Read Ebook: The Devil's picture-books by Van Rensselaer John King Mrs

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It is said that the distribution of the suit cards has a peculiar signification. Each one is distinguished by an emblem which represents the four classes into which communities were once divided. First comes the Churchman, represented by the Chalice ; next in rank, the Warrior, whose emblem is the Sword; third, the Merchant, symbolized by a Coin; and fourth, the Workman with his Staff. It will be shown hereafter that almost all writers on the subject allow the possibility of the divisions of the suits being shown in the cards.

These well preserved Tarots are eighteen centimetres by nine, and are painted in water colours on a thin card. The composition of the figures is ingenious and artistic. The drawing is correct and full of character, and the colours are still brilliant. A narrow border of black and white checks surrounds each one. This border is a piece of checkered paper pasted on the back of the card and neatly folded over its edge as if to protect it, showing on the face of the card and forming a frame for the pictures. This fashion of having a checkered or diapered back was closely followed in many of the countries where cards have been used; and these backs are still seen, although this old pattern has been generally discarded, and each card-maker adopts a different device with which to decorate the backs of his cards according to his own fancy. In France the backs are generally plain, and coloured red, pink, or blue. In Spain the pattern is dotted on the surface in lines and circles, while in other countries interlaced and meaningless designs are employed.

Packs of cards closely resembling the original Tarots are still to be found in some parts of Switzerland, Germany, and Alsace, where they are used by the peasantry in the districts which are not much frequented by travellers; but they are unknown to the rest of the world except as curiosities. They are, however, the sole representatives of the cards which the Crusaders or the gypsies brought into Europe, and which the latter use whenever possible to divine the future or recall the past. Some writers point to the eastern origin of these Tarots, because in them "Death" is numbered thirteen, and the idea of fatality or bad luck attached to that number is essentially Oriental; and they declare that the fact that the emblematical Atouts are numbered from low to high, just as certain Asiatic alphabets are written from left to right, may cover a similar interpretation.

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 potentate, and was played with living figures, who were required to move at the word of command from one square to another of a huge tiled court-yard which was surrounded by the balconies of the palace and its harem, from which all the movements of the pieces on the pavement below could be watched by the sovereign and his court. Living games of Chess have been played for amusement or "sweet charity's sake" even in modern times; but such cumbersome pieces must have been difficult to manage, and it was only natural that the ingenious mind which contrived living chessmen should soon have superseded them with figures carved in a convenient material such as wood or ivory, and then placed the mimic armies on a miniature battle-field which could be easily commanded by two or more players.

It has been asserted positively by the oldest traditions that the cards of Indian origin are only chessmen transferred to paper on which the principal pieces of the game are reproduced, the game being improved by admitting more than two players.

In the game of Chess there are generally only two armies of pawns, each one being commanded by a King, a Vizir , a Knight, an Elephant , and a Dromedary ; and the game shows a striking similarity to the Indian games of cards, which have eight companies distinguished by their colours and emblems, and of which each one has their King, their Vizir, and their Elephant. The two games differ, of course; but sufficient resemblances between them remain to show their common origin, which recalls the terrible game of war, in which each adversary must assault, manoeuvre, make combinations, and exert eternal vigilance.

We learn from a most reliable source that playing-cards came to Europe from India and China, and that, like the game of Chess, they were known to the Arabians and the Saracens from the beginning of the twelfth century. At first these games found little popular favour, most probably because they were introduced at a period when civil and ecclesiastical authorities most positively forbade all games of chance.

From India Chess spread gradually to other countries. The Persians seem to have known it about the middle of the sixth century; and Singer, in his "History of Playing-cards," states that it reached China at nearly the same period, and in the reign of the Emperor Wa-si.

There are such striking resemblances between the figures used in Chess and those on cards as to leave very little doubt where the inspiration for the latter originated.

Beautiful circular cards made of ivory have been found, on which the figures are painted as if the artist were unable to carve the forms that he desired to represent, and therefore was obliged to paint them on a flat surface. These cards are small disks, which might easily be placed on the squares of a board and moved from one to the other like chessmen. The advantage of commanding a concealed army instead of one spread out on an open field probably soon became apparent, and the result was that some slight changes in the shape of the pictured figure and the material used were soon made, which with various modifications have come down to us as the modern playing-card.

If a study is made of some of the different packs of Chinese cards, it will be seen that horses, deer, and other animals are represented on them, together with symbols which seem to mark the suits. In other packs, instead of the figure of the animal, Chinese characters are placed above the symbol marking the suit, which characters seem to have been put there instead of the picture, and which it is affirmed state, "This is the horse," or "This one is the deer," as the case may be,--as if on one of our court cards the legend "This is the Queen" should be written on its face, instead of placing there the quaintly garbed female form which usually represents that august person.

