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Woodpecker Press Ltd

Published February 28, 2010 Updated July 14, 2022

Woodpecker Press is believed to have started up in 1987 as a spin-off from the closure of Astra Games.

1988 United Kingdom National Trust Woodpecker Press

Woodpecker Press Ltd., 1987-89

Woodpecker Press is believed to have started up in 1987 as a spin-off from the closure of Astra Games, and continued producing advertising playing cards of a very similar design and quality until around 1989.

Above: playing cards manufactured in England by Woodpecker Press Limited for The National Trust, c.1988. 52 cards + 2 jokers + bridge scores card. Four indices.

Above: another pack for the National Trust, black border to the bridge score card. Image courtesy Matt Probert.

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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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