Petrovskie
Petrovskie, politicheskie karty Rossii (Russian political cards), 1997.
Each of the 36 cards and 2 jokers in this political pack, printed by the Kombinat Tsvetnoi Pechati (Colour Printing Combine) displays a cartoon figure of a politician of the period. These include both Russian and those of neighbouring countries. Unfortunately, most of these are now difficult to identify -- the public life of some politicians is transient. However, recognisable figures include Jacques Chirac, Boris Yeltsin, John Major, Bill Clinton and Helmut Kohl. See the box►
Above: ‘Petrovskie’ Russian political cards printed by the Kombinat Tsvetnoi Pechati (Colour Printing Combine) in 1997. 36 cards + 2 jokers.
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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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