Facts and Speculations on the Origin and History of Playing CardsChatto, William Andrew
History
Facts and Speculations on the Origin and History of Playing Cards
Chatto, William Andrew
Playing cards -- History
In a woodcut on the title-page of 'Woe to Drunkards,' a sermon preached
by Samuel Ward, of Ipswich, 1627, the vices of that age are typically
contrasted with the virtues of a former one. In the upper compartment
we are shown what men were of old by the open Bible, the foot in the
stirrup, and the hand grasping the lance; while in the lower, the
degeneracy of their descendants is typified by the leg and foot,
decorated with a broad silk garter and a large rosette; by cards and
dice, and a hand holding at the same time a lighted pipe and a drinking
cup with a cockatrice in it. Twenty years afterwards, these types
would have been more strictly applicable, with the inscriptions merely
transposed.
[Illustration]
At what time the manufacture of cards was established in this country,
has not been ascertained; though from their being included in an Act of
Parliament of 1463, prohibiting the importation of sundry articles, as
being injurious to native manufacturers and tradesmen, it would seem
that there were card-makers in England even at that early period.[161]
Barrington, referring to a proclamation of Elizabeth, and another of
James I, says, "It appears that we did not then make many cards in
England." In his paper in the 'Archæologia,' he gives a fac-simile of
the cover of an old pack of cards, as a decisive proof that cards were
originally made in Spain. On this cover was printed a wood engraving
of the arms of Castile and Leon, together with a Club, a Sword, a
Cup, and a piece of Money, the marks of the four suits of Spanish
cards. To an inscription purporting that they were fine cards, made
by JEHAN VOLAY--"Cartas finnas faictes par Jehan Volay"--there was
also added, in letters of a different character, either by a stencil,
or by means of inserting a new piece of wood in the original block,
the name "EDWARD WARMAN," probably that of the English vendor of the
cards. The maker's name, Barrington reads, "JE (for JEAN or JOHN)
HAUVOLA," and the final Y he mistakes for the Spanish conjunction
"and." The whole of the inscription, he says, being rendered into
English, runs thus: "Superfine cards made by John Hauvola, and (Edward
Warman)," the last name being substituted for that of a former
partner of John Hauvola.[162] Mr. Barrington's reading of the maker's
name, JE. HAUVOLA, instead of JEHAN VOLAY, and his then introducing
_Edward Warman_ into the firm, by means of the final Y, construed
as a copulative conjunction, are fair specimens of the proofs and
illustrations which he adduces in favour of his theory about Spanish
cards.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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