Jeu Bonaparte
Jeu Bonaparte depicting the extended family of Napoleon Bonaparte, France, 1978
Published by Éditions J.C. Dusserre, Paris and printed by Boéchat Frères in 1978, this is a reprint of a pack belonging to the collection of Yves Lemains, and which was originally published c. 1858 by Digeon, printer to the Empress. The court cards depict the family of Napoleon Bonaparte: Napoleon I, II and III and the Imperial Prince, as well as the Empresses. The aces show scenes from the lives of the Emperors (e.g. the birth of Napoleon I in Corsica; the island of Elba; his death on St. Helena; captivity of Napoleon III in Fort Ham). The back is printed with eagles and bees in gold against a dark green background (repeated on one side of the tuck box). There are three extra cards, two of which give the history of the pack while the third refers to Musée de l’Armée, Hotel National des Invalides (where Napoleon I is buried). See the box►
Above: Jeu Bonaparte published by Éditions J.C. Dusserre, Paris and printed by Boéchat Frères in 1978. Reprinted from original copy in the collection of Yves Lemains.
References
Reference: Fournier Museum, Playing cards, France 554.
Bibliothèque nationale de France: La famille impériale, jeu de cartes de l'ère impériale and also here►
By Peter Burnett
United Kingdom • Member since July 27, 2022 • Contact
I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.
Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.
Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.
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