The standard cards of Europe, with their relatives in the Western Hemisphere and in Asia, form the heart of the Collection. Melbert Cary fully realized this distinction. The history of standard cards is the story of gradual, evolutionary change in the pictorial imagery of playing cards, while the history of nonstandard cards is the record of individual, unrelated accomplishments in card design. In contrast, the designs of nonstandard packs show no continuity-every nonstandard pack represents an original pictorial conception. The pictorial design of each variety of standard pack is familiar to the players as any willful, major change in the design disturbs their concentration during play, standard types are manufactured on a continuing basis. Standard playing cards are made for the use of card players in their customary games, for example, Bridge or Poker. While the specialized vocabulary employed to serve this purpose is treated in the Elements of Description and in the Glossary, two components, Standard and Nonstandard, are particularly important to a discussion of Cary’s collecting activity and are briefly considered here. The purpose of this catalogue is to organize and describe the items and, in so doing, fashion a method of description applicable to any pack of playing cards. Cary, Jr., and bequeathed to the Yale University Library by his wife, Mary Flagler Cary, form one of the world’s distinguished collections of such materials. The playing cards, card sheets, wood blocks, metal plates, ephemera, and prints acquired by Melbert B.
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