Robert Morden’s Playing Cards
The 52 Counties of England and Wales described as a pack of cards first published in London in 1676.
The 52 Counties of England and Wales described as a pack of cards, containing a wealth of information about principal towns, roads, distances from London, hills and rivers, first published in London in 1676, might be regarded as the first pocket atlas.
The King depicted is Charles II and the Queen, his wife, Catherine of Braganza. The cards were printed from copper plates, with the suit symbols being applied by stencil. In some cards the stencilled suit mark has obliterated the Arabic numeral which represents the value of the card.
Above: cards from the facsimile edition. Packs can be ordered directly from www.harrymargary.com►
Further References
• Bodleian Library Map Department blog: Playing with maps►
• See also MailOnline: Yellowed ancient hand-crafted playing cards►
By Simon Wintle
Member since February 01, 1996
Founder 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.
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