These cards come from a doubledeck that was published by Waddington as "Shakespeare Playing Cards" ca. 1975. Although the name of Waddington is on the box and the Ace of Spades, it is almost certain that the deck was printed by ASS from Germany.

The deck is a reproduction of a Waddington deck from 1925. The beautiful card designs were done by F.C. Tilney and were first published in 1902 by Swan and Sonnerschein. The designs show an influence by the Art Deco period, just like the type font and some of the suitcolours.

Each court shows a character from a play. On one of the sides there's a line, that is spoken by the character, and on the other side is the name of the play, the act and the scene, in which that line was spoken.
The Ace of Spade bears the name of the deck and is embellished with 2 swans against floral ornaments.
The backdesign carries a phrase by King John V: "Have I not here the best cards for the game". And..... it's hard not to agree with him!