published by Éditions Philibert, printed by Draeger Frères, Paris, c.1956. 52 cards + 2 jokers + title card + extra card, gilt edges. The jokers depict a Roebuck and Royal Pheasant, the title card depicts symbols of deer hunting & falconry. Images courtesy Rex Pitts.

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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

United Kingdom • Member since January 30, 2009

Rex's main interest was in card games, because, he said, they were cheap and easy to get hold of in his early days of collecting. He is well known for his extensive knowledge of Pepys games and his book is on the bookshelves of many. His other interest was non-standard playing cards. He also had collections of sheet music, music CDs, models of London buses, London Transport timetables and maps and other objects that intrigued him.

Rex had a chequered career at school. He was expelled twice, on one occasion for smoking! Despite this he trained as a radio engineer and worked for the BBC in the World Service. Later he moved into sales and worked for a firm that made all kinds of packaging, a job he enjoyed until his retirement. He became an expert on boxes and would always investigate those that held his cards. He could always recognize a box made for Pepys, which were the same as those of Alf Cooke’s Universal Playing Card Company, who printed the card games. This interest changed into an ability to make and mend boxes, which he did with great dexterity. He loved this kind of handicraft work.

His dexterity of hand and eye soon led to his making card games of his own design. He spent hours and hours carefully cutting them out and colouring them by hand.