Its amazing to note how both decks have a combination of clear defined detail and hurried half handedness ! almost like two different people went to work on each one. Great presentation, very enjoyable! PS that hermit looks like the "capuchin" in the Joerger
Thank you for watching. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Il Meneghello does brilliant work, I think. I'm not sure about the Joerger reference, though. What is that? ..... Never mind. I got it now. 💖
Derek John Thomas You can find the Jacob Joeger 1801 Besançon in the Yves Reynaud collection- it's a beautiful deck and there you will find a brown Capuchin as Hermit which reminds one of this one here. Pateick Valenza printed out a version in the Kirchener Resurrected with this Hermit too. By the way, I dont know why but RUclips will not let me see anything more of your reply; only if you were to comment separately . 😣
There wasn't much to my reply. It took me a few moments (it was really early in the morning here) to figure out that Joerger was a tarot. Once I got that straight in my mind, I knew exactly what you meant. 💯 💖💖💖
Love Proche's high heels and clocked socks - I think his are the earliest tarot decks on which I've seen them, they appear in later decks Swiss decks like the Gassman [and Kaplan's Tarot Classic, influenced by the Gassman].
@@DerekJohnThomas Yes, me too. The classic was my first tarot, my brother bought it for me when I was about 14 from a car boot sale for 20p [the price sticker is still on the box], prior to that I only read ordinary playing cards. Did you also see my 2 comments re: Isnard/Benois?
Thank you for posting this excellent, fascinating video. I had not previously heard of Il Meneghello, but now these two decks are top of my ‘must buy’ list. I have a few observations regarding the Swiss deck, which I imagine you will have subsequently picked up yourself: XI La Force. The legend ‘Grave par Jean Proche’ (translating into English as ‘Engraved by Jean Proche’), which we first see on La Force, is repeated on Le Diable as ‘Grave par J. Proche’, so you might expect identifying initials on any other card to be J.P. However, on Le Charior we see J.R. Also in 2 Coupe we see JR, set in a heart. And in 4 Deniers, I think the cartouche contains a conjoined JR. Do you know if Jean Proche and J.R. are one and the same person? And if they are not, who is J.R.? XV Le Diable. If you study Le Diable closely, looking ‘through’ the colours to the line drawing beneath, you can see that the Swiss card is a mirror image of the Besancon. It’s as if someone took a tracing of the Besancon card but crucially forgot to flip the image before using it to create the Swiss engraving. The tracing wasn’t 100 per cent accurate but still, most of the ‘differences’ between the two cards are down to the sloppier application of the colours in the Swiss card. XVI La Maison Dieu. Again, it is the less accurate colouring of the Swiss card which makes it look as if the figure who should have two legs has only one. While both his shoes are red, he has one yellow leg and the other should be pale blue but, as you can see from those ‘sky dots’ which should be pale blue, that colour is poorly stencilled, missing the dots entirely and making the falling man’s leg more difficult to see. And finally, the Cavalier de Deniers which appears at 41.30 does show a coin but the card is mistitled as Cavalier de Coupe - the proper Cavalier de Coupe (@ 1.02.25) is both pictured and titled correctly. Thanks again for the walkthrough.
Thank you for watching. Those are excellent things to notice. According to the publishers, the initials J.R. are probably those of the printer, Jean Roche or perhaps Jaque Rochias. Thank you for pointing out many interesting details.
