Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards

by Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer

COURT AND POINT CARDS WITH FRENCH PIPS

As early as 1656, according to the writers of the day, a pack of cards was called in England, “a pair of cards,” which was evidently derived from the Italian, Paio, as the combined Atout and numbered cards, or the two volumes of the book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus, were occasionally called in Italy. The importation of cards was prohibited in England in 1463, by Act 11, Henry VII, as local productions were to be encouraged, so foreign cards are seldom found in England.

Sometimes the collection of fifty-two cards, adopted from the French, was called “a stock,” notably in the play of “The Three Ladies of London,” where one of them says: “Now, all the cards in the Stock are dealt about.” But the word is now only applied when it is wished to designate those cards left after a hand has been dealt, although they are more commonly called “the widow,” or “the forsaken one.” In Queen Elizabeth’s day, a pack of cards was called “a bunch,” and Shakespeare terms them “a deck,” which designation is still used in Scotland and in parts of the United States.

The designs on the cards representing the numbers are technically termed pips, or peeps, perhaps from the seeds of apples, pears, and oranges, that are so called in England; and they are also called spots.

In the “Metamorphosis of Ajax,” by Sir John Harrington (1615), he says: “When Brutus had discarded the kings and queens out of the pack, and shown himself sworn enemy to all the Coate cards, there crept in many new forms of government.” This rather unique and old-fashioned way of designating the figures in the pack leads some persons to suppose that the name implied “coated figures, that is to say, men and women wearing coats, in contradistinction to the other devices of flowers or animals.” The term does not seem to have been general, however, and it is more probable that they were called “court cards,” since these representative persons are dressed in ermine, with rich embroideries and jewels, and two of each suit are crowned, so that they were recognised as “coated,” or fashionably dressed. It has been pointed out that the original French court cards were probably likenesses of the kings of France of the day, as well as their consorts and mistresses; while in England, they were copies of well-known portraits of Henry VIII and his beautiful mother, Queen Elizabeth of York, so that they were rulers of the card kingdom, as well as of their respective countries. The cards were, therefore, called “of the court,” or “court cards.”

The collection necessary for most of the games played with the French cards vary in number, but this is merely a matter of local preference, as demanded by the games in vogue. In Paris, a Piquet pack requires only thirty-six cards, while, in the United States, Nonsuch Euchre calls for sixty-one, including the Joker, which card is unknown in France. A standard French or English pack contains fifty-two cards, divided into four suits, like their forefathers, the Tarots. The distinguishing feature of the junior pack is the two colours into which it is parted, for two of the suits are painted black, and two are red; this distinction marks the difference between the French cards and those of all other nations, where local pips are used.

The Tarots had four court cards to each suit, while the French and Spanish packs have only three members of the court world. The Spaniards omit the woman from their cards, while the French drop one of the men, the cavalier, a mounted figure that gives variety and value to the royal family in other countries, and makes the game more like one of war, and not merely a compliment to a distinguished lady. However, the King, Queen, and Knave are now the only ones with the French emblems, and these are followed by ten pip cards, in which number one, or the Ace, is sometimes the highest, and, at others, the lowest in the pack, according to the game to be played.

In the United States, a pack is incomplete without the Joker, which then makes fifty-three cards to a standard pack. Many writers have tried to connect the number fifty-two with the weeks of the year, but, as can easily be seen by studying the Tarots, this was not the original number, and the French, when inventing their new set of cards, probably had no such connection in mind, and the Piquet, which is the earliest French pack, contains less than fifty-two cards.

The Joker did not make its appearance in the United States until about the middle of the nineteenth century, and then for a rather strange reason. The cards used in the Northern States were those inherited from France or England, while those used in the extreme South-western States were of Spanish origin, but the packs of none of these countries had retained the old figure of Mercury. The Joker, however, suddenly appeared in the American packs, the reason for this being as follows, cards are printed or stamped on large sheets of paper, which are afterwards cut apart to the required size. When arranged on the sheet, one space in a corner was not used, and, therefore, left blank, although the back was printed exactly like all the rest of the pack. Having no need for this card, the makers generously threw it in, and placed it on the outside of the wrapper, so as to show the colour and design of the back. The value of the new card was rapidly recognised by players, who, impelled by some unknown power, assigned to it the position originally occupied by Il Matto of the Tarot pack, with all its old privileges of taking every other card. It was particularly valuable in the game of Euchre, that sprang into popularity at the same time that the Joker (or the one who played tricks and took them) was adopted. So, through this accidental appearance of a blank card in the pack, Mercury suddenly asserted his old supremacy, and cunningly resumed his wonted place and power in the card world, although his original prominence and his cult had been entirely overlooked and forgotten for over five hundred years, except in one particular town in Italy, where the old Tarots are retained in their pristine condition.

Instead of using a blank card on the outside of the pack, some of the European card manufacturers make a hole in the wrapper, through which may be seen the Ace of Hearts, stamped with the government revenue stamp. In England and the United States, the name of the manufacturer is printed on the Ace of Spades, and the revenue stamp is pasted on the wrapper of the pack. German card makers often place a blank card in their wrappers, but it has not been incorporated into any of the local games, nor does it bear a revenue stamp or the maker’s name upon it.