27 chapters
3 hour read
Selected Chapters
27 chapters
THE DEVIL’S PICTURE-BOOKS
THE DEVIL’S PICTURE-BOOKS
A History of Playing-Cards BY MRS. JOHN KING VAN RENSSELAER AUTHOR OF CROCHET LACE, ETC. ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK DODD, MEAD, AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1890 By Dodd, Mead, and Company All rights reserved University Press John Wilson and Son, Cambridge...
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
The “Devil’s Books” was the name bestowed upon Playing-cards by the Puritans and other pious souls who were probably in hopes that this name would alarm timid persons and so prevent their use. Whether or not his Satanic Majesty originated Playing-cards, we have no means of discovering; but it is more probable that he only inspired their invention, and placed them in the hands of mankind, who have eagerly adopted this simple means of amusing themselves, and have used it according to the good or e
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE TAROTS.
THE TAROTS.
A youth of frolic, an old age of cards. Hone : Every-Day Book , ii. 98. THE origin of Playing-cards and their inventor is still a subject of speculation, and will probably remain forever undiscovered. Almost every country in Europe has through her scholars laid claim to having been the first to use cards; and many documentary and other proofs have been brought forward to substantiate their assertions, which are based upon ancient laws, common traditions, or contemporary illustrations. That cards
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHESS.
CHESS.
ALMOST all writers on Cards have admitted the strong resemblance they bear to Chess; and M. Paul la Croix declares that in comparatively modern times the game of chess and games of cards showed strikingly similar features, which demonstrated their common origin,—the art of painting being resorted to to depict the one, and that of sculpture to represent the other. A pretty history of the origin of Chess has been related. It states that the game was invented for the amusement of an Oriental potent
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ENGRAVING.
ENGRAVING.
THE order obtained in 1441 by the master card-makers of Venice from their Senate which prohibited the introduction into that city of “large quantities of cards printed and painted outside of Venice,” should be particularly noticed, as printed cards are especially mentioned as well as painted ones; and this points to the fact that there was in use some process besides the original one of painting or stencilling when the cards of that period were being manufactured. The fragments of the French pac
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
MATERIALS.
MATERIALS.
THE process of manufacturing Playing-cards now deserves attention. It seems that the first packs of Tarots which have been preserved were made of two pieces of cardboard, and were afterward pasted together. The backs had a checkered pattern designed on them, and were placed so as to overlap the face; and the diapered edge was carefully pasted down and formed a protection and a frame to the pictured side. It may be as well to quote here the graphic account given by Mr. Chatto in his “Facts and Sp
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
NAME.
NAME.
THE first positive mention of Playing-cards is in a manuscript by Nicholas de Covellezzo, which is preserved among the Archives of Viterbo. “In 1379,” says the Chronicler, “playing-cards were introduced in Viterbo. These came from the country of the Saracens, and were called Naïb .” The Italians have for centuries called their cards Naibi , and in Spain they are still named Naypes . M. la Croix remarks that in Arabic the word Naïb signifies “captain,” and declares that this name proves the milit
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE CLASSIFICATION OF PACKS OF CARDS INTO SUITS.
THE CLASSIFICATION OF PACKS OF CARDS INTO SUITS.
EVER since the fifteenth century evidences of the existence and popularity of cards have been found in Italy, Spain, Germany, and France. The names, colours, emblems, number, and form change with the countries or caprices of the card-makers; but what are termed Cartes Tarots or Cartes Françaises are always the original cards which came from the East, and which are in a greater or less degree faithful imitations of the still more ancient game of Chess. It is related that on the 5th of March, 1423
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHINA.
CHINA.
AS has been already mentioned, the invention of Playing-cards has been claimed at many places; each writer setting forth the pretensions of his own country to this honour to the best of his ability, and each one with seemingly good authority for his statements. It is certain that the Chinese point in triumph to the longest pedigree for their game, and they quote extensively from their own authors as proof of this fact; and until some European well versed in their language can dispute this claim,
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
EGYPT.