The Benois Tarot de Besancon: This particular deck is of historical significance in that it could be described as being at the crux between the history of tarot as a game and the occult history of tarot. This deck is the one described by Compte de Mellet is his essay "Researches on the Tarot and on Divination by Tarot Cards" published in Gebelin's 'Le Monde Primitif' in 1781. Not only is Mellet's essay the first published account we have of divination by Tarot cards, it also is the first to connect them with Hebrew letters, and thus to the Kabbala, and also, like Gebelin, who published his own essay on the Tarot in the same volume, places their origin to the ancient Egyptians. As noted on the Chariot shield you can see the initials "F.I", but you can also see the initials FI on the petals between the 'dolphin' heads on the 2 of Cups, on the Ace of Cups, & the throne of the King of Coins & there should be on Judgment too, but not in this deck!?. They are the initials of the engraver Francois Isnard. Francois Isnard, 1695 - 1765, moved from Provence to Strasbourg in 1715 and married there in 1716. He was the father-in-law of the cardmaker Francoise Bouchard, for whom he engraved moulds for playing cards, including a french suited animal tarot mould, and in whose house he died in 1765. The master cardmaker David Benoist of Strasbourg and his wife were Godfather and Godmother for two of his children, born in 1723 and 1725. Jean Baptiste Benois was witness to his Will made in 1764. From 1728 his initials begin to appear on several prints, according to BnF all active cardmakers of Strasbourg used his moulds between 1730 - 1760 (and continued to be used by some for much longer, as per the Benoist, Carey and Sarraman examples we have). J. Jerger of Besancon 1801-1845 also modelled his cards after Isnard's, with some variations. On the 2 of Cups of Isnard's pattern the lower half is left blank, and in the space there Strasbourg cardmakers would stamp their own names. On Il Meneghello's reproduction, we have the name J. B. Benoist. For the Benoist Family of Strasbourg cardmakers I have: Benoist(e) , David 1717-1761 Benois , Jean-Baptiste 1761- c1780s Benoit, Widow & Son c1780s Benoist, Jean 1794 - c1820 So the F. Isnards woodblocks were probably produced between c.1720/30s & 1760. The printed cards of J.B Benois between 1761- early c1780s. WILL OF FRANÇOIS ISNARD, ENGRAVER IN WOOD 26th May 1764. In the name of God so be it Today twenty-sixth May seventeen sixty-four, at nine o'clock in the morning, before the undersigned Royal Notary registered with the Sovereign Council of Alsace residing in Strasbourg, was present François Isnard wood engraver residing in this city with his eldest daughter named hereafter, in the house of S. Soultzer, place of the Cathedral parish of St. Laurent, being sane of spirit, memory, judgment and understanding, even of the body as it appeared to the said notary and to the witnesses hereafter named and hereby present, being in his bedroom on the first floor overlooking the courtyard of the said house declared that to prevent any dispute between his children, after his death, he was resolved to make the present will by form of regulation and privileged disposition of a father between his children and dictated to said notary: First: the Testator commends his soul to God. 2nd. the Testator Institutes for his universal heirs his three children Anne Marguerite Isnard wife of François Bouchot [sic] master Cartier & citizen of this city, Anne Marie Isnard wife of Mathieu Gabrié residing in Barr, and Pierre François Isnard Lieutenant in the Provincial Regiment of Strasbourg . 3rd. the Testator declares that all the furniture existing in the house where he lives with his daughter Anne Marguerite belongs to his daughter, without exception, and that she owes him absolutely nothing to this day, except the little he can give her in cash or otherwise which is by far not enough to recognize the care she takes of him in his advanced age, nor so that he can pay to her for the food and lodging that she has given him for more than four years, so that to prevent all difficulties and disputes that her brother and sister may want to raise up for her, he gives, bequeaths and pre-legates to his daughter all that she may have of him in furniture or in money cash, wanting that it belongs to her by principal and before any sharing and that she does not take it into account either to her brother or to her sister for any cause or reason whatsoever. The Testator declared that the object of this preleg is of so little consequence & that it deserves no attention and that he only does it to protect his daughter Anne Marguerite from the difficulties that may be caused her. The Testator having thus declared the above and the notary having read and re-read it to him, said that such is his last will that he wishes to be executed punctually after his death. Having read and passed in Strasbourg on the day month and year above, in the presence of the Merchant Jean Baptiste Benoist and Boilermaker François Saur residing there, required witnesses who signed with the said Notary, the testator having declared not knowing how to write made his ordinary mark. Mark of François Isnard Testator: F. I. J. B. Benois Francois Saur ---------------------------------------- François Isnard died, aged about sixty-six, a widower from his first marriage to Elisabeth Hübel, and of his second to Françoise Lisson, on January 19, 1765. He was buried in the cemetery of Saint-Urbain. What we have of his work as a xylographer during the half-century that he lived in Strasbourg is not numerous, if we consider only signed plates; but one must believe, on the one hand, that he did not sign them all, and on the other hand, that part of his time was taken up by the engraving of Queens of Hearts & Kings of Diamonds for his relatives and friends BOUCHAUD and BENOIST, master cardmakers of Strasbourg. [source for the Will: Translated from article in "Archives alsaciennes d'histoire de l'art" 1927, published by Istra, Strasbourg.]
Thank you again for sharing. Thank you for giving me notificof these other posts. Yes, the recorded evidence of tarot as cartomancy begins around this time, but I am of a strong conviction that it was used as such long before the written explorations. I find it hard to believe the early authors were writing in a vacuum and wrer inventing the notions from scratch. They certainly added esoterica to the practice, but (again only my beliefs) I really feel that the cards were used as divinitory tools much earlier.
I have wanted that deck for almost two years, so I agree. There are a couple of cards in the Swiss that I really love too though, that Hanged Man for example. 😁 For shuffling though, La Corte dei Tarocchi is a little uncomfortable for me. 💝
Hi I got the Tarocco Marsiglia Soizzero like yours. Mine is 63 / 1500. The problem is that my deck has a ghostly grid pattern running through the images - like the photocopier was running low on ink or there was some mechanical problem with the printer. Anyway it's really annoying when I look at the cards so I packed them away don't look at them now. Pretty disapointing.
@@DerekJohnThomas No - not yet anyway. I might try. I hope they understand English though. I'm very suprised that they did'nt see it themselves and reject the deck. Now I'm wondering if anyone else has got a deck with this problem. It has a strange effect, you look at an image that looks medeval ( even though it's only 1800's ) but the ghost grid pattern keeps reminding you of a modern printing machine ( that's not working properly ) .
I'd definitely reach out to them, with some photos of the problem. It's almost Christmas, so they might be on vacation now, but I'd still contact them as soon as you can, and then if you don't get a response, try again after the new year festivities have passed.
The letters J R and the monogram of JR on the four of coins stand for the Swiss cardmaker Jacques Rochias. Grave par J. Proche = engraved by J[ean] Proche. Jean [Pierre] Prochet worked as an engraver for several generations of the Rochias, including Jacques Rochias & Jacques Rochias Fils. I believe he was the son of Pierre Proche, Master cardmaker of Clermont. His brother Pierre was also a master cardmaker in Clermont. He also engraved for the Swiss Burdel family of cardmakers. Because of the ordering of the valet and knights I think you missed that the Knight of Coins is called the Knight of Cups :D A well-chosen theme: [Translated from an article in the "Feuille d'Avis de Neuchatel" September 27th, 1934, on the theme of that year's harvest festival.] "If a procession of the grape harvest is needed, it is this year. Congratulations to its organizers for bringing the "playing cards" to life, not to incite delirious fever, but in order to give color and shape to a large stream of extras that will come before our eyes, as many a 7 of diamonds, a jack of clubs, queen of hearts or ace of spades! This is an opportunity to wonder if these diabolical cards have fallen on our tables from heaven or hell. On this point, our great-grandparents, resuscitated, might perhaps prove it to us. Was it not necessary that, formerly, our authorities intervened to strike out against those card games that sometimes saw their victims roll head first into ruin, revenge, dueling, murder, and suicide? In all countries, preachers, moralists, and governments must, at certain times, rebel against these combinations where fortune alternates between good and evil. "It must be recognized that this "game of the devil" corresponded to a real need of popular genius. Resistance was in vain, the persecutors grew weary. How would such a game, so cheap, carried in a pocket, learnt without books, that put the ignorant at the level of the scientist, the child at the level of the grandfather and, for a moment, the husband at the level of his wife, have perished? "At St. Sulpice and Neuchatel, in particular, there was a real dynasty of cardmakers named Rochias, all family, Catholic and of French origin, who gave our cards the appearance of those of their country. César d'Ivernois mentions one of them in his epistle on the games of society. Francois Rochias was established at Boudry. The engravers Charles Jacot and Jean Proche successively assist the Rochias. Jacques Rochias had his card factory in town, rue Saint-Honoré, next to Café Strauss. Towards the end of the Empire, the missing Rochias are succeeded by a Heggli,* installed in the rue des Moulins, then at the bottom of Vaucher Valley. He designs and sells tarot cards, cards both coarse and fine." * Heggli took over the business from Joseph Henry Rochias Here is a translation of the beginning of the poem referred to in the article in which Rochias is referred to: An Epistle on the Games of Society, by César d'Ivernois: Already November has lengthened the nights; Chaumont whitens, and winter besieges us. Soon our vines, stripped of their fruits, Are going to bend under piles of snow. Emerging at last from our dark cellars, From harvester to little master, Each of us will appear in the open. From six to nine, we’ll be seen shining At these grand teas, which we call soirées. Numerous circles, gathered together by duty, To which a hundred well-dressed women will go More to be seen than to see each other. Already for us deploying his knowledge, Happy Rochias, from lengthy oblivion, takes revenge: And joyfully selling his aces, jacks, and kings To the good people of Neuchâtel, Sees in turn the fruits of his harvest...
