Wagner’s “Ring” playing cards
Wagner’s “Ring” playing cards, with illustrations by Sir Arthur Rackham, published by Prospero Art, USA, 2010.
Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813-1883) is best known for his four-opera cycle Der Ring des Niebelungen. This pack, published by Prospero Art in 2010, features 55 illustrations by Sir Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) depicting scenes from the operas. The pack summarises the storyline of the “Ring”, with each suit representing an opera; diamonds, Das Rheingold; spades, Die Walküre; hearts, Siegfried; and clubs, Die Götterdämmerung. Each illustration, originally created in 1911-1912, is described in the context of the relevant opera. There are two jokers, a card showing a painting of Richard Wagner by Jan Padover, and a double-sided card providing biographical information about Wagner on one side and Rackham on the other. See the information card►
Above: Wagner’s “Ring” playing cards, with illustrations by Sir Arthur Rackham, published by Prospero Art, USA, 2010.
See the box►
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.
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.
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