Ediciones del Prado - Four Continents Deck of Cards - Spain

7/05/2026

Ediciones del Prado - Four Continents Deck of Cards - Spain - 19th Century (Reproduction)

INTRODUCTION

Today we’ll review this beautiful deck from the facsimile collection by Ediciones del Prado, published in 2004, named Four Continents Deck of Cards. It is a reproduction of a set featuring illustrations by Manuel Alegre, originally produced in 1817 in Madrid by the card maker Castellanos. The original deck is housed at the Fournier Museum of Playing Cards in Alava, Spain.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Contrary to what one might think, themed playing card decks are not a modern phenomenon. In fact, geographical sets are among the oldest variants within this category, sharing early prominence with military and historical themes. In their beginnings, these editions primarily focused on depicting detailed maps of different regions of the globe.

However, towards the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the trend shifted. Decks depicting the people inhabiting those lands, rather than cartography, began to gain popularity. This change was in response to European society's fascination at the time with travel, exploration and cultures they considered "exotic." Given that at the time Oceania was not yet classified as an independent continent and was usually integrated into the Americas, dividing the pack into four suits dedicated to the four known continents proved to be a thematic solution that was as frequent as it was easy to implement.

ICONOGRAPHY AND DESIGN

Getting into the details, we are looking at a beautiful 48-card Spanish-suited deck where each suit is dedicated to a different continent. The Coins represent the indigenous people of the Americas, with their distinctive clothing; the Cups show characters from the Ottoman Empire with their characteristic Turkish headwear; the Swords refer to European figures dressed in Renaissance-era clothing, while the Batons introduce us to the inhabitants of North African or Middle Eastern countries, recognizable by their turbans. A particularly eye-catching detail in this suit is the elephant-head hat worn by the Knave.

A special trait of this set is that all four Knaves are female characters, a relatively atypical feature in Spanish decks of the era. Furthermore, the regional references are not limited solely to the court cards, as was usually the norm, but extend to other cards. For example, the center of the fours is occupied by compositions featuring allegorical figures and animals that allude to their corresponding continent. Finally, we can observe other, more traditional decorative elements, such as the infants or cherubs on the aces.

It is worth remembering that our copy is a reproduction of the pack printed by Castellanos in Madrid in 1817—whose maker's mark appears on the 4 of Coins—but the original engravings are based on drawings made by Manuel Alegre in 1811. As a curiosity, the Fournier Museum preserves another piece that shares Alegre's drawings, but with a peculiar monochromatic execution: instead of being hand-colored, each suit was printed with a different ink tone to differentiate them. I have left some images of cards from this alternative deck at the end of the post.