Oddly, three cards in the Benois are not right: Junon, La Force, & Judgement are NOT Isnard / Benois cards: In Isnard / Benois for example Junon has two peacocks, and there is no flag on the trumpet of Judgement & Isnard's initials FI are on it.
@@DerekJohnThomas Note : the three wrong Trumps, Junon [II], La Force [XI] & Judgment [XX]. These three numbers, II, XI & XX are what are inscribed on the 9, 10 & & 7 of Cups. In many regions a reduced pack game was favored, in which the high-numbered cups & coins, and the low-numbered batons & swords, were excluded. In such a game using the high-numbered cups as replacements for the missing trumps would make sense!? They would not be needed in a reduced-pack game. It seems to me that these cards were numbered to replace missing Trumps, then somewhere along the line the missing trumps from another [but not by the same engraver, or manufacturer] was added [by Meneghello? Or a previous owner of the deck he worked from?]..
Oooohhhh! What two amazing and special decks from Il Meneghello and a super nice video from you, Derek!!! Thank you!
Grazie mille. 😉
Its amazing to note how both decks have a combination of clear defined detail and hurried half handedness ! almost like two different people went to work on each one.
Great presentation, very enjoyable! PS that hermit looks like the "capuchin" in the Joerger
Thank you for watching. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Il Meneghello does brilliant work, I think. I'm not sure about the Joerger reference, though. What is that? ..... Never mind. I got it now. 💖
Derek John Thomas
You can find the Jacob Joeger 1801 Besançon in the Yves Reynaud collection- it's a beautiful deck and there you will find a brown Capuchin as Hermit which reminds one of this one here. Pateick Valenza printed out a version in the Kirchener Resurrected with this Hermit too. By the way, I dont know why but RUclips will not let me see anything more of your reply; only if you were to comment separately . 😣
There wasn't much to my reply. It took me a few moments (it was really early in the morning here) to figure out that Joerger was a tarot. Once I got that straight in my mind, I knew exactly what you meant. 💯 💖💖💖
Love Proche's high heels and clocked socks - I think his are the earliest tarot decks on which I've seen them, they appear in later decks Swiss decks like the Gassman [and Kaplan's Tarot Classic, influenced by the Gassman].
Right. Very fashionable. 😁 I like Kaplan's work quite a bit.
@@DerekJohnThomas Yes, me too. The classic was my first tarot, my brother bought it for me when I was about 14 from a car boot sale for 20p [the price sticker is still on the box], prior to that I only read ordinary playing cards. Did you also see my 2 comments re: Isnard/Benois?
Let me go check. I might not have gotten notifications.
Thank you for posting this excellent, fascinating video. I had not previously heard of Il Meneghello, but now these two decks are top of my ‘must buy’ list.
I have a few observations regarding the Swiss deck, which I imagine you will have subsequently picked up yourself:
XI La Force. The legend ‘Grave par Jean Proche’ (translating into English as ‘Engraved by Jean Proche’), which we first see on La Force, is repeated on Le Diable as ‘Grave par J. Proche’, so you might expect identifying initials on any other card to be J.P. However, on Le Charior we see J.R. Also in 2 Coupe we see JR, set in a heart. And in 4 Deniers, I think the cartouche contains a conjoined JR.
Do you know if Jean Proche and J.R. are one and the same person? And if they are not, who is J.R.?
