Non-tarot books for the tarot historian!

1
Enter the King: Theatre, Liturgy and Ritual in the Medieval Civic Triumph by Gordon Kipling:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Gjh9 ... _I#PPP1,M1

The Color of Melancholy: The Uses of Books in the Fourteenth Century by Jacqueline Cerqueline-Toulet, trans. by Lydia G,Cochrane:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cu7A ... D7chQRn6yM

Van Vleck, Amelia E. Memory and Re-Creation in Troubadour Lyric.
Berkeley: University of California Press, c1991.
http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft358004pc/

Sherman, Claire Richter. Imagining Aristotle: Verbal and Visual
Representation in Fourteenth-Century France. Berkeley: University of
California Press, c1995 1995.
http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft4m3nb2n4/

The Survival of the Pagan Gods by Jean Seznec

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YOIS ... =ISO-8859-
1&sig=hSJ52_XE9xmRu14BvbOs17rK2MM#PPP1,M1

Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance By Edgar Wind

The Gothic Image: Religious Art in France of the Thirteenth Century By Emile Male

Signs & Symbols in Christian Art By George Ferguson

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BL40 ... ISO-8859-1

Allegories of the Virtues and Vices in Mediaeval Art By Adolf Edmund
Max Katzenellenbogen, Adolf Katzenellenbogen, Alan John Pitts Crick

Symbolic Images: Studies in the Art of the Renaissance by E.H. Gombrich
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gombrich-Renais ... 639&sr=1-9

Re: Non-tarot books for the tarot historian!

4
Oooh, The Color of Melancholy looks good.
{edited to add: I have just put in for an inter-library loan of this.}

I found this interesting:

A Heavenly Craft: The Woodcut in Early Printed Books edited by Daniel De Simone
ISBN 0807615366

I am not a tarot historian, but a good book is a good book. This is actually a catalogue from an exhibition of the Library of Congress. I often buy catalogues as art books.

Re: Non-tarot books for the tarot historian!

5
I've just finished reading Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan, A Study of the Renaissance by Julia Cartwright. I bought a lovely 1903 copy from Abebooks complete with engravings and rough page edges (not expensive either) to save my eyes, but you can read it online at Gutenberg here:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25622/25 ... 5622-h.htm

History, the Renaissance and the people really come alive in this book, and although tarot itself is never mentioned, "...Borso da Correggio, a young nephew of Niccolo, who had travelled to Pavis with the duke..." (Ercole of Ferrara, Beatrice's father) "...sent the following note dated 25th August (1493) to give his cousin Isabella the latest news of her family : - "

"... After dinner we play at scartino, or 'raising dead men' and 'l'imperiale', and other card games, till it is bed-time. The players are, as a rule, the Duke and Duchess of Bari together, Ambrosia da Corte, and some third man, whoever may happen to be present. Today your father the duke, Don Alfonso, and Messer Galeaz Visconti are playing at pall-mall against Messer Galeaz Sanseverino, Signor Girolamo Tuttavilla and myself. The Duchess of Milan does not join in these games, and only appears at theatricals."

Many fascinating letters in this book, and I wonder what those 'other card games ' were...


Pen
He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy...

Re: Non-tarot books for the tarot historian!

6
Pen wrote:I've just finished reading Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan, A Study of the Renaissance by Julia Cartwright. I bought a lovely 1903 copy from Abebooks complete with engravings and rough page edges (not expensive either) to save my eyes, but you can read it online at Gutenberg here:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25622/25 ... 5622-h.htm

History, the Renaissance and the people really come alive in this book, and although tarot itself is never mentioned, "...Borso da Correggio, a young nephew of Niccolo, who had travelled to Pavis with the duke..." (Ercole of Ferrara, Beatrice's father) "...sent the following note dated 25th August (1493) to give his cousin Isabella the latest news of her family : - "

"... After dinner we play at scartino, or 'raising dead men' and 'l'imperiale', and other card games, till it is bed-time. The players are, as a rule, the Duke and Duchess of Bari together, Ambrosia da Corte, and some third man, whoever may happen to be present. Today your father the duke, Don Alfonso, and Messer Galeaz Visconti are playing at pall-mall against Messer Galeaz Sanseverino, Signor Girolamo Tuttavilla and myself. The Duchess of Milan does not join in these games, and only appears at theatricals."

Many fascinating letters in this book, and I wonder what those 'other card games ' were...


Pen
Did you get the impression that cards were a "woman's" game, as some have supposed? It seems like there we a lot of men playing this too.

I wonder what "l'imperiale' was, the name makes me think of "The Emperors" card game.

Thank you for sharing this Pen. :-bd

Re: Non-tarot books for the tarot historian!

