Playing cards--Fortune telling cards

54 cards (comprising 52 playing cards and two instruction cards), each 92 x 58mm., engraved, plain versos, 13 mounted in a frame, the rest in a folder attached to the back of the frame, a few cards slightly stained, the eight of spades frayed on right hand side

Ortiz-Patiño 33; Fournier 26 (dating this set to 1690)

John Lenthall, a map and printseller, was the predominant seller of playing cards in London during the first half of the eighteenth century. These fortune telling cards were originally issued in about 1690, and published by Lenthall between 1711 and 1720. They include the names of astronomical pioneers (Copernicus, Tycho, Ptolemy) as well as occult figures (Cornelius Agrippa, Hermes Trismegistus, Dr Dee and Dr Faustus). This set has a red tax stamp on the ace of spades.