XV Le Diable. If you study Le Diable closely, looking ‘through’ the colours to the line drawing beneath, you can see that the Swiss card is a mirror image of the Besancon. It’s as if someone took a tracing of the Besancon card but crucially forgot to flip the image before using it to create the Swiss engraving. The tracing wasn’t 100 per cent accurate but still, most of the ‘differences’ between the two cards are down to the sloppier application of the colours in the Swiss card.
XVI La Maison Dieu. Again, it is the less accurate colouring of the Swiss card which makes it look as if the figure who should have two legs has only one. While both his shoes are red, he has one yellow leg and the other should be pale blue but, as you can see from those ‘sky dots’ which should be pale blue, that colour is poorly stencilled, missing the dots entirely and making the falling man’s leg more difficult to see.
And finally, the Cavalier de Deniers which appears at 41.30 does show a coin but the card is mistitled as Cavalier de Coupe - the proper Cavalier de Coupe (@ 1.02.25) is both pictured and titled correctly.
Thanks again for the walkthrough.
Thank you for watching. Those are excellent things to notice. According to the publishers, the initials J.R. are probably those of the printer, Jean Roche or perhaps Jaque Rochias.
Thank you for pointing out many interesting details.
The Benois Tarot de Besancon:
This particular deck is of historical significance in that it could be described as being at the crux between the history of tarot as a game and the occult history of tarot. This deck is the one described by Compte de Mellet is his essay "Researches on the Tarot and on Divination by Tarot Cards" published in Gebelin's 'Le Monde Primitif' in 1781. Not only is Mellet's essay the first published account we have of divination by Tarot cards, it also is the first to connect them with Hebrew letters, and thus to the Kabbala, and also, like Gebelin, who published his own essay on the Tarot in the same volume, places their origin to the ancient Egyptians.
As noted on the Chariot shield you can see the initials "F.I", but you can also see the initials FI on the petals between the 'dolphin' heads on the 2 of Cups, on the Ace of Cups, & the throne of the King of Coins & there should be on Judgment too, but not in this deck!?. They are the initials of the engraver Francois Isnard.
Francois Isnard, 1695 - 1765, moved from Provence to Strasbourg in 1715 and married there in 1716. He was the father-in-law of the cardmaker Francoise Bouchard, for whom he engraved moulds for playing cards, including a french suited animal tarot mould, and in whose house he died in 1765.
The master cardmaker David Benoist of Strasbourg and his wife were Godfather and Godmother for two of his children, born in 1723 and 1725. Jean Baptiste Benois was witness to his Will made in 1764.
From 1728 his initials begin to appear on several prints, according to BnF all active cardmakers of Strasbourg used his moulds between 1730 - 1760 (and continued to be used by some for much longer, as per the Benoist, Carey and Sarraman examples we have). J. Jerger of Besancon 1801-1845 also modelled his cards after Isnard's, with some variations.
On the 2 of Cups of Isnard's pattern the lower half is left blank, and in the space there Strasbourg cardmakers would stamp their own names. On Il Meneghello's reproduction, we have the name J. B. Benoist.
For the Benoist Family of Strasbourg cardmakers I have:
Benoist(e) , David 1717-1761
Benois , Jean-Baptiste 1761- c1780s
Benoit, Widow & Son c1780s
Benoist, Jean 1794 - c1820
So the F. Isnards woodblocks were probably produced between c.1720/30s & 1760. The printed cards of J.B Benois between 1761- early c1780s.
WILL OF FRANÇOIS ISNARD, ENGRAVER IN WOOD
26th May 1764.
In the name of God so be it
Today twenty-sixth May seventeen sixty-four, at nine o'clock in the morning, before the undersigned Royal Notary registered with the Sovereign Council of Alsace residing in Strasbourg, was present François Isnard wood engraver residing in this city with his eldest daughter named hereafter, in the house of S. Soultzer, place of the Cathedral parish of St. Laurent, being sane of spirit, memory, judgment and understanding, even of the body as it appeared to the said notary and to the witnesses hereafter named and hereby present, being in his bedroom on the first floor overlooking the courtyard of the said house declared that to prevent any dispute between his children, after his death, he was resolved to make the present will by form of regulation and privileged disposition of a father between his children and dictated to said notary:
First: the Testator commends his soul to God.
2nd. the Testator Institutes for his universal heirs his three children Anne Marguerite Isnard wife of François Bouchot [sic] master Cartier & citizen of this city, Anne Marie Isnard wife of Mathieu Gabrié residing in Barr, and Pierre François Isnard Lieutenant in the Provincial Regiment of Strasbourg
.
3rd. the Testator declares that all the furniture existing in the house where he lives with his daughter Anne Marguerite belongs to his daughter, without exception, and that she owes him absolutely nothing to this day, except the little he can give her in cash or otherwise which is by far not enough to recognize the care she takes of him in his advanced age, nor so that he can pay to her for the food and lodging that she has given him for more than four years, so that to prevent all difficulties and disputes that her brother and sister may want to raise up for her, he gives, bequeaths and pre-legates to his daughter all that she may have of him in furniture or in money cash, wanting that it belongs to her by principal and before any sharing and that she does not take it into account either to her brother or to her sister for any cause or reason whatsoever.
The Testator declared that the object of this preleg is of so little consequence & that it deserves no attention and that he only does it to protect his daughter Anne Marguerite from the difficulties that may be caused her.
The Testator having thus declared the above and the notary having read and re-read it to him, said that such is his last will that he wishes to be executed punctually after his death.
Having read and passed in Strasbourg on the day month and year above, in the presence of the Merchant Jean Baptiste Benoist and Boilermaker François Saur residing there, required witnesses who signed with the said Notary, the testator having declared not knowing how to write made his ordinary mark.
Mark of François Isnard Testator: F. I.
J. B. Benois
Francois Saur
----------------------------------------
François Isnard died, aged about sixty-six, a widower from his first marriage to Elisabeth Hübel, and of his second to Françoise Lisson, on January 19, 1765. He was buried in the cemetery of Saint-Urbain.
What we have of his work as a xylographer during the half-century that he lived in Strasbourg is not numerous, if we consider only signed plates; but one must believe, on the one hand, that he did not sign them all, and on the other hand, that part of his time was taken up by the engraving of Queens of Hearts & Kings of Diamonds for his relatives and friends BOUCHAUD and BENOIST, master cardmakers of Strasbourg.
[source for the Will: Translated from article in "Archives alsaciennes d'histoire de l'art" 1927, published by Istra, Strasbourg.]
Thank you again for sharing. Thank you for giving me notificof these other posts.
Yes, the recorded evidence of tarot as cartomancy begins around this time, but I am of a strong conviction that it was used as such long before the written explorations. I find it hard to believe the early authors were writing in a vacuum and wrer inventing the notions from scratch. They certainly added esoterica to the practice, but (again only my beliefs) I really feel that the cards were used as divinitory tools much earlier.
I enjoyed this comparison! I prefer the look of the Swiss, although La Corte dei Tarocchi still outdoes them both IMO 👀😍
I have wanted that deck for almost two years, so I agree. There are a couple of cards in the Swiss that I really love too though, that Hanged Man for example. 😁
For shuffling though, La Corte dei Tarocchi is a little uncomfortable for me. 💝
Hi I got the Tarocco Marsiglia Soizzero like yours. Mine is 63 / 1500. The problem is that my deck has a ghostly grid pattern running through the images - like the photocopier was running low on ink or there was some mechanical problem with the printer. Anyway it's really annoying when I look at the cards so I packed them away don't look at them now.
Pretty disapointing.
I'm so sorry to hear that. Have you tried contacting Il Meneghello? They've been responsive to me in the past.
@@DerekJohnThomas No - not yet anyway. I might try. I hope they understand English though. I'm very suprised that they did'nt see it themselves and reject the deck. Now I'm wondering if anyone else has got a deck with this problem. It has a strange effect, you look at an image that looks medeval ( even though it's only 1800's ) but the ghost grid pattern keeps reminding you of a modern printing machine ( that's not working properly ) .
I'd definitely reach out to them, with some photos of the problem. It's almost Christmas, so they might be on vacation now, but I'd still contact them as soon as you can, and then if you don't get a response, try again after the new year festivities have passed.
