mjhurst
And now for something completely different. Lets see what other fun we can have with Tarot history. Not much, I'm afraid. If one is content with unsubstantiated speculation and finding the most appealing modern fantasy or traditional folklore, Tarot history is easy and fun, and the results usually fit your preconceptions quite closely -- what a surprise. Of course, that's properly termed historical fiction or pseudo-history. Real history is work, and even when you actually find something new and directly related to Tarot history (as opposed to all the tangentially related subjects that dominate this forum) it changes essentially nothing in the larger historical narrative. So, let's get boring here, and talk about something real.
There is an essay on Tarot by William Pinkerton in an 1861 issue of Notes and Queries. It is a fairly interesting account, and Pinkerton's essay does not appear to be commonly cited in Tarot bibliographies. Notes and Queries itself is a pop-culture periodical that is still in business.
Notes and Queries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notes_and_Queries
Among other things, Notes and Queries answered inquiries. This particular article began by answering a question about the term "Jew Cisian dozen", which was an obscure reference to a card game. In an earlier issue, the Registers of the Stationers' Company were reproduced. These contained some items about patents of Raphe Bowes, and included that peculiar term. (Bowes patents are an interesting line of inquiry in themselves, involving a famous legal case, Darcy v. Allein, referred to as "The Monopoly Case" or "The Case of the Playing Cards". I'll post more on it below.) Here are pertinent snips from that issue.
That passage raised the question which Pinkerton addressed. Among other things, he cited four references to Tarot in England, three of which appear genuine, and claimed that he could cite a dozen others, which -- unfortunately for us -- he did not. Given the general sobriety of his essay, however, along with the references he does give, it is not an altogether hollow claim. But he begins with his analysis of the Jew Cisian dozen.
Pinkerton presented a table of trump cards (TdM sequence) and a description of the suit cards, and notes the existence of variations.
Pinkerton refers to Paul Boiteau D'Ambly's 1854 Les Cartes a Jouer Et La Cartomancie as a "wretched catch-penny publication". However, he also presents the legend of Henry Cuffe, apparently as told by Boiteau. That is, Pinkerton interprets the legend in terms of Tarot. Robert Chambers tells the Cuffe tale in his Book of Days, (online in several places), another pop-culture tome which was apparently first published three years after Pinkerton, in 1864, but does not mention Tarot. Edwin S. Taylor, (History of Playing Cards, 1865), also claimed the cards used must have been Tarot trumps, specifically the Devil, Justice and the Hanged Man. (That is according to an old TarotL post by Mary Greer.) This is the same interpretation, re Tarot, related by Pinkerton. We know that Pinkerton read Boiteau D'Ambly's book, and Kaplan and WPC note that Taylor is "practically a translation of an earlier work by P. Boiteau D'Ambly." (K:I-373.) Thus, Pinkerton and Taylor, because of their interpretation in terms of Tarot, appear to have both followed d'Ambly, while Chambers quoted Rowland directly. Rowland, in turn, quoted an earlier writer named Melton, but we'll get to that later.
Moving on, Pinkerton sensibly concludes that regular cards undoubtedly pre-date Tarot: "the tarots were an innovation, which, like many innovations on the chess-board, had a limited reign, and then sank into comparative oblivion." Of Antoine Court de Gebelin, Pinkerton says that Tony should have looked to emblem books. His comments are again reasonably sensible, more so than most of those presented before or to this day.
Pinkerton relates a remarkable anecdote about Tarot being known to Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie". The Young Pretender was born in Italy and grew up in Rome and Bologna, so the tale is quite probably true.
Pinkerton doesn't like anything about the game of Tarot, but it is not clear how well he understands the game.
Notes and Queries can be accessed online in several ways, including Google Books and some subscriptions services. However, the best source appears to be the Internet Library of Early Journals.
Notes and Queries Vol. 12 2nd S. (295) Aug 24 1861 Page 142
http://tinyurl.com/yul6at
Notes and Queries Vol. 12 2nd S. (302) Oct 12 1861 Page 294
http://tinyurl.com/fh7sw
There is an essay on Tarot by William Pinkerton in an 1861 issue of Notes and Queries. It is a fairly interesting account, and Pinkerton's essay does not appear to be commonly cited in Tarot bibliographies. Notes and Queries itself is a pop-culture periodical that is still in business.
