Facts and Speculations on the Origin and History of Playing Cards

by William Andrew Chatto

[252] See the prohibition against the importation of playing cards, in 1463; enacted by Parliament, in consequence of the complaints of the manufacturers and tradesmen of London and other parts of England, against the importation of foreign manufactured wares, which greatly obstructed their own employment, previously referred to at page 96.

[253] Mons. Leber, after having noticed Singer's objection to the so-called Tarocchi cards, from their size and want of numeral cards, thus proceeds: "Il aurait pu ajouter que des gravures exécutées avec tant de soins, que les chefs-d'œuvre d'un art nouveau, dont le premier mérite s'appréciait par la beauté de l'empreinte, n'ont pu être destinés à recevoir l'enluminure qui entre essentiellement dans la confection du jeu de cartes; et cette observation s'applique à plusieurs suites d'estampes du même genre et du même siècle, dont quelques-unes sont conservées au cabinet royal. Là, comme dans les collections de Londres et d'Allemagne, elles sont toutes en feuilles et en noir. Non-seulement l'étrangeté des signes distinctifs des couleurs, mais la forme même de ces gravures, repousserait l'idée d'une destination semblable à celle du jeu de cartes européen. Les unes arrondies en médaillons, rappellent le champ circulaire des cartes indiennes: d'autres couvrent un carré d'in-4^o; les plus communes sont des carrés longs; mais au lieu des couleurs propres aux cartes à jouer, on n'y voit que des images d'oiseaux, de quadrupèdes, de fleurs, de fruits; ce sont des perroquets et des paons, des lièvres et des ours, des singes et des lions, des grenades, des roses, et tous autres objets dont le choix devait être purement arbitraire, quand il n'était pas l'expression d'un jeu nouveau."—Etudes Historiques sur les Cartes à jouer, p. 18.

[254] Those cards formerly belonged to a Mons. Volpato, and were purchased of him, for the Bibliothèque du Roi, in 1833. He received in exchange some cards of the same pack; and the set, completed with fac-simile drawings of such as were wanting, were recently in the possession of Messrs. Smith, of Lisle-street, Leicester-square, to whom they were sent by Mons. Volpato for sale.

[255] The third character in those coat cards cannot properly be called a Cavalier, and has indeed very little pretensions to the designation of Squire. The Knaves are evidently common foot-soldiers, such as were known in Italy by the name of Fanti.

[256] From the difficulty of giving in a wood-engraving those small letters with sufficient clearness, they are omitted in the annexed specimens. The numerals are also omitted, except in the Two of Pinks.

[257] Bartsch, Peintre-graveur, tom. x, pp. 70-6.—Singer, Researches into the History of Playing Cards, p. 45-6, also pp. 205-8.

[258] In the 'Catalogue Raisonné of the select Collection of Engravings of an Amateur' [Mr. Wilson] a full description is given of those cards, pp. 87-91. 4to, 1828.

[259] One of these cards, a Queen, is evidently copied from the Queen of Deer, but having a kind of flower as the mark of the suit, instead of a Deer. Those two Queens, so precisely the same in form, attitude, and costume, most certainly did not belong to the same pack.

[260] 'Deutsche Piquet-Karten aus den XV Iahrhunderte mit Trappola Blattern.' The use of the word Trappola by writers on the history of playing cards, without clearly explaining the sense in which they employ it, leads to much confusion. It properly signifies a game; which may be played with any kind of numeral cards consisting of four suits, whatever the marks may be. Breitkopf seems here to apply the term "Trappola Blattern" to cards which have Swords, Batons, Cups, and Money as the marks of the suits; in the same manner as the cards now in common use in this country are called by writers on the subject, French Piquet cards. It is never, however, supposed that the game depends in the least on the marks of the suits.

[261] From the time of the marriage of Joanna's sister, Catherine of Arragon, with Arthur, Prince of Wales, till about the time of her separation from his brother, Henry VIII, the pomegranate was frequently introduced as an ornament in the royal decorations and furniture of the English court.