Antwan Horfee Revisits Japanese Ephemera in New Book ‘Menko Toys’

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Summary

  • Second volume explores vintage Japanese Menko cards as cultural artifacts
  • Features contributions in English and Japanese by a global creative cast
  • Limited hand-drawn editions available, shipping from the UK

The Parisian artist Antwan Horfee reenters the realm of Japanese playing cards with Menko Toys, a captivating follow-up to his 2019 work Menko Boys. In this expanded 288-page edition, Horfee delves even further into the anthropological study of Menko – colorful cardboard cards initially employed by Japanese kids in street games, now revered as cultural relics. As Peter Lyle, a writer, once stated, Menko are “talismanic throwing cards” that mirror the evolving tides in 20th-century Japanese culture.

This book, bound in the Swiss style and printed on Munken white paper, is just as much a tactile artifact as it is a visual archive. It contains writings in both English and Japanese penned by Horfee, Nick Schonberger, Ataru Sato, Risa Hiratsuka, among others. The design is by Jean Granon and the photography is by Ghislain Mirat. Additionally, there are ten unique, hand-drawn copies of this book, each signed and illustrated personally by Horfee.

Menko Toys goes beyond being just a collection. It encourages interpretation, viewing each card as a mini-story that blends nostalgia, consumer culture, and personal recollections. You can order the book right now through Topsafe’s official website, with both standard and limited editions available.

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2025-08-02 10:55