Introducing a precisely restored and digitally hand-recreated reproduction of the next Cotta’s almanac deck full of history, and for the fifth time, strongly touched by Schiller’s works, continuing after the previous red, yellow, green, and blue one, which was the first published complete transformation playing card deck in the world!

The purple Aeneid or Pantheon deck is the fifth in a series of six famous transformation playing card decks we plan to release…

This fifth Cotta’s almanac playing cards deck was originally published in 1810.

The court card figures depict various mythological characters, while the number cards include caricatures of famous people like Napoleon, and a variety of comical subjects.

Additionally to the series of Cotta’s almanac decks, all influenced by notable authors, this one might also draw on aspects from another Schiller’s poetic work – especially the unique translation from Vergil’s Aeneid.

Schiller with his own style and effect had translated various parts at various times (his first translations of Aeneid appeared anonymously in the eleventh issue of the Swabian Magazine in 1780 under the title Der Sturm auf Dem Tyrrhener Meer) and his light and congenial labor mostly continued to occupy him for a year or more after the break-down of his health (resulted in death in the year 1805, when blue Cotta’s deck was originally issued for the first time), while he fully completed Book II – Troy (spring 1791) and Book IV – Dido (winter 1791), according to letters written to his friend Gottfried dated April 10th and October 24th, 1791.