There is another game known in which two chess-boards are joined. "It is played by two persons on each side, each of whom is concerned to defend his own game at the same time that he co-operates with his ally to distress by every means in his power the two armies opposed to them." "Four-handed Chess" is described in Hoyle's Book of Games, which illustrates a board with one hundred and sixty squares. The game is played with four sets of chessmen, coloured, respectively, white, black, red, and green, like those of the Indian game.

The Queen, both in Chess and Cards, has a European if not an entirely French origin. She takes the place of the Eastern Vizir, or General; and it may be particularly remarked that in the game of Chess she is more of an Amazon or Joan of Arc than the consort of a reigning monarch. Her height also is excessive for a woman, in proportion to the other pieces, and her active duties of harassing the enemy and protecting her slow-moving husband while leading his army to battle show that although she is called a Queen she is usurping the position of a general, who could more appropriately fill this important, active, and warlike place than she can.

In the Card Kingdom the Queen is a much more lifelike and womanly person, as in it she aids and abets her sovereign lord and master, and is generally meekly subordinate to him.

The author of "Playing and Other Cards in the British Museum," Mr. W. H. Wiltshire, derides the idea that cards derive their origin from the chessmen, and points out the fact that "in all such games there are certain approximations, although hardly enough to establish an identity of origin. Chess," he says, "is a game of calculation and combinations; cards are purely chance." This seems hardly a fair objection, as there are many games of cards that call for calculations and combinations, some of them requiring much thought and study, although on the other hand there are many that may be played mechanically and without bestowing much thought upon them. Mr. Wiltshire also declares "that in Chess the pieces are exposed and the positions equalized, while the cards are hidden, and the cleverest person may be beaten by a novice without having made one trick." Some particular game of cards may have been in the author's mind when he made this statement; but there are a great many card games about which it would not be true.

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 packs which show by many marks but particularly by their costumes that they were executed about the time of Charles the Seventh, were possibly some of the first efforts of the wood-engraver. They were probably produced between the years 1420 and 1440,--that is, before the greater part of the xylographies now known.

The first pictures produced by printing with blocks of wood were probably used as playing-cards; and this is an invention which is very much older than that of printing with movable types.

In 1392 three packs of Tarots were painted for the King of France by Jacquemin Gringonneur, for which he received fifty-six sols parisis,--that is to say, about one hundred and seventy francs, or thirty-four dollars.

A single pack of Tarots, which were charmingly painted about 1415 by Marziano, Secretary to the Duc de Milan, cost fifteen thousand ?cus d'or ; and in 1454 a pack of cards intended for a dauphin of France cost only fourteen or fifteen francs, or three dollars. In the thirty years which had elapsed it is evident that a cheap process of manufacturing cards had been discovered.

It has generally been conceded that the Chinese understood the art of wood-engraving long before it was practised in Europe. Marco Polo, who visited China about the middle of the thirteenth century, describes, in his interesting book of travels, a mode of printing or stamping with coloured ink; and it is probable that printing from a block was also known to the Chinese at that time.

Authorities do not agree about which are the first specimens of wood-engraving, but it is more than probable that a rude picture of Saint Christopher carrying the infant Jesus, which is dated 1425, is one of the earliest specimens of the art. This curious and interesting print was discovered pasted in the cover of a manuscript in the library of the Chartreuse at Buxheim in Suabia. Mr. Singer gives a description of the infancy of the xylographic art, and says that the demand for playing-cards increased so rapidly after their introduction into the European countries that it became imperative to manufacture them at a moderate price; and thus wood-engraving became of consequence, and its productions soon became a most important article of commerce.

It is probable that at first the wood-engravers produced only small pictures of saints, influenced no doubt by their priestly surroundings, as nearly all of the early wood-cuts which have been found are of pious subjects; and they were probably executed by the inhabitants of the religious houses, who were at the time the educated men of the day. These early engravings are printed on paper of the shape, size, and style of the earliest known playing-cards. The saints' pictures always bore a small streamer or ribbon, on which the name of the holy person represented was written. On the early specimens of playing-cards names are always placed beside the heads of the court cards; and this may have been necessary in order to distinguish the saint from the king, as it is possible that the engraver may have used the same figures to represent not only the holy personages, but also the members of the royal card family, and they could be distinguished only by the names written beside them.

An old chronicler of the city of Ulm, of about the year 1397, states that playing-cards have been sent in bundles to Italy, Sicily, and other southern countries in exchange for groceries and other merchandise; and it may have been this exportation of cards from Germany, which probably increased most rapidly, that called for the edict forbidding the importation of cards into Venice in 1441. It also points to their having been manufactured in quantities even before 1423, the date of the earliest known wood-cut.

Cards were not only produced by hand-painting, stencilling, or wood-engraving, but really artistic and beautifully executed cards were engraved on copper, in 1466, by an artist known as Le Ma?tre , but by no other name.

