SteveM wrote: 06 Mar 2018, 17:16
Francois Isnard was the father of Pierre-François Isnard, reputed inventor of the 'little soldiers' of Strasbourg - I What is the relationship, if any, to Pierre Isnard, engraver of the F Laudier of Strasbourg cards 1746?
"TAROS FIN DE FRANCOIS KECHLER CARTIER MARCHAND A KEHL"
Frauds exercised in the territory of Strasbourg, from a report of 1782:
[Published in Allamagne, Jour des Cartes, Vol II, p231]
"Not only do the bishoprics not use our cards, but the cardmakers of Metz still pour them out near Landau, in the surrounding area, and have come to sell them as far as Strasbourg. Our cartiers do not have the same industry, they are, on the contrary, indolent and so sensitive to the payment of rights that they wait most of the time until the last game to have the banners, to the point that the undersigned often sees them devoid and people waiting for the band to be applied to get cards.
"All these things announce both their nonchalance and their lack of ease, to which it must be added that the cartier established in Kehl, a foreign place, does to those of the city, as well as to the rights, considerable harm by the introduction of his cards, a fraud which will be very difficult to counter.
"This cartier is called Kœchler, he has two kinds of moldings, one very coarse and with his device, and the other, fine, seems engraved on copper and appearance to be mistaken for that of the kingdom. The valet of clubs does not bear his device, only the word "Strasbourg", bearing the same devices, names and signs.
"He sells the entire sixain for 2 pounds, that of piquet, 1 pound, and the game of tarot, 18 shillings, while our cartiers sell the first for 3 pounds 12 shillings, the second, 48 shillings, and the game of tarots, 28 shillings,* very significant differences that invite fraud, This is all the easier to do because, on the whole bank of the Rhine, there are no employees or brigades to watch it; it is therefore everywhere, and once in private houses, it is even more difficult to discover it."
[* pounds = livre; shillings = sous, as I have translated them from the French]
Fraudes exercées sur le lerrîtoîre de Strasbourg:.
Moyens préconisés pour les détruire.
Les évèchois ne font non seulement pas usage de nos cartes, mais les cartiers de Metz en versent encore du côté de Landau, dans les environs, et sont venus en vendre jusqu’à Strasbourg. Nos cartiers n’ont pas la même industrie, ils sont, au contraire, indolents et si sensibles au payement des droits qu’ils attendent la plupart du temps jusqu’au dernier jeu pour faire banderoler, au point que le soussigné les voit souvent an dépourvu et les personnes attendre que la bande soit appliquée pour avoir des cartes.
Toutes ces choses annoncent à la fois leur nonchalance et leur peu d’aisance, a quoi il faut ajouter que le cartier établi à Kehl, lieu étranger, fait à ceux de la ville, ainsi qu'aux droits, un tort considérable par l’introduction de ses cartes, fraude à laquelle on parera très difficilement.
Ce cartier se nomme Kœchler, il a deux sortes de moulages, l'un fort grossier et à son bluteau, et l’autre, fin, paraît gravé sur cuivre et ressemble au
moulage du royaume à s'y tromper. Le valet de trèfle ne porte point do bluteau et seulement le mot « Strasbourg » , portant les mêmes devises, noms et enseignes.
Il vend le sixain d'entières 2 livres, celui de piquet, 1 livre, et le jeu de tarot, 18 sous, tandis que nos cartiers vendent les premières 3 livres 12 sous, les seconds, 48 sous, et le jeu de tarots, 28 sous, différences bien sensibles qui invitent à la fraude, laquelle se pratique avec d’autant plus de facilité que, sur toute la rive du Rhin, il n’y a ni employés, ni brigades pour la surveiller; elle a donc jour partout et, une fois dans les maisons particulières, il est encore plus difficile de la découvrir.
Nicolai Francisci [Nicolas Francois] Laudier is referred to as a cardmaker [chartorium lusoriarum] on the registration of baptism for his son Ludovicus Benedictus Laudier [Louis Benoit Laudier] in the City of Strasbourg, parish of St. Laurent, November 16, 1745:
https://www.leonore.archives-nationales ... ice/214918
"Hodie Decima Sexta Novembris anni millesimi septingentesimi quadragesimi quinti a me infra scripto vicario baptizatus est Ludovicus Benedictus filius Nicolai Francisci Laudier civis et chartularum lusoriarum opificis hujatis et Marie Theresis Duclot conjugum in hac parochia commorantium, natus hodie."
Today, on the sixteenth day of November, in the year one thousand seven hundred and forty-five, was baptized by me the undersigned vicar, Louis Benoit, son of Nicolas Francois Laudier, citizen and playing card maker from here, married to Marie Therese Duclot, resident in this parish, born today.
Pierre Isnard, 1746
Beyond his name the identity of the engraver of the N.F. Laudier [active c1744-1760], Pierre Isnard is not known for sure. The Chevalier Pierre-Francoise Isnard [1727-1807], a successful military man with an interest in politics, poetry and engraving, is, I think, a strong possibility.
The son of Francois Isnard [1695-1765], the Strasbourg-based engraver whose playing-card molds were used by most of the card manufacturers of Strasbourg throughout most of the 18th century and, modified to 'a la mode revolutionnaire' c1793, into the first decade of the 19th century by Strasbourg cardmakers Carey, Sarramon & Benoist. Pierre-Francois Isnard would have been 19 in 1746, he joined the military a year later, in 1747. His continued interest in engraving is perhaps a reflection of the potential career he was trained for as a youth, but detoured from by joining the military. After he retired as an Officer of the Cavalry he returned to Strasbourg and :
"Between 1776 and 1779, the knight and wood engraver Pierre-François Isnard published four collections of military uniforms intended to be cut. A fifth volume will appear in 1781, devoted to the gendarmerie of France. Other Strasbourg printers, such as Johann Friedrich Striedbeck or Jean-Henri Heitz, to name but two, imitated him. Quickly, these boards were successful beyond the Rhine region and their growth will continue in the nineteenth century."
This was the origin, or at least precursor, of the popular boy's toy, "Les Petits Soldats de Strasbourg", little paper or cardboard soldiers colored or in black & white to be hand-colored, cut out & mounted on little blocks of wood.