Mayall Press Art Studies
Photographic playing cards - each face having an "art study" of a female nude, Mayall Press, Stockwell, London, c.1946.
Photographic playing cards - each face having an "art study" of a female nude, published by Mayall Press, Stockwell, London. Intended for the discriminating artist and connoisseur of art, demonstrating modern photography at its finest. The box is clearly from the paper-rationing era, so presumably produced during or soon after the Second World War, when service men were returning home to their families and loved ones. The style of the cards anticipates the Playboy Club which opened in 1960.
Above: Photographic playing cards - each face having an "art study" of a female nude, Mayall Press, Stockwell, London, c.1946. This edition has square corners and over the years different editions were published with different models. Images courtesy Matt Probert.
By Matt Probert
United Kingdom • Member since March 02, 2012
I have adored playing cards since before I was seven years old, and was brought up on packs of Waddington's No 1. As a child I was fascinated by the pictures of the court cards.
Over the next fifty years I was seduced by the artwork in Piatnik's packs and became a collector of playing cards.
Seeking more information about various unidentified packs I discovered the World of Playing Cards website and became an enthusiastic contributor researching and documenting different packs of cards.
I describe my self as a playing card archaeologist, using detective work to identify and date obscure packs of cards discovered in old houses, flea markets and car boot sales.
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