Willshire has pointed out that the Italians early suppressed the emblematic cards in a game which was termed Trappola, in which the true tarots were abolished, as likewise the three, four, five, and six of each numeral suit. This game, he states, was still in vogue in Silesia when Breitkopf wrote (1784). An interesting Austrian pack of this character is shown under the name of Trappolier Spiel, in which the shape as well as the suit marks of the Italian tarots are displayed.
The German cards manufactured in Germany are prefaced by a series of reprints of German cards of the last century exhibited by Mr. Macauley. They were obtained by him through the courtesy of the Bavarian National Museum in Munich, for which they were made from the original blocks of the old Munich card makers that have been conserved in the Museum.
CASE XI.
GERMAN CARDS (CONTINUED), SWISS, DANISH, SWEDISH, AND RUSSIAN CARDS. SPANISH, MEXICAN, AND APACHE CARDS.
The collection of cards made in Germany comprises 53 packs, consisting chiefly of the current cards manufactured by card makers in Munich, Altenburg, Frankfort a. M., Berlin, Leipzig, and Breslau. Among these is an extremely beautiful pack by B. Dondorf of Frankfort, with pictures suggesting the four quarters of the globe, after designs by Haussmann. Toy cards, patience cards, comic cards, trick cards, and cards which are labelled “Gaigel cards” appear, as well as cards made for special games, as the Hexen or “witch” packs. Many of the cards manufactured in Germany are seen to bear the French suit marks of Cœurs, Carreaux, Piques, and Trèfles, or “hearts,” “diamonds,” “spades,” and “clubs,” instead of the old German suit marks, and the court cards correspond at the same time with those of France and England. There are a number of packs with French suit marks, which bear pictures of Swiss scenery and costumes. The cards made in Switzerland are from Schaffhausen and Geneva, and comprise a variety of designs, including those which are especially designated as Swiss cards, German cards, and German Taroks. Belgium is represented by a German tarot pack, and imitations of English cards made for Oriental markets. Three packs of this character are shown, which were sent from Johore, in the Malay Peninsula, with another pack from Beirut, in Syria. The Russian cards in the collection, contributed by Madame Semetchkin, the representative on the Russian Commission of the “Institutions of the Empress Marie,” are similar to modern French cards. The manufacture of playing cards in Russia is a monopoly of the state, and the revenues accruing are devoted to the support of the great charitable institution of which Madame Semetchkin is the distinguished representative.
Tarots or Tarocchi cards are not used in Spain, nor are they found among Spanish cards. The regulation Spanish pack now consists of 48 cards of four suits, called respectively Dineros, “money,” Copas, “cups,” Bastos, “clubs,” and Espadas, “swords.” The numerals run from one to nine, the ten being replaced with the Caballo. The court cards comprise the Sota, or “knave,” the Caballo, or “knight,” and the Rey, or “king.” Cards manufactured at Vitoria, Burgos, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Cadiz, and Palamos are displayed. Great antiquity has been claimed for cards in Spain, and it has been urged that this is the country through which Europe received cards from the East, but heretofore no Spanish cards of assured date earlier than 1600 have been known, and material evidence has been lacking. There was exhibited at the Columbian Historical Exposition in Madrid in 1892–93, a sheet of cards made in Mexico in 1583, which has been preserved in the Archives of the Indies at Seville, Spain, and which throw light upon the origin of Spanish cards. A copy made in water-colors by an artist in Madrid is shown in this collection. The original consists of an uncut sheet of about 11 by 17 inches, and bears on the back a pen and ink inscription with the date 1583. The face displays an impression from a wooden block of 24 cards each 2 by 3½ inches. They are colored in red, blue, and black, and represent the court cards and aces of the suits of money, cups, clubs, and swords, and ten numeral or pip cards of the suit of swords. There are but three court cards for each suit, instead of four as in the present Spanish pack. The marks of the numeral suit consist of crossed swords, instead of being arranged as on the Spanish cards now current, and strongly point to the Italian affinities of early Spanish cards.
