Catalogue of the collection of playing cards bequeathed to the Trustees of the British museum by the late Lady Charlotte Schreiber.

INTR OD UCTIOLN.

3

versationis," and contains a description of the " ludus cartarum" which,
the author states, had been introduced into his country in that same year
1377. From this it appears that, although the exact composition of the
pack was not then definitely settled, it consisted of 52 cards only, with
Italian suitmarks, and was practically identical with the modern whist
sequence. This, it is to be noted, is the earliest authentic reference to
playing cards that has yet been found. A repetition of the MS., preserved in the Imperial Library at Vienna, is mentioned in Echard's
"Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum," 1721, but without any description
of its contents; its importance, consequently, was not recognised by
Singer, who (p. 219) only alludes incidentally to Echard's statement.
Another interesting discovery is a volume of sermons of c. 1450-70,
now in the possession of Mr. Robert Steele, F.S.A., who read a paper
upon it at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries on 31st May, 1900
(printed in Archeologia). In one of these sermons, which is directed
against gambling, the three favourite implements for the pastime then in
use are stated to be dice, cards and triumphs, and of these the second is
described as consisting only of the four suits Cups, Swords, Coins and
Clubs, while the third is formed of the 22 emblems which we now
associate with the tarot pack, without any numerals.
These documents, together with other facts and arguments which are
set forth in Mr. Steele's paper, seem to prove almost conclusively that the
earliest cards were of the purely numeral kind; that for many years a
game of " triumphs " or " tarots" existed in Italy side by side with the
numeral card game, but quite distinct from it; and that the fusion of the
two games into one, and consequent introduction of the combined tarot
pack used for the Tarocchi and Minchiate games, belong to the 15th
century.

B 2