The structures of six 1-phenylethylammonium tartrates have been determined and in each of them a distinctive hydrogen-bonded anion substructure can be identified. (S)-1-Phenylethylammonium (R,R)-hydrogen tartrate [(I), P21, Z'=1] contains anion sheets built from a single type of R4(4)(22) ring with cations pendent, via three N-H...O hydrogen bonds, from just one face of the sheet. (S)-1-Phenylethylammonium rac-hydrogen tartrate [(II), P21, Z'=2] and its enantiomorph (R)-1-phenylethylammonium rac-hydrogen tartrate [(III), P21, Z'=2] contain anion sheets built from four types of ring, R2(2)(10), R2(2)(12), R2(4)(14) and R4(4)(20), and there are cations pendent from both faces of the sheet. The anion substructure in bis[(S)-1-phenylethylammonium] (R,R)-tartrate [(IV), P2(1), Z'=1] consists of simple C(5) chains, which are linked into sheets by the cations, while in bis(rac-1-phenylethylammonium) (R,R)-tartrate [(V), P2(1), Z'=2] there are anion sheets containing two distinct types of R4(4)(22) ring, with equal numbers of (R) and (S) cations pendent from each face of the anion sheet. Bis[(R)-1-phenylethylammonium] rac-tartrate methanol hemisolvate [(VI), P1, Z'=4, with 14 independent components in the asymmetric unit] contains anion sheets built from two types of R2(2)(12) ring and two types of R6(6)(32) ring; half of the cations and half of the methanol molecules are pendent from each face of the sheet.