The letters J R and the monogram of JR on the four of coins stand for the Swiss cardmaker Jacques Rochias. Grave par J. Proche = engraved by J[ean] Proche. Jean [Pierre] Prochet worked as an engraver for several generations of the Rochias, including Jacques Rochias & Jacques Rochias Fils. I believe he was the son of Pierre Proche, Master cardmaker of Clermont. His brother Pierre was also a master cardmaker in Clermont. He also engraved for the Swiss Burdel family of cardmakers. Because of the ordering of the valet and knights I think you missed that the Knight of Coins is called the Knight of Cups :D
A well-chosen theme:
[Translated from an article in the "Feuille d'Avis de Neuchatel" September 27th, 1934, on the theme of that year's harvest festival.]
"If a procession of the grape harvest is needed, it is this year. Congratulations to its organizers for bringing the "playing cards" to life, not to incite delirious fever, but in order to give color and shape to a large stream of extras that will come before our eyes, as many a 7 of diamonds, a jack of clubs, queen of hearts or ace of spades!
This is an opportunity to wonder if these diabolical cards have fallen on our tables from heaven or hell. On this point, our great-grandparents, resuscitated, might perhaps prove it to us. Was it not necessary that, formerly, our authorities intervened to strike out against those card games that sometimes saw their victims roll head first into ruin, revenge, dueling, murder, and suicide? In all countries, preachers, moralists, and governments must, at certain times, rebel against these combinations where fortune alternates between good and evil.
"It must be recognized that this "game of the devil" corresponded to a real need of popular genius. Resistance was in vain, the persecutors grew weary. How would such a game, so cheap, carried in a pocket, learnt without books, that put the ignorant at the level of the scientist, the child at the level of the grandfather and, for a moment, the husband at the level of his wife, have perished?
"At St. Sulpice and Neuchatel, in particular, there was a real dynasty of cardmakers named Rochias, all family, Catholic and of French origin, who gave our cards the appearance of those of their country. César d'Ivernois mentions one of them in his epistle on the games of society. Francois Rochias was established at Boudry. The engravers Charles Jacot and Jean Proche successively assist the Rochias. Jacques Rochias had his card factory in town, rue Saint-Honoré, next to Café Strauss. Towards the end of the Empire, the missing Rochias are succeeded by a Heggli,* installed in the rue des Moulins, then at the bottom of Vaucher Valley. He designs and sells tarot cards, cards both coarse and fine."
* Heggli took over the business from Joseph Henry Rochias
Here is a translation of the beginning of the poem referred to in the article in which Rochias is referred to:
An Epistle on the Games of Society,
by César d'Ivernois:
Already November has lengthened the nights;
Chaumont whitens, and winter besieges us.
Soon our vines, stripped of their fruits,
Are going to bend under piles of snow.
Emerging at last from our dark cellars,
From harvester to little master,
Each of us will appear in the open.
From six to nine, we’ll be seen shining
At these grand teas, which we call soirées.
Numerous circles, gathered together by duty,
To which a hundred well-dressed women will go
More to be seen than to see each other.
Already for us deploying his knowledge,
Happy Rochias, from lengthy oblivion, takes revenge:
And joyfully selling his aces, jacks, and kings
To the good people of Neuchâtel,
Sees in turn the fruits of his harvest...
Thank you so much for this information. It's very helpful for everyone.
Oddly, three cards in the Benois are not right: Junon, La Force, & Judgement are NOT Isnard / Benois cards:
In Isnard / Benois for example Junon has two peacocks, and there is no flag on the trumpet of Judgement & Isnard's initials FI are on it.
I don't have the deck with me now, but I'll definitely go check those cards out when I get back from my long business trip. 😁
@@DerekJohnThomas Note : the three wrong Trumps, Junon [II], La Force [XI] & Judgment [XX]. These three numbers, II, XI & XX are what are inscribed on the 9, 10 & & 7 of Cups. In many regions a reduced pack game was favored, in which the high-numbered cups & coins, and the low-numbered batons & swords, were excluded. In such a game using the high-numbered cups as replacements for the missing trumps would make sense!? They would not be needed in a reduced-pack game. It seems to me that these cards were numbered to replace missing Trumps, then somewhere along the line the missing trumps from another [but not by the same engraver, or manufacturer] was added [by Meneghello? Or a previous owner of the deck he worked from?]..
That's a very intriguing possibility. As I mentioned, I will give the deck a closer look when I get back home. ^^