Facts and Speculations on the Origin and History of Playing Cards

by William Andrew Chatto

No cards of an "instructive" character have ever obtained popularity amongst regular card-players; for when people sit down to play at cards they do not like to have their attention withdrawn from the game by the historical or biographical reminiscences suggested by Coat cards, either containing portraits of distinguished characters, or commemorating remarkable events; and least of all can they bear that the heads of a sermon or moral lecture should be presented to them in the shape of the four cardinal virtues; which are just as appropriate in a pack of cards as they would be on the proscenium of her Majesty's Theatre.

The best of the costume cards that I have seen are those designed by Armand Houbigant, a French artist, who named them "Cartes Royales," and obtained from Louis XVIII, a license to manufacture them for general use, in 1818. They did not, however, acquire any vogue, and are now seldom to be met with, except in the collections of amateurs of prints. The coat cards, which are etched, and delicately coloured by hand, display the costume of the French Court at four different periods. The characters represented are as follows.

Spades. King, Charlemagne, "Carolus Magnus;" crowned, and seated on a throne, with a globe in the right hand, and a long sceptre in the left.—Queen, Hildegarde, second wife of Charlemagne; erect, crowned, and holding a book in her hands.—Knave, Roland, described in romances as the nephew of Charlemagne; and said to have been killed at the battle of Roncevalles in 778; holding a spear and shield, and clothed in armour, which appears rather to belong to the sixteenth century than to the time of Charlemagne.

Diamonds. King, Louis IX, "Sainct Loys;" crowned, seated on a throne, wearing a blue robe powdered with fleurs-de-lis, and having a sceptre in his left hand.—Queen, Blanche de Castille, wife of Louis VIII, and mother of St. Louis; erect, crowned, and holding a rosary in her right hand.—Knave, Sire de Joinville, the biographer of Louis IX, and one of the nobles of his court; clothed in chain-mail, over which is a surcoat of arms.

Clubs. King, Francis I; seated, wearing the broad bonnet in which he is usually represented, and holding a sceptre.—Queen, Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre, sister of Francis I; erect, holding a rose in her right hand.—Knave, Bayard; in plate-armour, leaning on a kind of pedestal on which is inscribed "Sans peur, sans reproche."

Hearts. King, Henry IV; seated, holding a sceptre, and wearing the characteristic hat and feather which, in modern times, are designated by his name.—Queen, Jeanne d'Albret, mother of Henry IV; erect, holding a fan in her right hand.—Knave, Sully; bald and bearded, as he is usually represented in engravings, holding in his right hand a paper inscribed "Economie Roy. [301] ..."

A set of Picture Cards, published by Cotta, the bookseller of Tubingen, in one of his Card Almanacs—'Karten Almanach'—is noticed by Mons. Peignot. The designer has chosen for the coat cards the principal characters in Schiller's Joan of Arc, and has clothed them, as well as he could, in the costume of the period. The King of Hearts is Charles VII; the Queen, Isabella of Bavaria; the Knave, La Hire.—The King of Clubs is the English commander, Talbot, dying; the Queen, Joan of Arc; the Knave, Lionel, taking away the sword of Joan of Arc.—The King of Diamonds is Philip, Duke of Burgundy; the Queen, Agnes Sorel; the Knave, Raimond, a villager.—The King of Clubs is Réné of Anjou, with the crown of Sicily at his feet; the Queen, Louise, sister of Joan of Arc; and the Knave, Montgomery, on his knees, and weeping. The low cards from 1 to 10 also contain fanciful designs; but with the subjects so arranged that the numbers and marks of the suits can be readily distinguished. The subject of the Four of Clubs is an illustration of Burger's ballad of Leonore—Death armed, and mounted on horseback, appears to be threatening with his dart a young woman who rides behind him; the scene is laid in a churchyard, and a skeleton appears crawling towards an open grave. The mark of the suit is seen on four crosses in the churchyard. Cotta's Card Almanack first appeared in 1806, and was continued for several years. It was published as a small pocket volume of a square form; and the illustrations consisted entirely of fanciful cards,—the mark of the suit being always introduced into each subject, either by hook or by crook. The designs for the cards in the first four volumes, from 1806 to 1809 inclusive, are said to have been made by a lady.—Numerous packs of fancy cards have appeared in Germany since the commencement of the present century; some displaying costume, ancient and modern; some representing eminent characters, and others devoted to the illustration of trades and professions. In one of them, published at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, in 1815, in memory of the principal military events of 1813-14, the Duke of Wellington figures as the Knave of Diamonds, and Marshal Blucher as the Knave of Clubs.

In 1811 two different packs of caricature cards, imitated, or rather adapted, from the picture-cards in Cotta's Almanack, appeared in England. The one was published by S. and J. Fuller, Rathbone place, London; and the other, by Jones, at the Repository of Arts, Market hill, Cambridge. Neither of those packs was intended for the purposes of play. They have very much the appearance of having been designed by the same artist. On the wrapper of both packs the inscription is the same: "Metastasis. Transformation of Playing-cards."—A set of costume cards was published by Ackermann, in the 'Repository of Arts,' in 1806: a particular description of them would be just as interesting as a description of the plates in 'La Belle Assemblée' of the same period.

A pack of cards published by Baker and Co., in 1813, requires more particular notice. On the wrapper they are entitled "Eclectic Cards;" and in a pamphlet giving an account of them, they are announced as "Complete, Grand, Historical, Eclectic Cards, for England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales; being a Selection or an Eclectic Company of Twelve of the most eminent Personages, that ever distinguished themselves in those respective Countries, for Heroic deeds, Wisdom, &c. And the other Forty Cards descriptive of the Local and National Emblems of the Four Nations.