Elsevier - Netter Playing Cards, 1st Edition

9/24/2026

Elsevier - Netter Playing Cards, 1st Edition

IDENTIFICATION DETAILS

Today we examine this themed deck, issued by Elsevier in 2017 and printed in China. It is listed in the publisher's official catalogue as Netter Playing Cards, 1st Edition, even though this designation does not explicitly appear on either the tuck box or the cards themselves.

THE PUBLISHER & THE WORK

Elsevier is a Netherlands-based publisher primarily focused on medical and scientific literature. Its portfolio boasts an extensive roster of high-impact scientific journals such as The Lancet, as well as textbooks, including the one that inspired our deck.

⬥ ⬥ ⬥

Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy is an international benchmark in the discipline for healthcare students and professionals alike. It is largely composed of illustrations by the American surgeon Frank Henry Netter (1906–1991). First published in 1989, it remains to this day an essential volume in any medical or health sciences library.

GRAPHIC ADAPTATION & CARD DESIGN

The 9th edition of the Atlas features over 550 illustrations that meticulously dissect virtually the entire human body. Yet rather than showcasing 52 or 54 distinct card faces, the deck boils down to just fourteen images in total. For the suits, only thirteen motifs were selected, repeated identically across all four suits: eleven plates by Dr. Netter, one by his successor, Dr. Carlos Machado (on the Threes), and a portrait of Netter himself on the Kings. This "visual showcase" is rounded out by one final anatomical illustration, repeated on both Jokers, on the cards backs, and on the tuck box.

Yet the folly doesn't end there. The included plates follow no narrative, functional, or aesthetic thread beyond simply being "pictures from the book". On some cards we see wide views spanning broad anatomical regions; on others, random organs; and on still others, localized dissections. Finally, the "icing on the cake" lands on the Twos, which feature a kidney afflicted by a massive tumor, apparently because they ran out of normal structures to show us in the deck. It leaves the distinct impression of having relied on a random number generator to select the images in a completely arbitrary fashion, unless there is some cryptic logic I am simply unable to decipher.

There were numerous ways to organize and distribute the plates with just a modicum of extra effort. They could have devoted each suit to a specific anatomical region, such as the abdomen, thorax, head, and musculoskeletal system. Furthermore, plates of specific structures or organs could have been assigned to the pip cards, whole systems to the court cards, and the author's portrait reserved for the Jokers, achieving a far cleaner thematic cohesion.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Although human anatomy could hardly be deemed an approachable theme for a mainstream audience, I must say this stands as one of the most disappointing decks to enter my collection. Elsevier may well be one of the world's most prestigious scientific publishers, but when it comes to producing playing cards, they still have a very long way to go; a statement that, for all its irony, faithfully sums up the impression left while reviewing the pack. I can only hope that if a 2nd edition is ever released, at least some of the points discussed here will be taken into consideration.