Shakespeare Playing Cards

C. W. Faulkner & Co Ltd, 79 Golden Lane, London E.C.

Faulkner & Co. Ltd were prolific card game manufacturers over a period of around 50 years, c.1870-1920. The Shakespeare Playing Cards pack was published in c.1906. The original paintings for the courts are by John H. Bacon. The chromolithographic printing was done in Germany by B. Dondorf and the name of the publisher appears not only on the Ace of Spades but also on the Jack of Clubs where Dondorf would normally print their own name. The cards were also issued by Dondorf as Shakespeare Spielkarten, Whist No.192.

The courts are not named but a separate card lists the characters. These are: Spades, from ‘Hamlet’, K: Claudius King of Denmark, Q: Gertrude, J: grave digger. Hearts, K: Henry V, Q: Katherine, from ‘Henry V’, J: Hubert de Burgh from ‘King John’. Clubs, K: Richard III, Q: Lady Anne, from ‘Richard III’, J: Jacques from ‘As You Like It’. Diamonds, from ‘Henry VIII’ are K: Henry VIII, Q: Katherine of Aragon, J: Sir Thomas Lovell.

Above: cards from C.W. Faulkner's “Shakespeare Playing Cards”. The court figures are based on original paintings by the illustrator John H. Bacon, who also illustrated titles such as: Pharos the Egyptian (as serialized in the Windsor Magazine in 1898), The Marriage of Arthur and Guinevere, Jane Eyre Illustrated. Editions with advertising backs are also known, eg Hotels of the Midland Railway. The pack also contained a Joker showing a jester playing a guitar and riding on a donkey, with the caption "Laugh! and the world laughs with you." Images courtesy Sallie Boyd.

Note from Roddy Somerville

This is the third edition of the Shakespeare pack, published in about 1924. The Ace of Spades is now plain, the indices (4 mm in height) are in German and there are two suit-signs (one large, one small) in two of the corners. The text in English on the Joker has been removed. The extra card - with text in German - is printed on different stock from the rest of the pack and has a blank back. - R.S

Above: third edition of the Shakespeare pack, printed by Dondorf, published in about 1924.