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Published November 10, 2020 Updated April 11, 2023

Year of the Child

Year of the Child commemorative deck designed by Jhan Paulussen, 1979.

1979 Belgium Cartamundi Jhan Paulussen Art & Design Children Commemorative Parenting Add to Collection
Year of the Child commemorative deck designed by Jhan Paulussen, 1979

Year of the Child commemorative deck beautifully designed by visual artist Jhan Paulussen (1921-2005) and published by Turnhout Wereldcentrum van de Speelkart in 1979.

UNESCO declared 1979 as the International Year of the Child to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. Children's rights are a subset of human rights with particular attention to protection and care. The images on the cards evoke the happy play-world of the child, where dream and reality intertwine, as in a fairy tale. The deck also seeks to raise awareness that many children are vulnerable, living in poverty and misery, lacking care and love or separated from their parents.

The artist’s message is: “Let the children, children be”... more

Year of the Child commemorative deck designed by Jhan Paulussen, 1979 Year of the Child commemorative deck designed by Jhan Paulussen, 1979

Above: Year of the Child (De Gelukskinderen) commemorative deck designed by Jhan Paulussen, produced by Carta Mundi for Turnhout Wereldcentrum van de Speelkart, 1979. 52 cards + 2 Jokers + extra card in box.

Further References

About Jhan Paulussen

Wikipedia: Jhan Paulussen

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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

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.


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