S&J Fuller, London. C. 1811 May well be England's first transformation pack, designed by John Nixon.A very rare pack, this humorous deck depicts various political and social satire of the day. The king of spades may represent Joseph Napoleon of Spain. Other notables are represented by the various court cards.
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During the period of the French Revolution and after until the restoration of the Monarchy, regulation playing cards which had long used the King and Queen, were banned. (Use a king or queen and off with your head!) In the place of the traditional court cards, special figures designating principles of the revolution were employed. This is an example of such a pack. Some of the card names were liberty, fraternity and equality. Rousseau, one of the revolution's main characters is represented on the king of clubs.

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Jeu de Geographie. Designed by Della Bella, Paris C. 1698. Each of the 52 cards represents a different geographical region and has text below. I've heard that the decks like these were used by the French royality and privileged class to teach students geography. They're very old and very delicate. These came form one of the rare playing card auctions in the mid-80's.
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