The greater part of the early Italian cards are printed with a pale ink of a grayish tint. The earliest specimens are a set of Tarots that are much larger than the standard size of Playing Cards, being about four by six and a half inches. These cards are finely executed, and are one of the first of the educational packs, since the emblematic figures of the Atouts are Rhetoric, Arithmetic, etc.
The specimens of engraved cards of the Netherlands are of a later date, being about the middle of the eighteenth century. They are carefully done, and the two red suits are distinguished by being printed with a pale red ink, while the Spades and Clubs are printed in black. These cards are pretty miniature pictures, with local figures and landscapes, while the pips are French and are placed in the upper left-hand corner.
The Dutch have also several educational packs of cards. Some are historical, with Kings, Queens, and Knaves representing their royalties. There is also one showing the chief products of their kingdom and its dependencies. A third pack illustrates the costumes of the different provinces.
Germans, French and English were very fond of teaching children through educational games of cards, and a great collection of these may be found in the print room of the British Museum under the head of Lady Charlotte Schrieber’s Collection, but it is carelessly kept in drawers, the packs tied with bits of string or worsted, and it is difficult to study on this account.
CHAPTER XIV
PLAYING CARDS FOR EDUCATIONAL AND OTHER PURPOSES
It was but natural that, from the very date of the readjustment of the Book of Thoth, when it was deposed from its high position of being the voice of the gods to become the tool of gypsies or the toy of gamblers, that invectives should be hurled at it from the pulpit, from whence the early war is continued, as well as from the government, for when pleasure becomes a vice it behooves those in authority to repress it, so as to protect the unwary or the ignorant from traps laid for gain against them.
Cardinal John Capistran, who visited Nuremburg in 1452, found the inhabitants devoted to all games of chance, and so addicted to gambling that the prosperity of the town was threatened.