London 1843. The construction of Big Ben begins, but there are already many bells tolling long echoes through the dark streets of London. These narrow streets are inhabited by suspicious figures that cast long shadows. A thief, a beggar, a prostitute, a corrupt politician and his cunning wife. All sceptical and scheming about the intentions of the shadowy figure right around the corner and at the end of the street.

London 1843. The construction of Big Ben begins, but there are already many bells tolling long echoes through the dark streets of London. These narrow streets are inhabited by suspicious figures that cast long shadows. A thief, a beggar, a prostitute, a corrupt politician and his cunning wife. All sceptical and scheming about the intentions of the shadowy figure right around the corner and at the end of the street.

London 1843. The construction of Big Ben begins, but there are already many bells tolling long echoes through the dark streets of London. These narrow streets are inhabited by suspicious figures that cast long shadows. A thief, a beggar, a prostitute, a corrupt politician and his cunning wife. All sceptical and scheming about the intentions of the shadowy figure right around the corner and at the end of the street.

Scans of each card can be seen at www.marytcusack.com/maryc/decks/html/Cards/Origins.html

This deckis a sequel to the Origins Playing Cards decks, which were voted United Cardists Best Overall Deck of 2014.

The Shadows campaign features two new decks and a special hand crafted Black Label edition, inspired by rare 16th century originals. The goal for this campaign is again to produce premium quality decks.

The Shadows deck is a modern deck inspired by historic originals. It will be printed by the United States Playing Card Company. Rare art sheets which form the inspiration for these decks were sourced over months from respected archives including the British Museum, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Archives Department of Seine-Maritime, and Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge.

Religion was a major theme in 16th century art and the Shadows deck is inspired by the story of Adam and Eve, and the choice between Innocentia (innocence) and Cognitio (the acquisition of knowledge). Which will you choose?

The Shadows of History deck features: An ornate premium quality tuck case, embossed and hot stamped with metallic foil. The cards are entirely custom full colour face cards, printed with ornate metallic ink backs. The Shadows deck will be produced using the highest quality paper sourced from sustainable forests, and printed with vegetable-based inks and starch-based laminates.