Notes and Queries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notes_and_Queries
Among other things, Notes and Queries answered inquiries. This particular article began by answering a question about the term "Jew Cisian dozen", which was an obscure reference to a card game. In an earlier issue, the Registers of the Stationers' Company were reproduced. These contained some items about patents of Raphe Bowes, and included that peculiar term. (Bowes patents are an interesting line of inquiry in themselves, involving a famous legal case, Darcy v. Allein, referred to as "The Monopoly Case" or "The Case of the Playing Cards". I'll post more on it below.) Here are pertinent snips from that issue.
xviij die Octobris. Mr. Raphe Bowes, Esq. Allowed unto him the wholle Sute of Mouldes belonginge to the olde fomme (sic) of plaienge Cardes, commonlie called the French Carde, by warrant from M warden Coldocke. Entred with the Jew Cissian dozen and all other things thereunto belonging.
Mr. Raphe Bowes, Esq. Item allowed unto him, by the warrant aforesaid, the new addicion of the wholle sute of newe mouldes belonginge to the old and newe forme of playeinge Cardes, commonlie called the Frenche Carde: with the Jew Cissian dozen, and all other thinges thereunto belonging.
[We can offer no plausible explanation of the "Jew Cisian dozen" mentioned in the two preceding registrations relating to the patent for playing-cards, which had been obtained by Mr. Raphe Bowes. He was the sone of Jerome Bowes, who, in 1577, had some dramatic project on foot (see Hist. Eng. Dram. Poetry, i.233). It appears that both the old and new form of cards were French, and that they were then cast, or made into moulds, which, for greater security, were entered at Stationers' Hall as if they were literary productions.]
(Vol. 12 2nd S. (295) Aug 24 1861 Page 142)
That passage raised the question which Pinkerton addressed. Among other things, he cited four references to Tarot in England, three of which appear genuine, and claimed that he could cite a dozen others, which -- unfortunately for us -- he did not. Given the general sobriety of his essay, however, along with the references he does give, it is not an altogether hollow claim. But he begins with his analysis of the Jew Cisian dozen.
With deference, but thorough confidence in the correctness of my opinion, I would suggest that the words "Jew Cisian dozen" are a corruption of Jeu soixante-dix-huit, a phrase still used in France to designate a pack of tarots; just as, in contradistinction, the pack of common playing cards is termed jeu de cinquante-deux. I scarcely need to observe, that the word jeu signifies a pack, as well as a game or play of cards: the German spiel karten, having exactly the same literal signification. I consider, then, that the "Jew Cisian dozen" meant a pack of tarots, which contains seventy-eight cards; and the "old form of plaienge cardes, commonlie called the Frenche cardes," was no other than tarots. It has been doubted whether tarots have ever been played in England; but I could give a dozen proofs that they have, one however may suffice. Cleland, in his Institution of a Young Nobleman, 1607, speaks of "honest house-games, as cardes, French cards called taraux, tables, and such like plaies.
As tarots have long since fallen out of use in England, it may not be out of place to give some account of them here. The pack consists of seventy-eight cards. Twenty-two of those are symbolic cards, termed atouts. The derivation of this word is most probably from a tutti, above all. The French word atout is not the representative of our English word trump. The atouts, besides their several symbols, are numbered from one to twenty-one inclusive. The unnumbered one seems to be the equivalent of the Zero in the Arabic numerals. For through this card, like its analogue, the cipher, represents no number in itself, yet it greatly increases the values of the other cards according to its position among them.[...]
(Vol. 12 2nd S. (302) Oct 12 1861 Page 294)
Pinkerton presented a table of trump cards (TdM sequence) and a description of the suit cards, and notes the existence of variations.
As may be supposed, there are considerable variations in the order, names, and numbers of the atouts. I have compiled the above list, however, from several ancient and three modern packs of tarots. Of the latter, one was made in Brussels for the Swiss market; the second in Paris; the third, although it bears the epigraphe Barcelona, I suspect was also made at Paris for the Spanish market. The symbols, too, though representing the same thing, are varied.