EGYPT.
An attempt has been made to prove that a kind of card was in use among the Egyptians in the seventh century before our present era; but this has been hotly disputed if not disproved. That there were games which were known to the early Egyptians has been shown by the inscriptions on their monuments, and the representations of figures playing jack-stones or knuckle-bones and dice. Some kind of game resembling Chess may also have been played, but upon this subject authorities do not agree....
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
INDIA.
INDIA.
If India was not the birthplace of Cards, as it probably was of Chess, it is certain that they were known in that country at a very early date; and beautiful specimens of ancient as well as modern packs are prized in many European collections. A pack of Hindoo cards is fully described in Mr. Singer’s book, and many of them are handsomely reproduced. They are painted on ivory, the backs are gilded, and they number the same as the Tarot cards. This pack contains seven suits, which are Suns , Moons
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CASHMERE.
CASHMERE.
The cards from Cashmere, which belong to Mr. de Forest and are reproduced for this work, differ but slightly from those described by Mr. Chatto. The Cashmere cards are circular in shape, as well as the Hindostanee, and are of about the same size, being two inches in diameter. The emblems on the Cashmere cards differ considerably from those described by Mr. Chatto, and only the court or figure cards bear a general resemblance to those that formerly belonged to Capt. D. Cromline Smith. The Cashmer
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PERSIA.
PERSIA.
SIX tablets brought from Persia by a recent traveller form an interesting addition to the cards used by different nations. These tiny cards appear to be the three honours of two different packs. They are made of layers of pasteboard, some of them as thick as two ordinary playing-cards. The others are nearly double that thickness; and although they are all of the same size (namely, an inch and an eighth wide by two inches long), there are many marks on them to show that they never all belonged to
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ITALY.
ITALY.
THE first European document known that mentions cards is the manuscript already referred to, written by Nicolas de Covellezzo, about the end of the thirteenth century, is preserved among the archives of Viterbo, and contains the earliest written account yet discovered of cards, not only among the Italians but also in Europe, if we except the much disputed passage in the Wardrobe Rolls of Edward the First, King of England, which will hereafter be mentioned. This document refers to cards by the na
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
GERMANY.
GERMANY.
In a German book printed at Augsburg in 1472, called “Gülden Spiel,” or “The Golden Game,” written by a Dominican friar of the name of Ingold, it is stated that cards had been known in Germany since 1300. As this is by no means contemporaneous testimony, it is probable that the German vanity which claims the honor of inventing the art of printing wishes, with no more reason on its side, to appropriate to itself the invention of playing-cards, which in plain words is laying claim to the invention
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
SPAIN.
SPAIN.
THE Spaniards base their claim of having been the first to use, if they were not the inventors of, playing-cards to the fact that Naïbi , the name by which cards were known among the Italians about the year 1393, is very nearly similar to the name by which they are known in Spain to-day. As it was about that time that Italy was invaded by the Spaniards, they declare that they, as the conquerors, imposed cards upon that country and taught their use, under the name they bore in their own homes. Th
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
FRANCE.
FRANCE.
AMONG the archives preserved in the Chambre des Comptes in Paris there was at one time an account, dated 1392, which said, “Paid to Jacquemin Gringonneur, Painter, for three packs of cards of gold and different colours, ornamented with different devices for the King [Charles the Sixth], for his amusement, 50 sols parisis.” The game, which was invented merely as an amusement for the deranged King, spread with such rapidity among the people that the Prevôt de Paris, in an ordinance dated Jan. 22,
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ENGLAND.
ENGLAND.
SOME of the most interesting collections of old playing-cards can be seen in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the South Kensington Museum, and the British Museum in London. The latter collection has a historian of its own; and the variety, number, and beauty of the packs in this place are minutely recorded, and form an interesting study by themselves. By their aid it is possible to note the various changes and modifications which have crept in among the costumes of the court, and the pips of the
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
AMERICA.
