Playing Cards in Literature #2: The Spiritual Quixote by Richard Graves

One of the earliest mentions of using playing cards as a social invitation comes from The Spiritual Quixote: The summer's Ramble of Mr. Geoffry Wildgoose. A Comic Romance by Richard Graves in 1773. Its mention in Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer's The Devil's Picture-Books: A History of Playing-Cards from 1890 inspired me to look for the passages:

"A lady, who is disgusted with the world, desires half an hour's conversation with Mr. Wildgoose, as soon as he is at leisure."

Of course, I botched the quote on the card but... anyway, there were rules for what card should be used and by whom but surely it was all in jest said within a romance so should we really use it as a guide? Of course!

Some cards mentioned are the Queen of Hearts (too trite to send to a fine woman); Jack of Diamonds (never inquire of a fine man's health under such auspices); The Two of Clubs (appropriate for duels and challenges); Black Aces (entirely discarded in correspondence with ladies of character). I don't understand the connotations of the Nine and Ten cards in the games ombre or quadrille, though both leave out the aforementioned cards.

The two chapters:

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Atlasnye Russian Playing Card Deck

This Atlasnye (Атласные) (Russian word for "satin") Ace of Diamonds from a Russian playing card deck is based on a design by the Russian painter Adolf Iosifovich Charlemagne (1826-1901) (Адольф Иосифович Шарлемань) from1862. Although the original deck seemingly had 52 cards this vintage one that I purchased from Ukraine recently only has 36. I will post the entire deck as time permits.

The Satin Ace

Playing Card Marginalia

I'm completely obsessed with cards that have fortunes written on their face. This card that I recently purchased, which is indicated to be a Ten of Diamonds, has the definition written out to be "Treachery. Subterfuge. Duplicity." on one end and the other "Confidence. Security. Honor. Good Faith." While this differs from Wenzell Brown's definition the card also looks more Tarot than playing card to me in the guise of the Ten of Swords. Other instances which I've encountered are more in line with the standard deck of cards. There's a really nice example of a cartomancy self-learner deck on Etsy but the exorbitant Canadian shipping costs are stopping me from biting on the pack. It's nothing special in the way of vintage and antique cards and realistically I could create my own from my supply of vintage decks with a fountain pen if needs be. Though, knowing myself, I'll produce something like I did below on the spur of the moment after having ...

cardomancy

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