Stacked Decks: The Art and History of Erotic Playing Cards

by The Rotenberg Collection

The Rotenberg Collection is one of the world’s largest archives of vintage erotica, with more than 20,000 erotic playing cards in its holdings — and Stacked Decks highlights the best of the best.
 
Within these pages, readers will discover illustrated cards dating back to 1835, dazzling pin-up portraits from renowned artists such as Gil Elvgren, cards with instructions for promoting a healthy marriage, oversized cards, miniature cards, round cards, square cards, and comic cards. There are cards from Sweden, France, and the United Kingdom; cards from Africa to Asia and beyond.
 
And of course, there are women. There are models, flappers, and strippers; there are blondes, brunettes, and redheads. There are women holding guns. Women in sports cars. Women wearing sombreros and pith helmets. Women encountering large exotic animals. Women reclining on shag carpets. Women dressed like Eskimos. Women posing in ways that defy description — you simply have to see for yourself.
 
So what are you waiting for? Ante up and turn the page!

Genres: Art, History, Photography

192 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2007

Reviews

[Larisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite unexpected but interesting and informative in spite my initial doubts.
I stumbled upon this book by chance and learned of something I had no idea about and it was quite a journey. Sometimes it's good just take a dive into the unknown.
After finishing reading I can safely state: The human mind and nature, its creativity, choice of expression, ingenious methods of distribution and overall social behaviour will forever fascinate me.
This book is worth a read, at least out of curiosity for a series of events that contributed to the human perception of sexuality, erotic vision and even artistic approach that we are more familiar with in the 21st century.
One warning though: if you read this in public it's at your own risk. It contains quite a number of nudes (although tamer than what I originally expected), most of them wouldn't pass the PG-13 test and they will most likely arouse you.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great images from Rotenberg's collection, but nothing that would rate much past PG-13. A really nice collection with some brief history included -- the history was appreciated, but the prose occasionally veers more toward purple than I would have cared for. Definitely a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the history of things like pin-up postcards or Tijuana bibles or whatnot.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

The playing card collecting community if relatively small--and as such--books in the community are relatively few (and sub-genre, even more so), so my review is with the preface that there is little to compare/contrast to and for a small community, judgement of quality is often relative.

This 2006 book is what I'd normally call a 2-star (it was ok) book. I'm sure it's a treasure trove to some, but many examples are "unknown ca. 19--". The author jumps around in organization and time periods a bit. The written content itself is about the equivalent of a periodical feature article, and should have been richer for a book format.

The book does a good job of introducing the early years, including the mores and legality of the times, but the book is overall light on content and high on examples. Rotenberg does not go into detail about the artists themselves when dealing with illustrated works and only touches lightly on the photographers. Essentially there is no mention of the models themselves. Mostly the book takes the perspective of this is how this particular era was marketed. The perspective is singularly straight male, although other situations are mentioned.

Something the examples do show well, is how uninspired early photographic work was compared to the later work. You can see how with legality and industry maturity drastically improves quality.

If I were to recreate this, I'd want more about the creative process, the underground art influences/limitations, the sociopolitical impact on the participants etc. You cannot help but wonder about the women portrayed. Who were they and why did they pose for such? There is simply nothing about that in this book. I'd want to see some analysis of the changing trends. I mean I suppose, one could say, "what'd you expect?", but I dunno, I suppose I hoped for more. Lastly, I would have also appreciated a deeper dive into the illustrated 40's era. In the end I was probably only really interested in the illustrated work.

Anyhow, it's certainly NSFW and risqué to many. It's an interesting collection, but it was weak on substance which would make it a quality book.

[Graham Clayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who had a pack of Gaiety adult playing cards in high school, I have always been intrigued by these packs. The softcore posing has a certain charm which doesn't exist in later hardcore playing cards. And what were the stories behind the models - were they posing for the money, or as a form of exhibitionism?

[Michel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing what we considered naughty then...

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review at Scrubbles.net, 7/26/07 - http://www.scrubbles.net/2007/07/26/b...