Fact & Fancy : a Deck of Decks

Dick Martin was a Chicago artist who illustrated several books in L. Frank Baum’s beloved Oz series. Martin also created two decks for the Chicago Playing Card Collectors club (which merged with 52 Plus Joker in 2018). Fact & Fancy is the first Martin deck, issued in 1961 to commemorate the club’s tenth anniversary. Six hundred copies were made.

Fact & Fancy celebrates the history of playing cards – indeed, it’s subtitled “A Deck of Decks”. The suits are divided by theme: spades are historical, hearts are educational, clubs are political, and diamonds are fanciful. Each suit’s courts portray appropriate historical personages while the pip cards are dedicated to famous decks. For example, hearts (education) showcase decks dealing with heraldry, geography, and astronomy. The Jack of Hearts is Edmond Hoyle of the rules book fame. Diamonds (fanciful) include several transformation decks such as Cotta’s almanac, transparent cards, and circular cards. The Jack of Diamonds is legendary magician Howard Thurston.

All in all, it’s a wonderful, whimsical, joyous journey into the history of playing cards.

Fact & Fancy, a deck of cards designed by Dick Martin for the Chicago Playing Card Collectors, limited edition of 600, 1961.

The joker is a traditional depiction of the Fool from tarot decks. The cards are printed on large rectangular paper somewhat resembling stock paper, which makes Fact & Fancy more of a deck for collecting than a deck for playing (it would surely frustrate a cardist). Martin employs a mint green, blue, and red color palette. The backs feature a jolly winking king and a queen. Two different backs, red and blue, were printed. The cards come in a wrapper which can be folded in two ways – one results in the word “Red” appearing on the back, the other in the word “Blue” – to reflect the contents.

An accompanying brochure lists the decks alongside one-sentence bios of the court cards, some of which hew closer to fancy than fact. Take the Queens of Hearts: “Anne of Cleves, fourth bride of England’s Henry VIII, who dissolved an unwanted marriage (and saved her neck) by beating him at cards on their wedding night.”

Martin’s second deck, Mythological Zoo, commemorates the Chicago Playing Card Collectors club’s twentieth anniversary.