Playing Cards

The design from the backs of playing cards in a miniature deck illustrated by cartoonist Richard F. Outcault in 1907. Outcault created the Buster Brown comic strip in 1902. See below for the front of the Joker card from this set.

The Joker from a miniature deck of playing cards illustrated by cartoonist Richard F. Outcault in 1907. Buster Brown and his dog Tige were characters in Outcault's Buster Brown comic strip, which first appeared in 1902. See below for the design from the back of the card .

"Made in Poland."

The front of this advertising trade card for the Desbecker-Block Tailoring Company (above left) depicts a traveling salesman (note the "Samples" case in front of him) who's the "man on the spot" (or at least the man on an oversized playing card). The punning pants piece on the back of the card (above right) was widely circulated in newspapers and magazines as early as 1892. It often appeared under the title, "A Boy's Essay on Pants," with an explanation about an unidentified "boy in Wichita schools" who was "suspended for reading the following essay on 'pants.'" The same pants rant and illustration was also published as a postcard. Desbecker-Block Tailoring Co., Buffalo, N.Y. Tailors to all America. Samples. We've a man on the spot. He takes your measure--we do the rest. You'll find him at the store of J. T. Loucks, local agent, Hvoca, N.Y. (over). Pants are made for men not for women. Women are made for men not for pants. When a man pants for a woman and woman pants for a man they are a pair of pants. Such pants don't last. Pants are like molasses--they are thinner in hot weather and thicker in cold. Men are often mistaken in pants; such mistakes are breeches of promise. There has been much discussion whether pants is singular or plural. Seems to us when men wear pants it is plural and when they don't it is singular. Men go on a tear in their pants and it is all right. When the pants go on a tear it is all wrong. If you want to make pants last make the coat first. (over).

"Playing Cards, 1 Pack, U.S. Int. Rev. A.P.C. Co." Revenue stamps used to indicate payment of fees or taxes on playing cards, oleomargarine, and photographs, plus a telegraph stamp used to pay for a telegram (see above and below).

A playing cards and board games photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A scary scene during a card game! The four young men pictured in this real photo postcard have obviously been playing all evening. One of them is holding a bottle of Tokay wine, and we can see that a tobacco pipe, playing cards, and various coins and bills are strewn across the table (mouse over the image above for a close-up view of the table ). The guy on the left with the unruly hair is staring intently at the one on the right, who has drawn a gun and seems to be trying not to laugh. The two other fellows, however, haven't even noticed the gun. Perhaps the guy with the gun is angry because he suspects that one of his friends has been cheating, or maybe he's just upset that the print hanging on the wall behind him is starting to fall down. Judging by the humorous poem that's written on the other side of this photo postcard (see below), it's doubtful that any gunplay ever took place. Instead, considering that we can see a bed on the right-hand side of the photo and a dresser piled with books on the other side, it seems likely that these lads are simply students in a dorm room or apartment posing for an amusing photo of a card game gone wrong. -------- Handwritten poem on the other side of this real photo postcard (note: "out of chine" seems to mean "out of alignment" or "out of sync" in this context): Perhaps we had a big old time And maybe it was a spree But really I don't know What actually did happen to me. I only know my poor intellect Was most awful out of chine And I longed for just one drink of--- Well it wasn't wine. L. Messersmith, Fairmont, Minn.

A close-up of the table in We Had a Big Old Time--Playing Cards and Drinking Wine . Note the puzzling letters (including "TAITN," I believe) that appear underneath and adjacent to the pipe. I haven't been able to figure out what the letters might spell or even what they're printed or inscibed on.

Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "White Way Photo Studio, 1341 Broadway, New York City." For additional examples of this type of trick photo, which uses mirrors to create its illusion and is sometimes called a multigraph , see my Mirror Photos album.

A photo of someone who looks like a character from a book for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. When I first saw this real photo postcard, I thought of the Queen of Hearts and her retinue in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland . Wikipedia, in fact, specifically mentions The Playing Cards as characters in the book, describing them as "playing cards with a human head, arms, and legs. They are loyal servants as well as guards for the Queen of Hearts. They mainly carry spears with the tip shaped as a heart." Could this fellow have been an actor in a stage production of Alice in Wonderland ? But did the court of the Queen of Hearts include human cards from the diamond suit who carried spears tipped with diamonds rather than hearts? Another curious detail in this photo is the disk affixed to the front of the guy's hat (mouse over the image to see an enlargement ). It's decorated with a club, diamond, spade, and heart, and numerals indicating the year--1909--appear in the center of the disk. Unfortunately, though, there are other words above and below "1909" that I can't make out. Have you ever seen someone wearing a similar costume? Was Alice in Wonderland adapted as a theatrical production as early as 1909?

For more information, see the original photo :

"'Quick-Way' Truck Shovel Co., Denver, Colo." The back of an advertising playing card for a company that evidently came up with a "Quick-Way" of mounting a crane and shovel on a truck.

"The Dé Lardis. 1938 Season's Greetings." Photographer Alfred A. Dé Lardi (1900-1993) created this small but unique greeting card that superimposed photos of himself, his wife Dorothy, and his daughters Janice and Yvonne onto individual playing cards (plus there's an extra card that doesn't have a photo). Since there's a total of three queens and two kings (three of a kind and a pair), I think he was suggesting that there was a " full house " at the Dé Lardi residence in 1938! Alfred Dé Lardi was a well-known photographer who worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, Holiday magazine, and various companies, including the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Philadelphia Electric Company. He taught photography courses at a number of schools and colleges in the Philadelphia area, and he also authored or edited a number of books on photography, such as Let's Make a Portrait (1937), Your Child's Portrait (1937), and Ships and Water (1938). A collection of Dé Lardi's works was held by the Philadelphia History Museum, and a finding aid, Alfred A. Dé Lardi Negatives and Photographs , circa 1929-1964, was formerly available through the University of Pennsylvania Libraries (unfortunately, the Philadelphia History Museum closed in 2018, but there are plans underway to transfer its collections to Drexel University). I'd like to acknowledge Gary Discavage, a dealer at Apple Hill Antiques in State College, Pa., who graciously gave me this photographic greeting card. Gary originally received the card from Alfred Dé Lardi, who was his friend and neighbor when he lived in Philadelphia. Thanks, Gary!