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English Illustrated Playing Cards to 1800
Popish Plot,Geographical Astronomy,
Joseph Moxon and much more
A complete pack of Geographical Cards
engraved by F H Van Hove, made by Tho Poole,
first Cardmaker of England
and sold by Henry Brome 1676
The third and fourth quarter of the 17th Century saw many issues of educational/amusement playing cards focusing on Geography.
This issue is similar to that of John Seller’s the playing cards being longer than the standard pack – 94mm x 55mm
Henry Brome was located at ye Gun in St Paul’s Churchyard.
The cards were advertised as being
“used for recreation in all our English Games, so they are useful to all ingenious persons for obtaining a system of universal Geography; which, by this contrivance, is rendered pleasant and familiar to all capacities”. Brome prices the cards at 1 shilling if plain, 2 shillings 6 pence if gilt and embellished and 2 shillings if bound in a book.”
This is the rare First Edition – the ‘key card’ the Jack of Clubs has just 2 feathers in his hat – later edition, no necessarily by Poole, show the hat as a crown of feathers.
REF: FHVH
£18,000.00
The Horrid Popish Plot - c1678/1680 Horrid Popish Plot Playing Cards
England at this time was extremely anti-catholic and when the tales of plots to kill the King, Charles II, by Titus Oats were aired, no one sought to validate the background to these assertions probably exasperated by the fact that Parliament was in recess.
Oates had previously been found guilty of perjury and been forced to end a Naval career through an unsavoury incident.
In consequence men were murdered and hung on the word of a man with a truly dubious character.
This pack portrays the events surrounding this period of turmoil and was obviously popular as several editions were printed.
This is the first of those issues so circa 1679/1680 believed to be printed by Robert Walton and sold at the Globe on the north side of St Paul’s Churchyard.
The cards are printed from engraved plates and this set is with the rarer medallion portraits [ on the court cards ] and with a back pattern of hexagonal motifs containing crosses and arrows.
These cards are in Good to Fine condition with no tears or bends, there is the occasional, non-distracting, foxing which is expected with time.
Since there were various editions and changes it is important to confirm this being a complete set of the same issue.
Firstly there is only one edition know with patterned backs and medallion portraits.
Secondly the cards confirm to the descriptions supplied with Willshire’s catalogue.
Oates gave evidence of the ‘plots’ to a Magistrate Sir Edmond Godfrey who one month later was murdered by the conspirators who blamed it on the Catholics and Catholic sympathisers.
Practically the whole of the spades suit recall these events.
The cards bear no historical sequence in their suit order and one should refer to J R S Whiting’s – A Handful of History for a an accurate chronological order.
References –
Berry’s “Playing Cards of the World” Catalogue of the collection of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards and cards owned by the Guildhall Library, City of London.
A descriptive catalogue of Playing and other Cards in the British Museum by William Hughes Willshire.
REF:CIP5411
£5,500.00
POSTAGE AT COST
Unique offering of Moxon’s book
THE USE OF ASTRONOMICAL PLAYING CARDS 1676
and John Lenthall’s c1715 Astronomical Playing Cards.
In 1676 Joseph Moxon published a book titled “The use of Astronomical Playing Cards” for “teaching any ordinary Capacity to be acquainted with all the Stars, to know their place in the Heavens, their colour, nature, and bigness; with a Book of their Use” – this is the book on offer.
It also contains and advert for Moxon’s Globes for which he is more well known, he sold his wares in Ludgate Hill ( London ) at ‘the Signe of Atlas’. ( His son, James, who reproduced the book in 1692, sold them in Ye Strand at Ye Signe of the Three Herrings near Charing Cross.)
Moxon published an accompanying pack of engraved playing cards with stencilled suit signs.
This pack on offer is from the c1715 edition by John Lenthall, [ it could be earlier as there is no Tax Stamp which were introduced in 1711 ] which uses the same plates as Moxon, the suit symbols are now additionally engraved on the cards. This is known as pack number 5 from Lenthall’s 1716 Broadside,
This pack contains 51/52 playing cards and lacks the Ace of Clubs of which a digital image is shown in the illustrations.