Side by side with this early Mexican pack is a colored plate representing leather cards made by the Indians of South America, and an original pack of leather cards used by the Apaches. From the arrangement of the swords on both of these sets, which were copied from cards introduced by the Spaniards, it appears that they were initiated from the present type of Spanish cards. Such is not the case with the corresponding marks on a pack of native cards from the Celebes, which are also exhibited. Their Spanish origin is clearly indicated by their number, 48, and by the devices, which still bear a faint resemblance to those of Europe. The clubs and swords on both are represented by crossed lines which confirm the impression created by the Mexican pack. The Japanese “Hana Karuta,” or “Flower Cards,” are also shown here, as another pack of Oriental cards derived from those of Spain or Portugal. Their number, 48, and their name, karuta, from the Portuguese carta, clearly suggests their origin.
CASE XII.
FRENCH, ENGLISH, AND AMERICAN PLAYING CARDS. FORTUNE-TELLING CARDS, DR. BUZBY, AUTHORS, AND MISCELLANEOUS CARD GAMES.
Tarocchi cards are called Tarots in France, and the French tarot pack is similar to the Venetian. The earliest specimens of French Tarots exhibited bear the name of Claude Burdel and the date 1751. There is direct historic proof that France possessed cards at a very early time in the accounts of the Treasurer of Charles VI., A. D. 1392. The earliest pack of French cards in this collection is one of which I have not been able to determine the date. It bears the name Pierre Montalan on the Knave of Spades and Claude Valentin on the Knave of Clubs. A variety of modern French packs are shown, including those made with Spanish suit marks and special cards for various games. The French suit marks reappear on English cards, and according to Willshire it is most probable that cards made their way into England through France. He states that the time is not known, but that we are safe in believing that cards were not in use in England until after the reign of Henry IV. (1405), and that they were certainly employed before 1463. The English cards here displayed consist entirely of those of the present day, but this deficiency in historical packs is compensated for in part by Lady Charlotte Schreiber’s folio volume on English and Scottish, Dutch and Flemish cards which she has loaned for this collection. The great work, of which this is but the first volume, contains fac-similes of the cards in Lady Charlotte Schreiber’s private collection, and reveals the wealth of historical suggestions to be found upon playing cards, and their value, as thus collected, to the antiquary and historian.
America early received playing cards from Spain, and Spanish cards are still made and imported into Spanish American countries. In the United States English cards were naturally adopted. No very early packs are shown, but some interesting cards are found in the North American series, including a variety of cards with patriotic emblems of the time of the Rebellion, as well as caricature cards of the recent political campaigns. The collection closes with the souvenir packs of the Columbian Exposition at Chicago. Mrs. J. K. Van Rensellaer’s work, entitled “The Devil’s Picture Books,” a copy of which is exhibited, contains many interesting particulars concerning cards and card playing in America. Several interesting card boxes are shown in this collection, with specimens of the old-fashioned “fish” or card counters of mother-of-pearl, among which are some that belonged to Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution. Treatises on American card games, exhibited by Messrs. Dick & Fitzgerald, conclude the series of playing cards proper.
Among the notions concerning the origin of cards in Europe is one that they were first introduced by the gypsies, who used them in fortune-telling. It appears that they were early used for divinatory purposes in Europe, but according to Willshire their employment in fortune-telling gradually declined among the upper classes until the middle of the eighteenth century, “though it was prevalent, no doubt, among the lower grades of society frequenting fairs and the caravans of mountebanks. About 1750 divination through cards again became popular in Paris, at least, for in 1751, 1752, and 1753 three persons were publicly known as offering their services for this intention.” According to certain writers, the emblematic figures of the tarot cards are of very remote origin, stretching back as far as the ancient Egyptians, from whom they have descended to us as a book or series of subjects of deep symbolic meaning. The discovery and explication of the meaning of the tarots employed in modern times was claimed by M. Count de Goebelin in 1781, who in his “Monde Primitif analysé et compare avec le Monde Moderne,” gave a dissertation on the game of Tarots, in which he states that the tarot pack is evidently based on the sacred Egyptian number seven, and reviews the tarot emblems in detail.