Pinkerton refers to Paul Boiteau D'Ambly's 1854 Les Cartes a Jouer Et La Cartomancie as a "wretched catch-penny publication". However, he also presents the legend of Henry Cuffe, apparently as told by Boiteau. That is, Pinkerton interprets the legend in terms of Tarot. Robert Chambers tells the Cuffe tale in his Book of Days, (online in several places), another pop-culture tome which was apparently first published three years after Pinkerton, in 1864, but does not mention Tarot. Edwin S. Taylor, (History of Playing Cards, 1865), also claimed the cards used must have been Tarot trumps, specifically the Devil, Justice and the Hanged Man. (That is according to an old TarotL post by Mary Greer.) This is the same interpretation, re Tarot, related by Pinkerton. We know that Pinkerton read Boiteau D'Ambly's book, and Kaplan and WPC note that Taylor is "practically a translation of an earlier work by P. Boiteau D'Ambly." (K:I-373.) Thus, Pinkerton and Taylor, because of their interpretation in terms of Tarot, appear to have both followed d'Ambly, while Chambers quoted Rowland directly. Rowland, in turn, quoted an earlier writer named Melton, but we'll get to that later.
Moving on, Pinkerton sensibly concludes that regular cards undoubtedly pre-date Tarot: "the tarots were an innovation, which, like many innovations on the chess-board, had a limited reign, and then sank into comparative oblivion." Of Antoine Court de Gebelin, Pinkerton says that Tony should have looked to emblem books. His comments are again reasonably sensible, more so than most of those presented before or to this day.
Of course, Gebelin derives the atouts, as he was inclined to derive everything else, from ancient Egyptian sources. The atout entitled the "House of God," representing a tower struck by lightning, he terms the "House of Plutus," and absurdly asserts that it represents the Memphian Tower of Rhampsinitus!! Now, the very symbol was a favourite one in the old books of emblems and devices, or impressas. It symbolized the danger of high station, and the comparative safety of the humble life. The "Wheel of Fortune," "Death," "The Last Judgment," and other tarots, may also be found in emblems and devices. And it is a suggestive fact that the earliest notice we have of tarots is at the very time when device-making was in its palmiest era. When Peter le Moyne said:-- "Philosophy and poetry, history and fable, all that is taught in colleges, all that is learned in the world, are condensed and epitomised in this great pursuit; in short, if there be an art which requires an all-accomplished workman, that art is device-making." There certainly could be no difficulty, at that period, to find symbols for a few fancy cards.
Pinkerton relates a remarkable anecdote about Tarot being known to Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie". The Young Pretender was born in Italy and grew up in Rome and Bologna, so the tale is quite probably true.
Tarots were played in the highest circles of Roman society in the latter part of the last [18th] century. Mrs. Miller, authoress of _Letters from Italy_, describing an interview with the person "stiled Il Re" (Charles Edward Stuart) says:--
"We were at the Princess Palestrine's conversazione. He asked me, if I understood the game of Tarocchi (what they were about to play at); I answered in the negative; upon which, taking the pack in his hands, he desired to know if I had ever seen such odd cards: I replied that they were very odd indeed: he then displaying them said, 'Here is everything in the world to be found in these cards, the sun, the moon, the stars; and here, says he (showing me a card) is the pope; here is the devil (and added) there is but one of the trio wanting, and you know who that should be'." Of course the one wanting was an allusion to himself, in his English, but unjust, title of Pretender."
Pinkerton doesn't like anything about the game of Tarot, but it is not clear how well he understands the game.
With all its variety of cards, tarocchi is a childish, insipid, monotonous game. I have often seen it played in the coffee-houses of New Orleans, frequented by the Creole descendants of the French and Spanish settlers of Louisiana. The great point of the game is to form verzicole, or sequences; the Matta or Fool representing any other card, of which its holder might be deficient, to form the sequence.
Notes and Queries can be accessed online in several ways, including Google Books and some subscriptions services. However, the best source appears to be the Internet Library of Early Journals.
Notes and Queries Vol. 12 2nd S. (295) Aug 24 1861 Page 142
http://tinyurl.com/yul6at
Notes and Queries Vol. 12 2nd S. (302) Oct 12 1861 Page 294
http://tinyurl.com/fh7sw