All the cards are illustrated along with pertinent pictures of the book which is in very good condition. The playing cards are also in very good condition with the very occasional paper shrinkage ( mentioned here solely for completeness ) and the Six of Spades has a small portion missing from the bottom of the card.
The illustrations are in high resolution and have been split over five pages to assist viewing of the pictures.
Each card has the instruction for viewing that Star or Constellation at the bottom of the card – The day of the month is given on which theconstellation rises at the London Sunset as well as the point of the compass where one should look.
The Yale Library, Cary Collection has a pack of 52 of the same era as these.
Enjoy the illustrations
POSTAGE AT COST
REF: CIS5450-24
£22,000.00
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A complete pack of Proverbial/ Proverb
Playing Cards, published by
Wartner and Lenthall, after 1712
Lenthall Pack No: XVI
This is a complete pack of 52 cards, one of only five known.
All the examples seen of these cards evidence that they were copper engraved and printed on inferior card stock and the engraving was below the standard for the period possibly one reason why only five packs survive.
Red Six Pence Crowned Tax Stamp.
The cards are used with small issues shown in the images below.
You will see the occasional green specks on the cards which represents the path of the worm holes.
Plain backs.
REF: JL_XVI
£4,000.00
c1720 LOVE CARDS produced by John Lenthall
This full pack of 52/52 Playing Cards bear a tax stamp on the Eight of Diamonds.
The earliest reference to it appeared in The Daily Courant for October 29, 1709.
“This Day is Published A curious Pack of Cards, representing
the various Intrigues of Love, as well Serious as Comical, the Designs
being very Elegant, and altogether New, and finely engraven on Copper
Plates. Price Is. 6d. a Pack”.
Then follows the address of WÃrter/ Lenthall and mention is made of other packs originating with them and which they also offer for sale.
[ Ref:Virginia and Harold Wayland ]
The engravings are very fine and the LOVE MOTTOES, two line couplets, are both amusing and poignant.
The majority of the card is comprised of the ‘Love’ scene
The card value is shown by a miniature card in the upper corners, the court cards being hand coloured.
The cards in a very fine condition with the occasional non-distracting age mark.
These cards are truly delightful to handle as they smoothly pass over each other.
All cards have been scanned to show the character of the subject and the work of the engraver..
Needless to say this is a very rare deck being complete and in this condition.
All cards have been scaned for your enjoyment.
References.
– Lady Schreiber collections donated to the British Museum.
– The Journal of the Playing-Card Society, Vol. 8 , August 1979 – May 1980
Lenthall Pack No. XXIV – VIRGINIA AND HAROLD WAYLAND – LOVE CARDS, or, The Intrigues and Amusements of that Passion merrily displayed.
POSTAGE AT COST
REF: CIPLC
£9,000.00
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c1712 a unique complete pack of playing cards
John Lenthall’s Pack No XII “British Cards”
Map of England, Wales,
Parts of Scotland & Ireland
and northern France and Flanders
These playing cards are based on a 1689 map by the geographer John Adair and engraving by Moxon, the only known surviving copy of this map is in the Map Library of the British Library No 1175 (119) – a restricted size scan is shown below. [ Scan – John Adair Map ]
The map covers England and Wales, parts of Scotland and Ireland with the adjacent Coasts of France and Flanders.
The map was printed on copper plates dissected into forty eight rectangles measuring 59mm x 94-96mm: John Lenthall and William Warter had the map hand coloured.
CLICK ON THE MAP
BELOW
TO SEE HOW THE
52 CARDS MAKE UP WITH ORIGINAL MAP
REF: XXX
£.00
C1750s or earlier "Forrest Cards" - Playing Cards
48/52 – Small Playing Cards with a named animal or bird on each card (no logic of which were on black or red cards) and small suit card in top left hand corner – fleur de lils between legs of JD and JC – JC has a feather in his hat – cards measure 1.5 by 2.5 inches.