Only a few specimens of these unique cards are now to be found in some museums, and the series is not complete. According to calculation, they should consist of seventy cards, containing five suits instead of four, with fourteen cards in each suit and four figures or court cards to each one. The face cards are the King, Queen, Knight, and Knave; and the marks show a bizarre collection of savages, wild beasts, birds of prey, and flowers. They are grouped and numbered and arranged in such a way as to be easily distinguished and sorted into the correct suits.

In 1463 the card-makers of England endeavoured to protect themselves from the foreign importation of cards, and they must have been a somewhat influential guild even at that early date to require and receive this protection from the Government; but no cards have been discovered that were undoubtedly of English manufacture of that period.

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 Speculations on Playing-cards." He says:--

"The following account of the manner of making cards at the manufactory of Messrs. de la Rue & Co. of London is extracted from Bradshaw's Journal, April 16, 1842:--

"'The first object that engages our attention is the preparation of the paper intended to be formed into cards. It is found that ordinary paper when submitted to pressure acquires a certain degree of polish, but not sufficient for playing-cards of the finest quality. In order, therefore, that it may admit of the high finish which is afterwards imparted, the paper is prepared by a white enamel colour consisting of animal size and other compounds. This substance, which renders the paper impermeable to the atmosphere, is laid on with a large brush and left to dry.

"'To commence with the simpler, the pip , sets of blocks are produced, each containing forty engravings of one card; and as the ordinary method of letterpress printing is employed, forty impressions of one card are obtained at the same moment. As the pips bear but one colour, black or red, they are worked together at the hand-press or steam-printing machine.

In France the card generally consists of two pieces of paper, but in England a more substantial article is required. It is generally four sheets thick,--that is, the foreside and the back, and two inside layers of an inferior description. The pasting of these sheets together requires care and clever manipulation. After the sheets are pasted together, they are thoroughly dried, enamelled, and then cut into cards which are sorted by being laid out on a table about two hundred at a time, until all the cards that constitute a pack are spread out; so that by this operation two hundred packs are completed almost simultaneously. The best cards are called Moguls; the others, Harrys and Highlanders.

Paper was almost a necessity in card-making; and England could not have provided it when cards were first made there, as the art of paper-making was unknown before the reign of Henry the Seventh, who lived from 1485 to 1509. Even as late as the days of Queen Anne, paper was imported from Germany for the purpose.

Many other materials have been used in manufacturing cards besides paper. As has been mentioned, beautiful packs have been painted on ivory or mother of pearl. Parchment and leather have been often used; thin tablets of wood and large leaves have been pressed into service, as well as stout paper which was neither card nor pasteboard. The Chinese and Hindoos sometimes used a cotton paper so stout and smooth as to make it most suitable for the purpose; and the curious wooden sticks carved with distinguishing figures used by the Haida Indians show perhaps the most peculiar materials used in the manufacture of games.

Mr. Chatto mentions a pack of Hindostanee cards in the Museum of the Royal Asiatic Society which are made of canvas, and are said to be a thousand years old. He says: "On first handling them they seem to be made of thin veneers of wood. These cards are circular; and the figures or marks appear to be executed by hand, not printed nor stencilled."

The Malays use cards made of cocoanut or palm-tree leaves, which are first well dried, and the symbols or distinctive characters are then traced on the leaf with an iron style.

A story in the "History of the Conquest of Florida," by Garcilasso de la Vega, relates that "the soldiers who were engaged in that expedition, having burnt all their cards after the battle of Manoila , made themselves new ones of parchment, which they painted admirably as if they had followed the business all their lives; but as they either could not or would not make so many as were wanted, players had the cards in turn for a limited time."

Such fragile and thin materials have sometimes been used in the production of cards that dealing was difficult and shuffling impossible. One very beautiful pack has been produced, and is preserved in the South Kensington Museum in London, which was embroidered on silk.

Such materials as gold, silver, and tortoise-shell, and even small tiles have been used in the manufacture of cards; but when made from these materials they have been difficult to handle, and have been regarded only as curiosities; and at the present day thick pasteboard, either highly enamelled or quite without glaze of any kind, is in general use all over the world.

NAME.

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.

It is related that on the 5th of March, 1423, Saint Bernardin, of Sienna, addressed a crowd which had assembled before a church in that place, and inveighed with such energy and eloquence against all games of chance that his hearers rushed to search for their dice, their chess, and their cards, and lighting a large bonfire, immolated them on the spot.

One man stood by who watched mournfully the movements of the frantic crowd, and then bursting into tears cried out to the preacher: "Father," quoth he, "I make cards. I have no other work by which I can make a livelihood; by stopping my profession, you condemn me to starve."

"If painting is the only thing you can do for a living," replied the preacher, "take this picture and copy it."

The workman followed this advice, and became wealthy by reproducing it.

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