Emanuelle
‘Emanuelle’ erotic transformation playing cards designed by Patrick Cuenot, 1986.
The designer of this risqué erotic transformation pack, published in 1986 by InterCol London, is the French artist and cartoonist Patrick Cuenot (b. 1952). The black-suited pip cards feature black-and-white transformations, while red is added to the transformations on the heart and diamond pip cards. The colourful court cards and jokers are playful and teasing. There are two spade aces, and an additional information card which provides a brief biography of the artist and notes: “The erotic theme of Emanuelle makes this a new concept and an original creation without precedence in the annals of playing card history” read more►




Above: ‘Emanuelle’ erotic transformation playing cards designed by Patrick Cuenot, 1986.
• See the box►

By Peter Burnett
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.
Related Articles

Disney’s Aladdin playing cards
Characters from the 1992 Disney film Aladdin.

2011 Worshipful Company Pack
Celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, with characters adapted from drawings b...

Jockey Club de Buenos Aires
Spanish-suited pack by Chas Goodall & Son Ltd for the Jockey Club, Buenos Aires.

New interest in old games
Games once fashionable are now eclipsed by quicker gratifications.

Polygo™
Cards of irregular, four-sided shape for playing word and colour games as well as more traditional o...

Treasures from the Bodleian Library
Rare books, manuscripts, music scores, portraits, maps, gospels, chronicles and other valuable artef...

Victorian grocer’s scale plate
Large flat plate decorated with highly coloured English cards and royal arms.

Queen of Arts
A wide variety of women artists celebrated on cards with illustrations by Laura Callaghan.

The Glasgow Pack
Issued to celebrate Glasgow’s reign as European City of Culture in 1990, with city views and works o...

Cathedrals, Abbeys & Minsters playing cards
54 pictures of different famous cathedrals, abbeys and minsters in England and Wales.

Christmas Carols
Christmas Carols playing cards illustrated by Stuart Dilks

Pam is the Knave of Clubs
Playing cards as metaphors in 18th century art - from fate, chance and social hierarchy t...

Question and Answer Games
A card game called “Impertinent Questions and Pertinent Answers” was launched in the early 1920s by ...

Dr Sacheverell
Dr. Henry Sacheverell's impeachment in 1710 sparked widespread public unrest and political upheaval,...

Leadmill playing cards
Promotional pack for an arts centre in Sheffield with designs by Martin F. Bedford.

Agatha Christie and card games
Agatha Christie uses card-play as a primary focus of a story, and as a way of creating plots and mot...
Most Popular
Our top articles from the past 28 days