Levis & Cook “Playanlearn” Playing Cards, c.1918

Collectibles : Playing Cards U.S : "Playanlearn"

 

Unusual and rare World War I deck of cards made by Levis & Cook of Chicago, called “Playanlearn”, designed to teach our troops to learn French while playing cards. The backs depict a soldier, a sailor, and the Allied flags. On the face of each card, except the Ace of Spades, there are several English questions/sentences/phrases translated into French and followed by a French phonetic spelling; the words are printed in red on the black suits and black on the red suits. The faces also contain pictures of the court figures on the court cards and of the suit symbols on the number cards, but these images are faint background to the translated words. There are 52 cards, plus a Joker; the Joker is a pronunciation guide. The cards are poker size (90mm x 63mm), with gold gilt around, and they come in their original telescope box.

The cards have seen moderate use. They are in very good condition, and the condition could be described as excellent except for some soiling. The imaged cards are representative of the condition of the deck. There are no creases, tears, bends or other issues, and much of the gold gilt is intact. The box is in excellent condition for the age of the deck, although there is a spot on one side of the outer box where it appears that a price tag was removed, and several other minor signs of age and wear.

Reference: Dawson, The Hochman Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards, p.222, W26.

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Item ID: T0000297