Paperblanks Turquoise Chronicles Playing Cards

Turn every game night into an occasion with this Turquoise Chronicles deck of playing cards from Paperblanks, presented in a beautifully finished tuck box.

This cover is based on the binding for a book titled Chroniques, published by Salel Binder in Paris in 1514. The exuberance of the design reflects the splendour of the Renaissance approach to decoration. In this green-blue journal cover you may see the intricacies of your own stories.

The Story Behind the Design

Whenever we introduce a new antique cover design, we touch upon the thread of bookbinding traditions that weaves its way through time and space. Our Turquoise Chronicles design was inspired by one such decorative book cover representing a key point in the evolution of the European branch of the craft.

The design reproduced on our Turquoise Chronicles cover originally hails from the Salel Binder in Paris. The book was published in the early 16th century, when Paris was a flourishing centre of the publishing trade. The city’s reputation was second only to that of Venice, which was spearheading the Renaissance movement and looked to by the rest of Europe for artistic ideas and influences. It was at this time that the gold tooling technique arrived in France from the Islamic realm, where it had originally developed. Combined with the French king’s generous patronage of the arts, this ushered in an age of superb French book binding.

Turquoise Chronicles features an especially fine example of early 16th-century French gold tooling. Formed in a graceful, flowing ornament of interlaced arabesques and delicate dots, it shows hints of its Eastern influences and of the decorative styles that would soon emerge in the ateliers of other French binders.

To bring out the details of the original pattern on our cover design, we contrasted the gold with a jewel-like turquoise background. The many hues of the cover surface have a mesmerising look of a never-still ocean, an ancient witness of all things past that invites you to contemplation. Echoing this idea of a record keeper is the title given to the series, Turquoise Chronicles, named so after the original contents of the binding, a book entitled Chroniques.

• Original artwork: Chroniques, crafted by Salel Binder
• Era: 16th century
• Region: Paris

Product Details

• Dimensions: 63 × 89 mm
• Design: Turquoise Chronicles
• Collection: Chroniques
• Standard poker deck of 52 playing cards, 2 joker cards and 1 design story card
• High-quality, 300 gsm card stock
• Performance coating for a smooth finish
• Borderless back card design with perfectly mirrored imagery
• Customised face cards featuring Paperblanks branded design elements
• Full-colour printing with metallic inks on the back card design
• Shrink-wrapped deck to protect from moisture
• Durable tuck box luxuriously accented with metallic foil and embossed texturing, sealed with a custom-branded seal
• Weight: 104 g
• Product code: PA9862-1 | ISBN: 9781439798621

About Paperblanks

Paperblanks works with museums, libraries, galleries and artists around the world to faithfully reproduce remarkable artwork, historic bindings and treasured manuscripts, bringing the same care and craftsmanship found in its celebrated journals to every accessory.