AMERICA.
THE history of Playing-cards would be incomplete without some reference to their introduction into America, and a slight sketch of the games most in favour in that country. History tells us that Columbus carried cards with him in his ship on the voyage of discovery in 1492, and that his sailors employed every spare moment playing with them, until their superstitious fancies persuaded them that this impious practice was the cause of the long voyage and contrary winds which alarmed them so greatly
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
JAPAN.
JAPAN.
IT is to Japan that we must turn when we wish to find the most dainty and original of Playing-cards. This interesting nation have devised for themselves the symbols that they use, which are so unique that they bear no features in common with those of any other country, if we except one device which may be an accidental one, and which will hereafter be mentioned; otherwise the Japanese playing-cards differ completely from those of other places, except that they are painted on pasteboard and highl
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE KING.
THE KING.
EVEN Pope in his description of the game of Ombre has thought it not beneath his notice to describe the appearance of the monarchs of the cards; indeed theirs is no uninteresting history, and although but slightly alluded to by the chroniclers of their day, they have many a time played quite as important a part and had as much influence in their way as the monarch who was seated on a more stable throne than a paper one, and who sometimes himself yielded to the fascinations of his rival of cards.
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE QUEEN.
THE QUEEN.
AS we turn to study “the Little Madames of the Would-be family,” as the Queens of the cards have been called, mention must first be made of their creation. It seems impolite to note and dwell upon a lady’s age, however great it may be; but the birth of the first Queen of cards marks an epoch and is worth recording, notwithstanding the fact that it took place as far back in the history of the world as 1425. At this date, as has been mentioned, the cards were first separated from the original Taro
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE KNAVE.
THE KNAVE.
THE Knave has always been given an original and sometimes a prominent place in the pack of cards. Although this position does not seem to have been derived directly from Il Matto , or the Fool of the Tarots, he seems to have inherited some of the peculiarities of the latter; and in many games he is given the same position, and either takes precedence of all the other court cards or else adds to their value according to the rules of the particular game which is being played. The word “knave” in t
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ACES AND OTHER CARDS.
ACES AND OTHER CARDS.
IT would seem that the name ace , as , asso , or at any rate some combination of letters which convey about the same sound, is given to the first card in the pack in nearly all countries where they are used. Mr. Chatto says, according to Père Daniel, the Ace is the Latin as , meaning “a piece of money, coin, riches;” while Bullet derives it from the Celtic, and says that it means “origin, source, beginning, or first.” A French writer of the sixteenth century, supposed to be Charles Stephens, in
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
USE AND ABUSE.
USE AND ABUSE.
STRANGE tales have been related of the various uses to which cards have been put, and Mr. Singer tells one of a Friar “who, thinking to pull out his Breviary, displays a pack of cards which some mischievous wit had substituted for it. Not at all disconcerted by the circumstance, he explains to the people that he makes use of them as a Breviary, and in a most ingenious manner applies the different cards to this purpose.” There is another history of a parson who loved gaming better than his eyes,
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PIPS, SUITS, AND COLOURS.
PIPS, SUITS, AND COLOURS.
THE emblems on the cards have been, since 1656, called pips , or peeps , and sometimes points ; the former is the term generally used by card-makers and players, by which they designate the symbols at the present day. The manufacturers call the court cards têtes ; but this name has not been adopted among players. They are also frequently named coat cards ,—a term which is supposed to be derived from the coats worn by the figures, in contradistinction to the other designs, which were sometimes fl
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ODDS AND ENDS.
ODDS AND ENDS.
AMONG the other extravagant fashions of the French Court from the time of Charles the Sixth to that of Louis the Sixteenth, that of decorating the card-room, its furniture, accessories, and even the cards themselves, was by no means the least. It was perhaps fitting that the place in which enormous sums of money changed hands should be decorated as a shrine to the God of Play, and it is certain that they were luxuriously furnished and magnificently adorned. Under Louis the Fourteenth the cloths
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter