Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

An enquiry into the origin of the game of tharot.

Authors

• Court de Gébelin, Antoine, 1725-1784
• Charles Rainsford Collection of Alchemical and Occult Manuscripts (University of Pennsylvania)

Other related names

• Northumberland, Hugh Percy, Duke of, 1742-1817, former owner (http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr93028960)
• Rainsford, Charles, 1728-1809, former owner

Call number

Ms. Codex 1692
(3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6206, University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 9962936033503681
• http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/917532964
• https://repository.upenn.edu/uniqueatpenn/23/ https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3rr1pt2s

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania

Language

English, with occasional words in Hebrew and Greek

Origin

Date

circa 1794

Place

England

Summary

English translation by Charles Rainsford of French text on the history and use of tarot cards for divination by Antoine Court de Gébelin.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title from title page (V. 1, p. v).
   

Extent

4 volumes (188, 180, 130, 196) leaves: mm bound to mm +

Foliation

V:1: Paper, 188 leaves; [vi], 1-290, 201-278, [ii]. V.2: Paper, 180 leaves; [ii], 1-174, [i], 1-55, 55-182. V.3: Paper, 130 leaves; [iv], 1-246, [x]. V.4: Paper, 196 leaves; [x], 1-76, 72-87, 87-110, 1-4, 4-141, [cxxiv]. