Suvenirni Karti: XVII Storochchia

Published July 28, 2022 • Updated July 28, 2022

Warriors and Soldiers of the 17th century, produced in L’viv in 2010.

Produced in L’viv in 2010, this pack consists of 36 cards with each card depicting in brilliant detail warriors and soldiers of the 17th century. Each suit is devoted to a different empire or region. Diamonds represent the Tsardom of Moscow (King is Mikhail I, First Romanov Tsar 1596-1645); Clubs represent Poland (King is Władysław IV Vasa or Ladislaus IV of Poland, 1595-1648); Spades represent the Ottoman Empire (King is Sultan Murad IV, 1612-1640), and finally Hearts depict the Zaporozhian Host - a military force inhabiting or originating from Zaporizhzhia, the territory beyond the rapids of the Dnieper River in what is Central Ukraine today, from the 15th to the 18th centuries. The King is the military commander Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 1595-1657. The Queens and Knaves, along with the Kings, are all described on separate card. Each Ace displays the coat-of-arms of the relevant empire while the pip cards represent soldiers and fighters, each one explaining their rank, function or position.

Warriors and Soldiers of the 17th century, produced in L’viv in 2010

Above: Warriors and Soldiers of the 17th century playing cards produced in L’viv in 2010. 36 cards.

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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.