Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000
Auction: February 18, 2021 10:00:00 AM EDT
New York: Privately Printed, 1968. First and limited edition, #5/30 copies. Folio; 20 x 13 1/4 in. (508 x 336 mm). Eight text leaves. Illustrated with 25 color woodcuts with gilt embellishments, each signed, titled, numbered, and dated in pencil by Davies at bottom. Original red cloth portfolio, stamped in gilt; each print in paper mat and loose as issued.
"Cards of Life, Cards of Death is a modern pinochle deck. The symbolism is derived from the past only indirectly. I have retained the four traditional suits but have given them a more overt symbolism than was customary in the past. I have also retained the hierarchy from the ace to the nine but have interpreted it in terms of my own ideas, giving each card in this hierarchy a special significance related to parallel cards in other suits." (From the Artist's Statement).