Jeu des Quatre Saisons de l’An II
“Jeu des Quatre Saisons de l’An II” facsimile of French Revolution deck originally published by J. B. Debeine (Reims) 1793.
One achievement of the Revolution was the liberation of card makers from reproducing the official standard pattern. “Jeu des Quatre Saisons de l’An II” is a French Revolution pack originally printed from woodblocks and coloured with stencils and published by J. B. Debeine (Reims) 1793. The traditional hierarchical royalty have been replaced with new humanist figures including rural activities and philosophers.
Five original cards can be viewed on the Bibliothèque Nationale de France website►
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, département Estampes et photographie, PET FOL-KH-34 (A, 26).
A facsimile edition titled “Jeu des Quatre Saisons de l’An II” was published by Éditions Dusserre in 1988 (see below).
Facsimile Edition
Above: “Jeu des Quatre Saisons de l’An II”, facsimile published by Éditions Dusserre in 1988 of original deck published by J. B. Debeine (Reims) 1793. 52 cards + 3 jokers + extra card in box. Images courtesy Matt Probert.
By Matt Probert
United Kingdom • Member since March 02, 2012
I have adored playing cards since before I was seven years old, and was brought up on packs of Waddington's No 1. As a child I was fascinated by the pictures of the court cards.
Over the next fifty years I was seduced by the artwork in Piatnik's packs and became a collector of playing cards.
Seeking more information about various unidentified packs I discovered the World of Playing Cards website and became an enthusiastic contributor researching and documenting different packs of cards.
I describe my self as a playing card archaeologist, using detective work to identify and date obscure packs of cards discovered in old houses, flea markets and car boot sales.
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