Oscar Wilde Playing Cards

This is one of those friendly decks that comes with substantial explanatory notes. Of course, it has to, because unless you're a serious student of Wilde's work, all this becomes quickly opaque. The deck is the creation of R. Fanto (also responsible for the artwork in the Ulysses a Vau-de-Ville), copyrighted in 1986, with the close collaboration of Richard Ellmann, a biographer of both Wilde and Joyce. Fanto did all the artwork, and Ellmann did the conceptual design, determining the themes and images to be executed. The title card at left reads, "Richard Ellmann & R. Fanto / Present / The Oscar Wilde Playing Cards." The card backs, at right, offer palm fronds and Wilde's initials. The cards themselves are black and white hand drawings with small splashes of color and gold illumination. It's hard to capture the gold color with a scanner, but I did my best. The artwork is of high quality, though stylized, and delivers a real feel for Wilde's life and the environment he lived and worked in. It doesn't try to present a narrative of either himself or his works, but rather it is the progressive development of themes, images and events encapsulated into the cards. The cards Ace through Ten form the chronological sequence, and the Jacks through Kings are the main forces in Wilde's life and work.