Heraclio Fournier S.A.

In 1868 Heraclio Fournier González (1849-1916), descendant of renowned master printers of Paris, founded a small playing card factory in Vitoria, Spain. The workshops were originally located in Plaza Nueva where he trialled new printing methods and achieved success with the quality of his playing cards. On his death the business was managed by his nephew Félix Alfaro Fournier (1895–1989) who began the Fournier Playing Card collection (Museo Fournier de Naipes) which is based at Diputación Foral de Álava. Today the playing card business is part of Cartamundi. A history of the company can be found on their website: www.nhfournier.es►

Above: Heraclio Fournier's first playing cards, printed from lithographic stones, 1868. A facsimile edition was published in 1994.

Above: Emilio Soubrier, from the local Art and Design College, was commissioned in 1877 by D. Heraclio Fournier to produce a new definitive set of playing card designs. These were produced with assistance from Ignacio Díaz de Olano (top row). Ten years later, the designs were revised by Augusto Rius and became the standard ‘Castilian’ pattern which is used today around the world (bottom row)   see more →

The above newspaper article appeared in August, 1934. The pack referred to in the article is shown below.

Fournier at its best...

Inside the Fournier playing card factory in Vitoria, Spain...

Above: Un empleado de Naipes Fournier en Vitoria comprueba el corte de las cartas  read more →

See Online Catalogue of the Museo Fournier de Naipes de Álava►

More examples of playing cards manufactured by Heraclio Fournier S.A.:   República Española Souvenir ::: Romance Español ::: Baraja Andaluza ::: Baraja Turistica ::: Monumentos de España ::: El Cid 9th Centenary ::: Fifth Centenary of the Discovery of America ::: Castilian pattern ::: No.35 "Rueda Alada" Catalan pattern ::: No.40 Poker ::: No.505 Poker ::: No.55 Catalan pattern ::: No.5 Catalan pattern ::: No.5P Cadiz pattern for export to Peru ::: Fernando Pessoa & Co Playing Cards ::: Habemus Boda, 2004 ::: №260

By Simon Wintle

Member since February 01, 1996

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Curator and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.