Scarfes Bar playing cards

Published April 09, 2023 • Updated May 10, 2024

‘Scarfes Bar’ satirical playing cards with cartoons by Gerald Scarfe, United Kingdom.

Renowned British artist and satirical cartoonist Gerald Scarfe (b. 1936) has lent his name and artistic vision to Scarfe’s Bar, where his own collection of amusing paintings and cartoons adorn the walls. He describes the Bar as his “personal art gallery, where you can see my life on these walls”. Scarfes Bar features a roaring fire, a collection of cosy velvet armchairs and shelves filled with over 1,000 antique books. A creative menu of cocktails and complimentary live music six nights a week add to the conviviality.

‘Scarfes Bar’ satirical playing cards with cartoons by Gerald Scarfe, United Kingdom

This undated pack, specially created by Rosewood London has 4 corner indices, and consists of 52 cards on each of which is a satirical, often cruel, depiction of a well-known individual from different walks of life -- British and European politicians, royalty, celebrities, musicians, actors and other prominent individuals. The 3 jokers depict Scarfe himself. See the box►

Above: ‘Scarfes Bar’ satirical playing cards with cartoons by Gerald Scarfe, United Kingdom.

NOTE: This review first appeared (with fewer illustrations) in the EPCS Newsletter, n. 129, August 2020, p. 30.

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By Peter Burnett

United Kingdom • 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.

• Russian Playing Cards

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.