In the 1940s André Breton and a group of his Surrealist friends (Wifredo Lam, Max Ernst, Jacqueline Lamba, Oscar Dominguez, Victor Brauner, Jacques Hérold, André Masson and Frédéric Delanglade) were stranded in the French port of Marseilles whilst attempting to escape Nazi-occupied Europe and gain passage to America. Having deconstructed traditional, bourgeois playing card symbolism they produced new, liberated designs expressing their own beliefs and values. The court cards were persons representing new, revolutionary ideals. As Breton was a Communist, the conventional court hierarchy denoting military power and rank was unacceptable: these were re-named Genius, Siren and Magus... Having deconstructed traditional playing card designs, Breton wanted a thorough reinvention along Surrealist principles. The suits were renamed: Locks (black) for knowledge, Wheels (red) for revolution, Stars (black) for dreams and Flames (red) for love and desire. Surrealist ideas inspired many young artists to move away from conventional views of artistic composition towards abstract expressionism. The “Jeu de Marseille” was eventually produced as a full deck of cards (with the original sketches being reworked slightly) in 1983 and has been reprinted several times. From: https://www.wopc.co.uk/france/grimaud/le-jeu-de-marseille

This is the entry for the boxed format (separate top and bottom style box, non-tuckbox). A facsimile deck published by Merrimack Publishing Corp. c.1973, called Antique Playing Cards that is based upon the set of Cotta transformation cards titled, Die Jungfrau von Orleans, made by Cotta c.1805. The deck has 52 cards, plus 2 Jokers that would not have been in the original Cotta deck.

You may be dealt a hand with Le Corbusier, Charles Jencks or Antonio Gaudi in it; even if you are not so lucky you will enjoy the company of the international top names in architecture. Play Architecture game cards contain the top names of 20th century architecture from celebrated designers to world-famous projects. Pre-Modernism, Modernism, Post-Modernism and De-Structuralism are the four strong suits included in the pack. The aces are in a class of their own, not to speak of the two surprise jokers! All the cards feature a stylish picture and text in English.

A United Airlines commercial deck.

To see more of this deck go to: http://unitedcardists.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=4005&p=59716#p59716

To see more of this deck go to: http://unitedcardists.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=4005&p=59716#p59716

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

The 1JJ Swiss Tarot is an older style of tarot deck, a Marseilles variant. The cards are reprints of early woodcut designs, printed in black and coloured with blocks of red, blue, green and yellow. Titles are in French.

54 different knot tying instructions, one on each card.