DECK OF THE MONTH

Just like the "Joker of the Month" in the Jokers section we will select a "Deck of the Month" from all the decks that we could add to our collection during that month. It will be what we consider our best find. We've started this section in April 2007 and without any doubt we can say here that over the years there will be antique, vintage and modern decks shown on these pages. Age, design and value of the chosen decks may be very different each time.

Hello, my name is Philipp and I've been asked to introduce this deck. Now, it has been more than two centuries ago, so my memory may not be that sharp. I remember that I had already become an established artist, when I wondered off into designing playing cards. In hindsight it may have been a first sidestep towards my ideal of creating a "Gesamtkunstwerk", something I never fully realized as my life was cut short by consumption (tuberculosis) in 1810.
Although it was only a whim and I never spent more time on it, I designed the courts for two decks with a similar set of kings. It must have been after my return to Hamburg in 1807, where I got in touch with a skillful engraver, who realized my drawings on printed sheets in 1810.
And the results? Well, I hope you can appreciate them.

The reason to show these cards here came from pity. It was the only deck left in one of the "Germany Old" holders, which used to hold some 40 decks, and the orphan wasn't even old enough to be in that holder.

The Philipp above is Philipp Otto Runge, who lived from 1777 to 1810. He was born as son of a rich merchant and ship owner in Wolgast, a town in the northeastern part of Germany, a region which was under Swedish rule at that time and known then as Swedish Pomerania. He was the ninth of the eleven children in the Runge household. He was a frail child, as a result of the consumption he contracted at an early age. His schooldays went by uneventfully.
When his older brother Daniel was sent to manage a branch of the family business in Hamburg, Philipp followed him not much later. At first as an apprentice in Daniel's business in 1795. But in 1797 he took his first drawing lessons there and became acquainted with poets, writers, publishers, painters and art collectors in the creative artistic circles of Hamburg. At that time he became more and more interested in art and philosophy, which led to his study of painting at the Copenhagen Academy from 1798 to 1801, followed by a study at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts from 1801 to 1804. There he also met his future wife, with whom he would marry in 1804 and return to Hamburg. In 1805 they moved to the family home in Wolgast, only to return to Hamburg again in 1807. By this time he had already made a name as portraitist, but started converting his drawings from the Times of the Day series (1803) into paintings. Except for Morning and Day he would not be able to finish that project. From his growing interest in colors he left the world his Color Sphere when he died on December 2, 1810.

And now about the cards. The original designs of the courts were only printed as sheets in b/w and never published as decks. It was Friedrich W. Gubitz (1786 -1870) who discovered them and cut them up. Much later those designs were used for, as far as I know, the first reproduction, which was printed in Altenburg and published by Insel Verlag in 1924. It was a numbered and limited edition of 330 hand colored decks and nowadays quite expensive to obtain. But this edition was republished in 1980 by the Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik and I'll show that deck here too. However, a third reproduction was published as "Philipp Otto Runge Kartenspiele" by Ernst Heimeran Verlag for Detlef Hoffmann in 1977. The cards in his edition were probably printed by the Bielefelder Spielkarten, as this manufacturer also published this exact version as single decks in 1980. Our deck came in a plastic box, so it's one of these editions, which is shown here.
There are significant differences between this edition and the 1924 and 1980 editions. Not only all the queens and jacks have a different design, but there are differences in the display of the names as well. The Hoffmann edition seems to be taken from the original first draft drawings, probably also printed on sheets. It was one of the reasons to choose this edition, the other was the used card. Instead of the smooth thin cards of the 1980 repro, these are rather thick with unfinished fronts and hardly smoothened backs, so it feels old as well.
However, the Hoffmann edition consisted of a booklet, this deck and a b/w version of the 1924 edition, of which I only have this single deck. So no additional information from Detlef Hoffmann's booklet about these decks and you'll have to settle for my own observations. But more important, enjoy these designs.

The first thing that I noticed was the different typesetting on the KS and QS. On the KS his name is placed vertically on both sides and printed in a regular font. This is also done on the KC. However, on the QS her name almost seems to be written.
This also seems to be the case on the KH and QH. The font is irregular and names tend to go upward by the end. Judic, pronounced there as Yoo-dich, is a known form in Germanic regions for Judith since the Normans introduced it after the 11th century.

	As the Runge designs only presented the courts, the pips in this deck were created from those on the original sheets.

	In this deck it's apparent that the clubs symbol for all pips was copied from the one at the bottom of the Argine card.

Notable in the clubs suit are the font typesetting on the king (again), the misspelled Agine at the bottom of the queen and the name on the jack. On the other jacks the name from the Paris pattern are used, Hogier, Lahire and Hector. The G. Forsmann refers to Gustav Andreas Forsmann, a copper engraver from Hamburg who lived and worked there from 1773 to 1830, so a contemporary of Runge. His name pops up in a letter from Runge to a befriended artist. So he is almost certainly the engraver of the Runge designs for this deck.

I wish I had Detlef Hoffmann's book about this deck and I will definitely try to find it. Just to learn if these designs were indeed a first draft and maybe get some other details about this version and the Altenburg versions of 1924 and 1980, of which Hoffmann has added a b/w version to his publication. When I do, I'll adapt the article.

	The deck consists of 52 cards and 3 jokers.
	For the design of the joker an original Runge drawing was used and the word Joker was added in an old German font.

Here are some cards from the 1924 edition by the Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg, published as "Die Rungeschen Spielkarten". The tax stamp is original and was in use between 1923 and 1929. The jacks have no names and on the kings and queens the same font is used for the names. I got the picture from eBay, offered there for € 650.

So now the full deck here. It's from the 1980 edition by the Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik. It comes with a few textual cards and 1810 is mentioned as year of origin. Besides that the queens and jacks have all been redesigned, also the name on the QD was changed from Rachel to Esther. My preference for the Hoffmann deck doesn't mean that I like the designs better than the final ones, but rather that I prefer the execution that version, the gray tones of the faces instead of the faintly colored faces of the Altenburg versions. And as said before, the used card and the irregularities of a draft version are more appealing to me. The dating of 1810 for the final version may be correct. Runge died in December of that year. The WOPC site dates the Hoffmann version as from 1810 too. It's well possible, that he designed the draft and the final version in that same year. During his short life Runge was a very productive artist.

PS:
Should anyone have the book by Detlef Hoffmann or the complete "Philipp Otto Runge Kartenspiele" set
and would like to sell it, contact me here.