La Cour Galante

Published December 08, 2022 • Updated December 08, 2022

‘La Cour Galante’ playing cards with erotic images by Costante Costantini, Italy, 1979.

Published by Editions du Soleil-Lion (Solleone) in Milan, 1979, this pack presents humorous and mildly erotic figures in the style of wood-engravings by Costante Costantini (an artist born in Florence in 1921). It was produced in a limited edition of 2000 packs, and contains 52 cards plus 2 jokers and an information card. There are no corner indices. The cards measure 63 x 96 mm. and are wrapped in green card which depicts the sun above an image of a lion (Solleone). See the box►

The information card and the box both include “Editions du Soleil-Lion Ari’ et Terry”, a reference to Vito Arienti and Terry Humphreys (see here).

‘La Cour Galante’ playing cards by Costante Costantini published by Editions du Soleil-Lion (Solleone), Milan, 1979

Above: ‘La Cour Galante’ playing cards by Costante Costantini published by Editions du Soleil-Lion (Solleone), Milan, 1979.

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By Peter Burnett

United Kingdom • Member since July 27, 2022

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.

• Russian Playing Cards

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.