Shakespeare Playing Cards. Laurence King Publishing, UK. Full regular deck, French suited, 54 single-headed cards + booklet. Size: 63mm x 88mm.
Deck make-up:
Hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades: A, 2-10, jack, queen, king.
Extras: jokers x2.
A nice little deck from 2020, designed by Adam Simpson, with each card containing a different character/s from a Shakespeare play. The characters are broken up thematically by suit: hearts, lovers; clubs, fools & jesters; diamonds, heroes & heroines; spades, villains.
The accompanying booklet has brief text about each character but unfortunately doesn't give the title of the play in question (it might have been an idea if the cards had included this) so below I have given lists.
The publisher also does a sister deck with Charles Dickens' characters, and an Agatha Christie one with both characters and murder objects.
Click on any card to explore the design.
(Comments or corrections, please e-mail: Click to see e-mail address.)
Card image size, below:
Lovers: A, Hamlet; 2, Much Ado About Nothing; 3 & 4, Twelfth Night; 5 & 6 & 7, A Midsummer Night's Dream; 8, Antony and Cleopatra; 9, Much Ado About Nothing; 10, Othello; J, The Taming of the Shrew; Q & K, Romeo and Juliet.
Fools & jesters: A, A Midsummer Night's Dream; 2, Hamlet; 3, Macbeth; 4, The Tempest; 5, Much Ado About Nothing; 6, Twelfth Night; 7, As You Like It; 8, King Lear; 9, Twelfth Night; 10, Romeo and Juliet; J, A Midsummer Night's Dream; Q, Romeo and Juliet; K, Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Heroes & heroines: A, Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, and Henry V; 2, Henry IV Part 1; 3, Cymbeline; 4, Pericles, Prince of Tyre; 5, All's Well That Ends Well; 6, Coriolanus; 7, The Winter's Tale; 8, The Merchant of Venice; 9, Julius Caesar; 10, The Tempest; J, Hamlet; Q, As You Like It; K, King Lear.
Villains: A, Richard III; 2, The Winter's Tale; 3, Macbeth; 4, Much Ado About Nothing; 5, The Merchant of Venice; 6, Measure for Measure; 7 & 8 & 9, King Lear; 10, Hamlet; J, Othello; Q & K, Macbeth.
Both jokers, The Tempest.