The small playing card measures 7/8 inch by 5/8 inch approximately. The cards are copper engraved. The red suits are printed in red (heart pips are upside down). Courts and black suits printed in black and crudely hand colored. Courts are crude version of English Pattern.
Deck is missing 4 cards: Ace of Spades, King of Clubs, 2 and 10 diamonds.
The cards are lightly used, three with heavy creases but otherwise very good condition.
Lenthall produced a similar styled animal deck during the period 1713 to 1754 – his known decks have birds on red suits and animals on black suits so it seem unlikely he produced this pack himself, however the deck was still being advertised after he went out of business in 1733 and this may have been a version sold during this period and under his name.
A pack similar to this was described in Antiques magazine in 1956 – the ace in that version was designed not to appear to be an ace and so not to required to be taxed – and there is also an example in the Guildhall museum.
Only two packs of the Lenthall cards + possibly three version of this deck are know to exist so it seems likely that there was an appeal to children (although initially they were produced for “Young Gentlemen & Ladys, who are Lovers of Ingenuity”) – these packs were advertised as being sold in three toy shops by 1754
References from The Journal of the Playing Cards Society (IPCS).
POSTAGE AT COST
REF: CIP3771
£4,500.00
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1769-1802 PACK DEALING WITH KINGS & QUEENS
AND GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
50/?52 (see end of this description) -This deck is interesting and unusual – most cards carry a full length picture of an English monarch – with details of start of reign, duration in years, months and days
There are 4 cards covering the early period (2-5 H – A Druid, Ancient Briton, Pict, Briton Warrier)
The series then starts at William I and ends with George III – The order is not exactly numerical but can be followed easily using heart, club and diamond suits and spade courts – The spade pip cards are totally different carrying useful information such as alphabet, pence table, multiplication tables etc.
The suit values are shown by a small card in the top left hand corner – full length courts – single figure of an early design – Four cards do not have a picture card on them- these cards can be identified from where they fit into the monarch cycle Ace of Clubs, 10C, 10H, and from content – Ace of Spades.
There is no Ace of Hearts or Ace of Diamonds. There are three known examples of this deck – 2 examples in V&A and one in Worshipful Collection and all these decks are missing these 2 cards, which logically appear to be AD and AH – what these cards would represent is not obvious – so it is possible that this is a 50 card deck – planned to add at a later date for additional monarchs (some of the games of this period did have blank (or advertising spaces that in later editions were completed with George IV and Victoria).
On the V&A version 9D has on it “Willerton’s Toy Shop Bond Street (London)” – On this deck on 9S “Sold at Willertons Toy Shop Bonb street” (sic). Of the 40 personal & royalty cards 7 are uncolored – the rest are hand colored.
The cards are line engraved and in very good condition – the uncolored cards being in better condition – no damage – just odd non-distracting dirty marks caused by use.
POSTAGE AT COST
REF: CIP3383
£6,000.00
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c1770 [ or earlier ] FORTUNE TELLING PLAYING CARDS.
Most probably the second English set of playing cards issued specifically for the purpose of fortune telling, the first being those published by Newman c1690 later published by John Lenthall – his pack number XVIII.
The wording on each card conforms to that found in the work on the oldest cartomancy meanings in English by “Dr. Flamstead’s and Mr. Patridge’s New Fortune-Book containing . . . Their new-invented method of knowing one’s fortune by a pack of cards” published c1729 [ Our thanks to Ross Caldwell for pointing us to this link – https://goo.gl/JzSWR2 ]
We think that these cards were published by S Hooper a Book and Print Publisher of various London addresses during the period 1766 to 1792, Strand, Ludgate Hill, Arundal Street, Dukes Court and Holborn. He is know also for publishing his Conversation Cards.
