Collection Austria

1
Joseph von Petrasch (1714 - 1772, Slawonia, published 1767 a longer poem about Tarock in German language. The poem has (inclusive notes of explanations) 16 pages.
http://books.google.de/books?id=8eQ6AAA ... &q&f=false

The author:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_von_Petrasch
Actually Petrasch might be one of the persons, who made the Tarock popular in Northern Habsburg regions.
Nach weiteren Besitzerwechseln erwarb 1750 der Gründer der Gelehrtengesellschaft Societas incognitorum, Josef Leopold von Petrasch den Besitz. Er nutzte das Schloss für antike Spiele.
In 1750 Petrasch bought a chateau [already in Moravia] for a scholar society "Societas incognitorum" (founded by himself), and it served to present "antique plays" - whatever this means. German Wikipedia interprets it as self written theater plays. The first "Gelehrtengesellschaft im Sinne der Aufklärung in den habsburgischen Ländern" - first scholar society in the Habsburger countries in the sense of "enlightenment". This seems to have been a man of some influence.
http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Petra ... eiherr_von
According this Petrasch already arrived in his youth in the Czech region and studied in Olmütz. The society was founded in 1747. He authored various serious texts, often with pseudonym. His society was attacked and many projects were stopped in their beginnings.



In a small sentence the author notes a theory about the origin of playing cards or Tarocchi cards:
"Der an der Brenta ließ die erste Karte malen ... "
... somebody living at the Brenta (Italian river, which enters the Adria in the near South of Venice) commissioned the first painting of the cards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenta_%28river%29
From the perspective of Slavonia (historical region inside Croatia) it's likely logical to associate Venice as the location of the origin of either Playing or Tarot cards (perhaps he knew already the Venetian document of 1299 ?).

Pope and Popess are replaced by Jupiter and Juno. The Hermit is interpreted as Diogenes with lantern. Fortune has a pig, a monkey and a man at the bottom. Force is connected to Samson. The author knows the Hanging Man as cheater ... he is seen as a sort of acrobat. The Tower is called "House of God". The author knows, that stars are suns, but notes, that most doesn't know this. The world is "Earth".
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Collection Austria

3
Huck wrote: In a small sentence the author notes a theory about the origin of playing cards or Tarocchi cards:
"Der an der Brenta ließ die erste Karte malen ... "
... somebody living at the Brenta (Italian river, which enters the Adria in the near South of Venice) commissioned the first painting of the cards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenta_%28river%29
From the perspective of Slavonia (historical region inside Croatia) it's likely logical to associate Venice as the location of the origin of either Playing or Tarot cards (perhaps he knew already the Venetian document of 1299 ?).
He could also be reflecting an idea that Trappola cards, associated with Venice, came from Tarot cards. It would be the first such occurrence of the idea that I know - I think Breitkopf made the association, but I'll have to check.
Pope and Popess are replaced by Jupiter and Juno. The Hermit is interpreted as Diogenes with lantern. Fortune has a pig, a monkey and a man at the bottom. Force is connected to Samson. The author knows the Hanging Man as cheater ... he is seen as a sort of acrobat. The Tower is called "House of God". The author knows, that stars are suns, but notes, that most doesn't know this. The world is "Earth".
That's interesting. I see "Gaukler" as the title, but is "Akrobat" a common synonym for Gaukler?

That might explain something that Moakley got from a 19th century German writer, who gives the Hanged Man the titles "Künstler, Akrobat". Antonius van der Linde, Geschichte und Litteratur des Schachspiels (1874), vol. II, p. 390 (Moakley gives the title incorrectly as Geschichte der Schachspiels; it turns out he wrote a one-volume history of Chess called Geschichte des Schachspiels in 1881, which might account for the confusion). He gives trump 12 the titles "Künstler, Akrobat".

http://archive.org/details/geschichteundli01lindgoog

Not a great copy for the very page we want - page 390 - but it is legible enough I think and I still don't know what his source is for this title for the Hanged Man. Petrasch is certainly the earliest to come close to saying the same thing.
Image

Re: Collection Austria

4
Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote: That's interesting. I see "Gaukler" as the title, but is "Akrobat" a common synonym for Gaukler?
Image


Gaukler is a more global attribute, but a Gaukler, who made these tricks as described, is an acrobat ... and could be also Gaukler. "Vorgaukeln" = "give the illusion of ...".
But Gaukler is more a common expression for all persons, who appear in a circus.

...
Not a great copy for the very page we want - page 390 - but it is legible enough I think and I still don't know what his source is for this title for the Hanged Man. Petrasch is certainly the earliest to come close to saying the same thing.
Friedrich Nicolai, who appears often in Tarock documents (earliest time: 1755/56) is quite amused about Gebelin generally and especially about his "Prudentia". He wrote about the origin of playing cards 1808.

