Interesting 1880-1900 32 card deck...

[codyman]

Found an interesting deck of cards today.  32 Total, all with various characters that seem to be fairy tale figures written in french (sleeping beauty / little red riding hood / etc.)  I believe it's between 1880-1900 because of how on the "Devil" card, he's reading a french newspaper with the author named as "Zola" as in Emile Zola, who wrote for the paper and had a little controversy back then to the point where he became a fugitive from the country in 1899.  The link below is the full 32 card deck plus closeups.  I'd love to know any information anyone could provide as I know nothing about these cards other than they seem to be very cool and unique!

http://imgur.com/a/YhiDA

[Nurul]

I just googled around a bit, it's after 1900. One of th hearts entitled "don quichotte" was an opera in four acts by jules massenet in 1910. Don't know if that helps in anyway though.

[MrMollusk]

Very cool.
Gardeuse de moutons: A famous painting
Le chat botte: Puss in boots
Cendrillon: Another opera
La mère Michèle: A French children's song (My grandmother used to sing it)
Peau d'Âne: A French musical
Riquet a la houppe: A French fairy tale

That's just some. It's almost like a French literary deck.

[Nurul]

Is cendrillion not Cinderella?

[malcomteo]

that is truly a very unique deck!

[Don Boyer]

that is truly a very unique deck!

What makes it stand out for you?  It's obviously caught your eye.

[Rob Wright]

that is truly a very unique deck!

What makes it stand out for you?  It's obviously caught your eye.

Don, I see what your doing. too funny.

[CARTORAMA]

The same images were also published with „real“ playing cards in the corners by a „Courbière“ from Saint-Etienne in France. I could not find anything about the latter as a playing card maker, maybe it was just a stationery. The deck is probably circa 1900. On King of Diamonds the devil reads the newspaper „Le Figaro“, which page is signed „ZOLA“ at the bottom. This might be related to the publication in that journal of a series of articles supporting Dreyfus, a Jewish army officer (wrongly) accused of treason (to the Germans ;-)), by the well-known writer Emile Zola in 1897. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair
A possible publisher of your pack is David in Paris who used to have his games printed by Typography Vert, 8 rue François-Miron, Paris.

[badpete69]

Is cendrillion not Cinderella?

yes cendrillion is Cinderella in french

[CARTORAMA]

"Cendrillon", that is, just to put it right. It comes from "cendre" = ashes