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c1775 Music Playing Cards with Rules for Quadrille [ Dance Cards ]
51 Playing Cards, plus instruction card – lacking 6 diamonds, as in all examples viewed the Ace of Spades just bears a Crown ? Tax avoidance perhaps.
Instruction Card – QUADRILLE without pooling as played at Bath & C.
No information is available as to the makers name but the small court cards are really well crafted and I have scanned a few images of just the courts so you see the fine workmanship.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS THE EARLIEST EXAMPLE OF TURNED ENGLISH COURTS EVER RECORDED.
This is a very rare deck much scarcer than the earlier issue of Music cards ‘Beggars Opera’.
Yale has a complete Deck plus Instruction Card
British Museum has 51/52 cards [ Schreiber Collection ] plus Instruction Card
Condition is very good; the odd part loss of top layer and a couple of paper adhesions – all cards scanned to show condition.
References
F O’Donoghue 1901 Page 168
No: 78 DANCE MUSIC, c1775 each card containing the music of a contredanse with the value indicated by a miniature card in the upper left hand corner.
LADY SCHREIBER Collection 1901 Volume 1 Plate 97
Yale University – Carey Collection – English ENG 123
Historic Card Games described by David Parlett
see – http://www.davpar.eu/histocs/quadrill.html
POSTAGE AT COST
REF: CSA5200Z
£3,250
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c 1680 Blome's Heraldry Playing Cards
These Armorial Playing Cards explain the terms used in Heraldry both in text and in graphics.
Heraldic Arms and Shield’s cover The King, Dukes, Esquires etc.
The Three of Clubs includes a dedication by the pack’s author, Ric[hard] Blome.
Designer was Richard Blome and the retailer was Henry Broom at The Gun’ in St. Paul Churchyard [ per title card ].
This is a complete pack of 52/52 plus the Title Card all engraved.
The overall condition is very good with a few minor faults as below.
There are minor pin pricks [ second hand card were hung on thread on news stalls ] through a number of cards, they are certainly non-distracting and can only be seen when held to the light.
Seven of Diamonds – worm route [ pictured ]
Eight of Diamonds – worm route [ pictured ]
Nine of Diamonds – worm route [ pictured ]
Three, Six, Seven and King of Hearts – worm route [ Pictured ]
The title card is distressed on the right hand side and you can judge by the scan – this card rarely accompanies the pack.
REF: blomes_h_11
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1795 - SYSTEMATICAL COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY - PLAYING CARDS
Published by The Rev John Hunt
Complete 52/52
French Suited Cards – with
Ace of Spades – Asia, Ace of Hearts – Europe, Ace of Diamonds –
The Americas and Ace of Clubs -Africa – each suit describing one continent
The indices KQJ are used as initial letters of Kingdoms, Quarter and Jslands
Values appears within suit sign on pip cards – hearts and diamonds have red border, small stars appears on the border of court card
The cards are undamaged and are in MINT condition.
Great early Geographical interest besides being a deck of playing cards obviously
designed to educate whilst being entertaining. They also seem to have avoided playing card duty.
Not all information on the cards would not be exactly PC these days and
are a wonderful insight into the life and times of the inhabitants
POSTAGE AT COST
REF: SCG1804_0003
SOLD
NOT ALL CARDS SHOWN
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Complete set of early Fortune Telling Playing Cards
1 Research by Ken Lodge
2 Emma contributed the link to the 1793 book
3 Use of Long ‘s’ [ see 2 fpades ] could date the cards to the 18th Century
4 The British Museum has a similar set, which they date to c1820, the Red suits being printed in Red and the Black suits printed in Black
2 Emma contributed the link to the 1793 book
3 Use of Long ‘s’ [ see 2 fpades ] could date the cards to the 18th Century
4 The British Museum has a similar set, which they date to c1820, the Red suits being printed in Red and the Black suits printed in Black
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REF: FT-Fate-R_00021
SOLD
52 Cards Complete
POSTAGE AT COST
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