Early Cartomancy in Germany

kwaw

German fortune-telling cards 1793:

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Another 18th lottery/Fortune telling set:

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Full set here:

http://www.britishmuseum.org/resear...archText=fortune-telling+playing+cards&page=1

© Trustees of the British Museum. (May not be reproduced for commercial purposes without permission.)
 

kwaw

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© Trustees of the British Museum. (May not be reproduced for commercial purposes without permission.)
 

kwaw

c.1820

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© Trustees of the British Museum. (May not be reproduced for commercial purposes without permission.)
 

kwaw

1813 (the date is on the house card)

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They (the British Museum) have two copies, here is the other:

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(The two male friends seen very friendly!)

© Trustees of the British Museum. (May not be reproduced for commercial purposes without permission.)
 

kwaw

Early 19th century piquet fortune-telling cards:

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© Trustees of the British Museum. (May not be reproduced for commercial purposes without permission.)
 

kwaw

1772 there was published Barbanaaa, ou le grand Bohémien ., ouvrage curieux, trad. de l'Allemand , contenant l'art de tirer les cartes avec succès.

Barbanaaa, or the Great Bohemien., a curious work, translated from the German, containing the art of drawing the cards with success.

Do we have reference to the German book?
 

Huck

anabarb

1772 there was published Barbanaaa, ou le grand Bohémien ., ouvrage curieux, trad. de l'Allemand , contenant l'art de tirer les cartes avec succès.

Barbanaaa, or the Great Bohemien., a curious work, translated from the German, containing the art of drawing the cards with success.

Do we have reference to the German book?

I saw it in various French books announced with this in the search engine, but nothing more. No idea, what the German title might have been, if it really was a translation. Perhaps something from Hisler, who knew Etteilla rather early?

But I remember, that there were Zigeuner-cards already in 17th century (with Chiromancy objects, hands etc.; "Bohemien" likely means Zigeuner in Germany); Zigeuner-Karten I saw announced in the 1790s.
Maybe it was something in this direction.
 

kwaw

I saw it in various French books announced with this in the search engine, but nothing more. No idea, what the German title might have been, if it really was a translation. Perhaps something from Hisler, who knew Etteilla rather early?

But I remember, that there were Zigeuner-cards already in 17th century (with Chiromancy objects, hands etc.; "Bohemien" likely means Zigeuner in Germany); Zigeuner-Karten I saw announced in the 1790s.
Maybe it was something in this direction.

Zigeuner-Karten makes sense - that would be similar to a couple of the examples above (those with the two male friends for example).

There are some antique (early 19th century) examples here:

http://www.stregato.de/blog/2013/06/sammlung-historischer-aufschlagkarten-zigeunerkarten/
 

Padma

Worldcat is totally negative about an author Schwabergen.

Google knows this passage:
https://books.google.de/books?id=yh...kDnoQ6AEIMDAD#v=onepage&q=schwabergen&f=false

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... which mentions a "Jean Meibomius" as a friend and the publication location Helmstadt (? = Helmstedt) and the year 1672. The title of the book is not given.

Helmstedt had a university then, likely with a good name. In Helmstedt was active Henricus Maibomius, otherwise Johann Heinrich Maibom (Johann = Jean in French).
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Meibom_(Mediziner)

I thought I would translate this into English, for those who do not read French:

"Schwabergen, who was the friend and colleague of Jean Meibomius, composed a remarkable book in Latin on the occult sciences. In this work, published in Helmstadt in 1672, this wise man established, via a line of thought that honours his erudition as much as his logic, that the part of the day that begins at seven o'clock and ends at 11 o'clock (translator's obsv: both in the morning) is the most favorable for practicing the arts of divination, among which cartomancy is included. He equally recommends that when the sky is nebulous, one should abstain from divining; especially when a storm is brewing, and when there is a prelude of weather disturbances, such as rain or strong winds. He insists that, as a favorable condition, the sky should be clear and calm.

As to days of the week most favorable for operations, he designates two as being favorable for diviners - whom he also cautions not to operate on either Saturdays or Sundays - and these days are Monday and Friday.

It was also Fridays that Mlle. Lenormand chose as the day to read her own cards, and to give consultations to her privileged clients, the aristocracy included. She operated with repugnance when it was raining; she would then be in a very bad mood indeed, and she would conduct her reading almost brutally, for those who had no respect for her scruples or her observations.

Perhaps this was founded upon (Schwabergen), and we would direct those wishing to have their cards done, to do so upon a Monday or a Friday, especially the morning hours of those days, conforming to the prescriptions of Schwabergen."