Editions Dusserre (Boechat Frères) “Les Saints Guérisseurs” Playing Cards, c.1995

Wonderful and slightly unusual Dusserre deck titled, “Les Saints Guérisseurs,” which translates to “The Healing Saints” in English. Except for the deuces (see below), each of the suited cards has a picture of a statue, painting or other work of art depicting an individual healing Saint, and there is an unbacked extra card in the deck which identifies where the original works of art can be found. The source acknowledgments are dated c.1995, and so I have given that year as the approximate date of the deck. According to the same extra card, the deck is to be used “to find out which saints you should pray to for different illnesses in different towns and regions.”

The deck has 52 suited cards, plus 2 cards marked as Jokers, plus 2 additional cards: a backed card with advertising for Dusserre, and the unbacked card described above. The Jokers contain lists of the illnesses with the Saints to whom prayers should be directed, and the lists are alphabetical by illness. The Jokers only list A-C illnesses and C-E illnesses, and those alphabetical lists are continued on the 4 Deuces of the deck. The cards are wide, measuring 88mm x 63mm, and come in the original box.

The cards and box are in excellent condition, “as new” or nearly so.

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