Pinocchio

Published March 22, 2018 • Updated April 03, 2024

Pinocchio fairy tale playing cards illustrated by Iassen Ghiuselev for Lo Scarabeo, 2003.

Pinocchio playing cards illustrated by Bulgarian artist Iassen Ghiuselev (born 1964) for Lo Scarabeo, 2003. The famous fairy tale about the wooden puppet that becomes a child was originally written by Carlo Lorenzini (aka Collidi) in 1881 for “Giornale dei Bambini” children’s magazine. The 12 court cards, 4 aces and 2 jokers in this deck are all illustrated in colour, the remaining numeral cards (2-10) contain sepia artwork. See the Box►

Iassen Ghiuselev attended the School of Art in Sofia and then studied at the National Academy of Arts. Graduating in 1990 he now works as a freelance illustrator Wikipedia►

Pinocchio fairy tale playing cards illustrated by Iassen Ghiuselev for Lo Scarabeo, 2003

Above: Pinocchio fairy tale playing cards illustrated by Iassen Ghiuselev for Lo Scarabeo, 2003. 52 illustrated cards + 2 jokers + 6 extra cards in box.

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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

United Kingdom • 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.