History of Casino Playing Cards
A remarkable name in the history of English card making, Thomas de la Rue was responsible for the emergence of casino playing cards production to machine based color printing.
He was recognized
Born in 1793 in Guernsey, Thomas de la Rue started his career at an early age of 10 as a paper manufacturer and tried many businesses. Nothing else could bring him so much success as playing cards manufacturing.He was recognized for introducing letter-press-printing to the process of card production. It was possible to print four simultaneous colors in the right order using this technology. He was also capable of printing playing cards in bulk at cheap prices.
Until de la Rue invented card back designs, playing cards had white backs and any marks could easily identify the card. It was now possible to design card backs with attractive prints. This process could cover most inconsistencies and flaws in paper. Big colored image on the plain white surface of card back could cover the flaws and marks to make the cards look all same.
Within five years, numerous other machines were developed for color card printing. De la rue and other card makers were working on the process of refinement for card production. The results came in the form of high quality Casino Playing Cards in the market, in bulk at reasonable prices. By 1870s, 100,000 card decks were sold yearly. These cards were standard with round corners, side indices and satin finish.
