Jeu des Médecins
Cartoons of doctors and nurses by Pino Zac, published by B.P. Grimaud in 1983.
Published by B.P. Grimaud in 1983, this pack was designed by the Italian illustrator and professional cartoonist Giuseppe Zaccaria (1930-1985), best known as Pino Zac. The court cards show satirical cartoons of medical doctors and nurses, set against blue backgrounds for the red suits, and magenta for those in the black suits. The otherwise standard pip cards have medical equipment superimposed (e.g. a stethoscope on the hearts). Zac produced several other packs including Eroticartes and Tarot de l’an 2000►
Above: Jeu des Médecins designed by Pino Zac (Giuseppe Zaccaria) and published by B.P. Grimaud in 1983.
• See the box►
Reference
Fournier Museum, Playing Cards v.2, France no. 623.
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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