Novosibirsk Fair
Novosibirsk Fair playing cards designed by Sergei A. Grebennikov, Russia, 1997.
Another 36-card pack published by L. G. Kosheleva, Novosibirsk in 1997. The deck is unusual both in general and for this publisher, as L. G. Kosheleva primarily published fortune-telling cards. The deck contains graphically drawn characters from the fair, so beloved by all the inhabitants of Russia for hundreds of years. Characters depicted include a gypsy with violin; gypsy with a bear; young man with balalaika; a landowner with snuffbox; shopkeeper with pockerbook. The artist is Sergei A. Grebennikov (1960- ). The pip cards have ornate borders.
Above: Novosibirsk Fair playing cards designed by Sergei A. Grebennikov, Russia, 1997. 36 cards.
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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