Kings and Deputies - A modern Mamluk card reconstruction

[trzes]

The mamluk pattern of playing cards can be seen as the mother of all European playing cards as well as tarot cards. The finest example is a deck called "Kings and Deputies" (muluk wa-nuwwab) or simply the "Topkapi deck" as it is currently located in the Topkapi museum in Istanbul.

I have recently finished a modern reconstruction of this deck (see http://mamluk.spiorad.net/reconstruction.htm ). I will soon start a Kickstarter campaign to fund a print run of this deck. The launch date is now scheduled for September, 8th. The pledge for a deck will be 38 Euros plus 9 Euros for worldwide shipping. More information about the campaign can be found at http://mamluk.spiorad.net/shop.htm or on Facebook (https:// www.facebook.com/Trzes-art-792312557637618 ).

I'll post a reminder as soon as the campaign has launched.

[Worst Bower]

Welcome! I've been anticipating these cards since directed to your site two years ago. I do have some questions regarding the naming of your deck. I've never encountered the term "Kings and Deputies" (muluk wa-nuwwab) in any source other than Bauwens' reconstruction. I suspect it was a descriptor invented by Bauwens. The early Spanish, French, and Italian sources used transliterations of na'ib, deputy in the singular. There must have been a popular card game called "deputy" played in the Middle East and North Africa at the time cards entered Europe.

[trzes]

It's perfectly possible that the name is an invention by Bauwens, although it seems to be widely used nowadays when referring to the Topkapi deck. In my book "Kings and Deputies" is a reasonably good name, as most of what we know about the deck comes from the arabic inscriptions, calling the court cards something like "King of ...", or "Second Deputy of ..".

The arabic form might well be a sort of fake though, as looks a bit like a re-translation from English. But I don't know. There might be older sources using the term "muluk wa-nuwwab" that I haven't come across yet.

[Worst Bower]

I'm concerned that the "muluk wa-nuwwab" name may be copyrighted. "Mamluk playing cards" is a safe name though.

[trzes]

I won't use the term "muluk wa-nuwwab" as the official title of my deck, because I would like to avoid confusion with the Bauwens facimile. The possible copyright is another reason of course. "Kings and Deputies" seems ok with me, as it only comes as the translation of "muluk wa-nuwwab" in the Bauwens deck. And I don't know of any other mamluk related deck using this title.

[Don Boyer]

It's perfectly possible that the name is an invention by Bauwens, although it seems to be widely used nowadays when referring to the Topkapi deck. In my book "Kings and Deputies" is a reasonably good name, as most of what we know about the deck comes from the arabic inscriptions, calling the court cards something like "King of ...", or "Second Deputy of ..".

The arabic form might well be a sort of fake though, as looks a bit like a re-translation from English. But I don't know. There might be older sources using the term "muluk wa-nuwwab" that I haven't come across yet.

I'm sure it's similar to the naming conventions used in the game shogi, the Japanese variant of chess.  There are pieces called "Bishop," "Rook," "Gold General," "Silver General," "Lance," etc. that I sincerely doubt shared those names exactly translated from the Japanese.  They were simply given "Anglicized" names to make them easier for a Westerner to understand the game.  But don't quote me on that, as I'm no shogi scholar, and I'm barely a shogi player - it's hard to find opponents even willing to learn, never mind knowledgable of the game already.

[trzes]

The Kickstarter Campaign to fund the print run of my reconstruction of the Topkapi deck of Mamluk cards is now online: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/119783014/trzes-mamluk-deck . The campaign is about the "standard" edition of the deck, measuring 71x190 mm, printed on professional cardstock used for playing cards.

The luxurious and mainly hand-crafted "antique-style" edition (limited to 20 decks, 92x250 mm, printed on 3-layered art paper with traditional soap and wax surface treatment) is also open for preorders at:  https://kartograme.shop/products/trzes-mamluk-deck-antique-edition . Printing and delivery will take two months. Decks will be sold via Kartograme exclusively until all the 20 copies are gone (if ever).

The pledge for the standard edition at Kickstarter is 38 Euros plus Shipping (9 Euros worldwide). The preorder price for the antique-style edition is 265 Euros with a plain hardcover box and 295 Euros with a deluxe box. Shipping is free, I think, until the end of the Kickstarter campaign, and will be 12 Euros from then on. The prices will otherwise stay the same.

Remaining decks from the standard edition print run will be sold from January next year, again at the same price as on Kickstarter. That means there is no point waiting

More information on my website: http://mamluk.spiorad.net/shop.htm .

[variantventures]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/119783014/trzes-mamluk-deck?ref=discovery&term=mamluk

I'm not affiliated with this artist or this project in any fashion.  I disagree with some of the design choices that were made.  But it's still a very nice reconstruction of an important historical deck.  Only 8 days left.