Aztec Codex playing cards

Published November 09, 2023 • Updated November 09, 2023

Inspired by the ancient Aztec art found on the Mesoamerican manuscripts made by the pre-Columbian Aztecs, and their descendants during the colonial period in Mexico, Emmanuel Valtierra, an Illustrator from San Antonio, Texas produced this Aztec codex playing card pack via Kickstarter in 2015. According to Valtierra “the purpose of the cards will be to introduce new generations to the old style of art in a very fun way. We will be able to start learning some basic elements of the Aztecs”. All the cards were designed to have a meaning according to the codex.

The kings are based on the last 4 huey tlatoanis (emperors) of Mexico. Cuahutemoc, Moctezuma, Tizoc, and Ahuizotl. The queens portray Aztec women doing their labours - taking care of the babies, gardening, cooking, and watching the house while their men are labouring for the village. The Jacks represent different kinds of Aztec warriors but the most important (and well known) are the eagle and jaguar warriors. The cards are shaded to look like they are on parchment, with decorative suit signs throughout. The Jokers are the mystical Aztec Gods - Hutzilopochtli (the sun god representing war and sacrifice) and Tlaloc (the rain god representing fertility and growth), while Quetzalcoatl (the Aztec god of wind, air, and learning) is shown on the tuck box►

Aztec Codex playing cards illustrated by Emmanuel Valtierra, USA, ©2015

Above: Aztec Codex playing cards illustrated by Emmanuel Valtierra, published via Kickstarter, USA, 2015.

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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.