The Circus
“The Circus” playing cards with artwork by Max Dissar and Rita Rielle, published by Masenghini, Bergamo, c.1980.
This pack, published by Masenghini, Bergamo, c. 1980, features the artwork of Max Dissar (1908-1993) and his pupil Rita Rielle. They shared work and exhibitions for more than 15 years. The aces and court cards show delicate paintings of clowns and other circus figures. The cards were commissioned by the Bioresearch Division of Errekappa Euroterapici (an Italian pharmaceutical company dating back to the 1960s, but established in its current form in 1989). The consultant was Carlo Eugenio Santelia, co-author of I giochi di carte (Milano, Rizzoli, 2002).
Above: “The Circus” playing cards with artwork by Max Dissar and Rita Rielle, published by Masenghini, Bergamo, c. 1980.
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.
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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