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Good evening Robert and all,
robert wrote:I wonder what "l'imperiale' was, the name makes me think of "The Emperors" card game.
Here is a 1730 version (in french) of the rule
http://books.google.com/books?id=2SgVAA ... q=&f=false

here is a rough and awkward translation of the beginning :

It is played with a 32 cards piquet deck or oddly enough a 36 deck with the 6, usually a two player game that may be played by three players. Player begin the game by deciding how many "imperiales" will be played, usually 5 but more or less are possible. The dealer has an advantage, so he is determined by picking randomly one card, the highest card designates the dealer. Cards are dealed three by three or four by four up to twelve cards by player. The "triomphe" (what we call today in french "l'atout") is determined by the first card on the remaining deck.
Rois, dames, valets, aces and 7 are the "honneurs" when played with 32 cards, rois, dames, valets, aces and 6 when playing with 36 cards. Each honneur is worth 4 point if it is of the triomphe color.
When played at three players, the latest dealed card determines the triomphe.

After that if no imperiale is engaged, the first player (dealer) counts his most furnished color, if he has more card than his opponent (or an equal number being the first player) he wins 4 points, else the opponent wins 4 points.
But beforehand, the players check if he's got an Imperiale which he has to show beforehand or it won't be worth any point, Imperiales can be the following :
First :
- four rois (kings)
- four dames (queens)
- four valets
- four aces
- four seven (replaced by four six when played with a 36 cards deck)
Second :
- roi, dame, valet, as in the same color

Then Imperiale tournée :
when you play a roi, dame, valet or as or seven, while you have in hand the other three cards of each color
or when you have in the same color roi dame valet and as and play one of them.
then there is the "imperiale que l'on fait" (that one makes fall), when having roi, dame or other triomphe, you win the other triomphes which compose the imperiale (awkward translation from a badly understood text).

For the rest it's a trick taking game.

Bertrand

Re: Non-tarot books for the tarot historian!

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Bertrand,

Thank you very, very much for taking the time to translate the text. If I understand this correctly, the Imperiales are actually groups of cards declared at the beginning of the game for points? There are Triumphs, which are the suit of cards determined by a flip of a card... the "trump suit", and there are "honneurs", which I usually associate with the courts, but in this case also includes the Aces and 6s or 7s. If you are lucky enough to have the complete sets of the hounneurs, you have the advantage of playing them as Imperiales.

It's not what I was hoping for (but would have been surprised to find), but it is certainly tarot related and makes me think of the "Papi" from the Bolognese game.

Thank you again!

Re: Non-tarot books for the tarot historian!

9
Hello Robert,

Not sure still if this rule from 1730 explains the game that was played 230 years earlier under the same name.
I was in a hurry so I forgot several important points :
- players decide
- an imperiale is worth 24 points
- there are two kind of imperiales as described above : four of a kind with honors, roi+dame+valet+as of the same color
- the imperiales are counted before the game begins, and once again during the play (vous observerez que celui qui a dans son Jeu le Roi, la Dame, le Valet et l'as de la couleur dont il tourne compte pour cela deux Impériales)
- after the play is done, each one counts the tricks he won, and counts 4 points for each trick above six (so six tricks are worth zero points and starting from the seventh each one is worth 4 points - four tricks instead of six for three players)
During the play :
- when the dealer plays an honor he wins 4 points
- if someone cuts with an honor of triumph and wins the trick, he earns as many times 4 points as there are honors won in the trick
-if someones plays an Imperiale, while his opponent has remaining points from the previous turn, the opponent's points are erased if they are lower than 24
After the play :
- the one who got more tricks wins 4 extra points, if it's a draw then the first player (dealer) wins these 4 points.
So apparently Imperiales are announced befor playing and are valued again during the play.
Frankly I'm not sure I understood exactly how the points are counted, but at least you'll get an idea !

Bertrand

Re: Non-tarot books for the tarot historian!

10
robert wrote:
Pen wrote:I've just finished reading Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan, A Study of the Renaissance by Julia Cartwright. I bought a lovely 1903 copy from Abebooks complete with engravings and rough page edges (not expensive either) to save my eyes, but you can read it online at Gutenberg here:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25622/25 ... 5622-h.htm

History, the Renaissance and the people really come alive in this book, and although tarot itself is never mentioned, "...Borso da Correggio, a young nephew of Niccolo, who had travelled to Pavis with the duke..." (Ercole of Ferrara, Beatrice's father) "...sent the following note dated 25th August (1493) to give his cousin Isabella the latest news of her family : - "

"... After dinner we play at scartino, or 'raising dead men' and 'l'imperiale', and other card games, till it is bed-time. The players are, as a rule, the Duke and Duchess of Bari together, Ambrosia da Corte, and some third man, whoever may happen to be present. Today your father the duke, Don Alfonso, and Messer Galeaz Visconti are playing at pall-mall against Messer Galeaz Sanseverino, Signor Girolamo Tuttavilla and myself. The Duchess of Milan does not join in these games, and only appears at theatricals."

Many fascinating letters in this book, and I wonder what those 'other card games ' were...


Pen
Did you get the impression that cards were a "woman's" game, as some have supposed? It seems like there we a lot of men playing this too.

I wonder what "l'imperiale' was, the name makes me think of "The Emperors" card game.

Thank you for sharing this Pen. :-bd
Hello Robert - no impression from the letter that cards were "a woman's game", and then there are at least two frescos in Kaplan's ET of men and women playing cards together.

Huck posted some passages from another book by the same author with more references to cards here:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=432

Bernard, thanks for the info - most interesting.

Pen
He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy...