Board games from the city of Vijayanagara (Hampi ... - Gioco dell'Oca.

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Alain Borveau (1933-2002)
B OARD G AME S TUDIES 6, 2003
Alan Borvo – or, to give him back his official French name, Alain Borveau – has
passed away a year ago. The brilliant author of “Sáhkku, the ‘Devil’s game’” (published
in BGS, 4, 2001, p. 33-52) was struck by a sudden cancer which left him no chance. He
died in October 2002, aged 69.
Born in Paris in 1933, fascinated by the Sami (Lapp) culture, Alain Borveau attended
the Beaux-Arts school in Paris and studied ethnology under Jean Malaurie. This led
him to advertising, a profession which was his for more than twenty years. A passionate
collector he soon developed a love for folk art objects and playing cards. His Breton origins
had lead him to involve himself in the study of aluette cards, a very special type of
“Spanish-suited” cards used in the Vendée and in some parts of Brittany, on which he
published a stimulating and memorable monograph (Anatomie d’un jeu de cartes: l’aluette
ou le jeu de la vache, Nantes, 1977) that opened many new tracks. Concerned with
exchanges, he created in 1970 Le Jolly Joker, one of the earliest bulletins devoted to playing-card
collecting, then in 1978 he established the Association des Collectionneurs de
Cartes et Tarots (ACCART) and its journal, l’As de Trèfle.
Set up in Brittany from 1983 to 1991 and calling himself “Alan Borvo”, he was still
very active. In 1994, he chose to sell his playing-card collection at auction in the Paris
Hôtel Drouot. Alain also collected seashore souvenirs, beer pads, pipes and books on the
Sami culture.
I knew Alain’s love for this Northern people. When, a few years ago, I was discussing
with my old mail friend Peter Michaelsen, of Denmark, about publishing something on
the Scandinavian and Sami “tâb” games, I realised that Alain Borveau could help us. I
met him just a week later and I asked him whether he knew anything on Sáhkku. He prudently
said he had never heard of it but would inquire. It was the right time: Alain was
about to visit Lappland once again next month. He promised to investigate. When he
came back, with a broken pelvis (he had slipped on an ice sheet), he brought a wealth
of new information on this rare game. With great enthusiasm he wrote this wonderful
article where his training as an ethnologist, his natural warmth, and his sense of good
research were at their best.
Alain left several wives, a few children and many many friends.
Thierry DEPAULIS