Nicolai, F. : Einige Bemerkungen über das Tarockspiel, und über die erste Erfindung des Kartenspiels überhaupt.
In: Berlinische Monatschrift. 1783-1811. 1808 , S. 65 - 106
http://www.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/diglib/a ... /suche.htm
search for "Tarockspiel"]

Nicolai and Lessing (a "greatest poet" before Goethe) are puzzled about the "traitor" - their suggestion is, that this should be the devil ... they discussed a passage, that Bernhardinus del Corte was seen as the "traitor" between the Tarocchi. They also think of the Fool and the Pagat.

... :-) ... so they are also early Tarot History researchers.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Collection Austria

5
I have Nicolai, printed him out several years ago. It would be nice to have someone fluent in German and good enough in English to translate them, and to have all the texts of the 18th and very early 19th centuries in one place.

I wonder who could do that...

Breitkopf exists in English translation in manuscript, according to Hargrave's list of the United States Playing Card Company Museum (no longer viewable), p. 368.
"An Inquiry into the Origin of Playing Cards, by J. G. Imman Breitkopf, Leipzig, 1784. Translated from the German by I. W. May and transcribed by Charles Bond, Gravesend. 1815"
Folio, vellum binding, gold lettering. Beautifully written manuscript with a number of facsimiles of ancient playing cards and proof impressions on folio paper from 'Singer' on playing cards.
I have read that much of Singer (1816) is a translation or paraphrase of Breitkopf, just as Taylor (1865) is a translation and paraphrase of Boiteau d'Ambly (1859).

I'd like to see that May translation of Breitkopf.
Image

Re: Collection Austria

6
For Joseph Petrasch (above mentioned)

I've read a biography of Empress Maria Theresia these days (by Edward Crankshaw) . It's noted, that Maria Theresia was very fond of card playing (Tarock is not mentioned, also it isn't mentioned, if this was always so or in specific periods).
An "Elisabeth von Friz" worked as a private secretary, which especially had the function to read loud for Maria Theresia, often for very long times till late in the night. Also she had the function to go between the normal people to listen, what the people spoke about Maria Theresia to get view, how she was respected by the population.
Elisabeth of Friz did fall in love to a "Freiherr von Petrasch". So I became curious, if it was a relative of the above mentioned Joseph Petrasch. It was a close cousin. Finally Maria Theresia agreed in the marriage. She took both at her court and gave 12.000 Gulden.

Biographisches Lexikon des Kaisertums Österreich (vol 22), 1870
http://www.literature.at/viewer.alo?obj ... =&page=110
Biographies of the Petrasch-family, including the following table.

Image

In "blue" are marked Joseph of Petrasch and the wife of his cousin, Elisabeth von Friz, also called "Frizin", the reader for Empress Maria Theresia.

*******

Interestingly a person very close to Maria Theresia had been named short as "Tarouca" (which - rather strange - should have sounded very similar to Tarock).
"Tarouca" was part of the real name "Emanuel Tellez, Menezes und Castro, Herzog von Sylva-Tarouca und Turnhout".

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Silva-Tarouca

He was - according the book description - a little man and a Portuguese. He first was one of the early teachers of the young Maria Theresia. When she - still rather young, but married - became ruler of the Empire, she gave him the commission to work as her critic ... somehow the function of the medieval Fool at the court of kings, but naturally Tarouca wasn't a fool and hadn't the disguise of a fool. Tarouca got this very influential position for a very long time (he died 1771, 80 years old).

He got this house in Vienna ...

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_Er ... aplatz.JPG

... nowadays called "Albertina", in 1745 called "Palais Taroucca". Likely it looked then more like this ...

Image

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_Erzherzog_Albrecht

***********

In these days I also wrote about Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando, who wrote a trilogy, and the 3rd book of this related to a country Tarockey.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1075

The first book of this trilogy was named "Der Gaulschreck im Rosennetz", but he publishing house in 1928 took the title: "Der letzte Hofzwerg" (the last dwarf of the court).
I wonder, if there is a Herzmanowsky-context to the little Portuguese man, who once served Maria Theresia. A description of the content is given here ...
http://www.dieterwunderlich.de/Herzmano ... ennetz.htm

It's in German.
The hero wants a daughter of Zephesis Zumpi, "ein kaiserlicher Hofzwerg im Ruhestand" (an imperial dwarf of the court in pension). But what he also needs is the 25th milk-tooth for a present to Austrian emperor Franz (24 he has already). This leads to big problems. Not able to fulfill his task, he finally kills himself by shooting 24 milk teeth into his head.
Huck
http://trionfi.com