Thanks for al the interesting information but I did'nt find an answer on my question:
I recently bought an old fortunetellers book: "Volledige Studie van het Kaartleggen"* by Mevrouw Rabab / exp. Snoecks-Ducaju en Zoon - Gent (Belgium) 1935-40. *("Full Study of Reading the Cards").

In the book is mentionned a deck of 82 (!) Cards: "The Grand Egytian Oracle of Etteilla".
For each card is a discription which is mostly similar to the pictures from 'Le Petit Oracle des Dame's.
I've made a digital copy of all the cards with two sides and reversed them, so I become 72 cards...
I assume that 2 of the 82 cards are for the Questionner and in the Petit Oracle is that one card.
Now I've 9 more discriptions than cards of the Petit Oracle.... What's the source of this deck in the book?
Not the "Le Grand Etteilla Ou Tarots Egyptiens" or "Le Grand Oracle des Dames", because the picture discriptions are different.
Only (6) of the discriptions vary a little from the Petit Oracle:
They speak of a hourglass on card 13 (rev. 'Mortalité') but there is none...
Card 3 - 'Etoiles Brillantes', describes two woman (one standing and one sitting) instead of one in the Petit Oracle.
On card 25 - 'sits a man on a table with his head in his hands', not in the Petit Oracle.

The 9 missing cards (translation from Dutch):

• Union - 5 of Hearts / two farmers on a road
  Dangerous Man - Valet of Spades / ? not specific
  Slander / two talking woman with birds and a parrot
  News / a man on a horse with a bag on his back
  Vicious Woman / a rich woman laying on a couch with an undecent (!) book and a rosery. A bird is in front of her.
  Tenderness / a young couple stepping in a little boat.
  Union and Society / a young couple had a domestic fight but now they become friends again.
  Truth - Virgo / 'We see a naked woman in the temple of creation, before man were perverted...'.
  Love - 2 of Hearts / We see a woman with flowers around her and a archer in the hand. See has a transparant cloth before her open eyes.

Who can tell me more about this cards?

Hi Johanna,

I'm sorry that the person who might be able to discuss this subject with you intelligently, Huck, is offline for a while. There may be some others, but I myself don't know this area at all. I think there is still a lot of research to be done, in the primary sense, for those interested in 19th and 20th century cartomantic editions. I don't think there has ever been a comprehensive study of cartomancy in Holland and Belgium.

In general for the traditions of Etteilla and Mlle. Lenormand, if you don't have it already I would begin with A Wicked Pack of Cards, by Ronald Decker, Thierry Depaulis, and Michael Dummett, chapters 4 and following.

I apologize for not being able to offer more insight for you.

Ross

It's OK - I didn't expect much answers but for those who study this subject it can be interesting.

from 08 May 2012...
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=783&p=11731&hilit= ... cle#p11730

Huck wrote:Petit Oracles des Dames "half cards" in the earlier Kaplan collection, sold in 2006 for 180 $ ...

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_ ... ID=4740321

Le Petit Oracle des Dames, circa 1807, France, maker unknown, three sheets comprising 51 half cards, hand-colored copper engravings. The cards are full-length figures, double ended, no text on cards, French suits on 32 of the cards, no indices, these sheets are similar to a pack that was first published in 1807 by Veuve Guffier, Paris, that included text for fortune telling on the cards and was called Le Petit Oracle des Dames. Backs plain. Card size 1 11/16 in. (4.3 cm.) high, 2 1/8 in. (5.2 cm.) wide, one card is 2 1/16 in. (5.2 cm.) high, 2 1/8 in. (5.2 cm.) wide. Sheet sizes: 7 in. (18.8 cm.) high, 11 in. (28 cm.) wide, and 7 in. (18.2 cm.), 10 7/8 in. (27.5 cm.) wide, and 7 1/16 in. (18 cm.) high, 6 9/16 in. 16.6 cm.) wide. Slightly worn, two minor creases, minor repair on sides of three cards.

Not easy to recognize something. Luckily a part of the objects are presented by Stuart Kaplan, Encyclopedia I, at page 157.

**********

... rather obviously different to the both other versions. Kaplan wrote, that the cards were once two uncut sheets, so this is a free arrangement of the still existing elements, 51 half cards.

There are no numbers, and no text (Kaplan assumes, that text likely was added in the free space below some cards). "No numbers" and "half cards" would allow the printer to variate the compositions. But the relation between figures and usual playing cards seems to have been always the same (well, we don't see all pictures).

I found the following in a playing card trader catalogue ( search at google for Millon-05112011-bd.pdf ) of 2011



It looks similar to the Kaplan pictures, but the pairing is not identical ... see the chariot picture, which is present in both groups. Kaplan had 51 half cards, as he wrote.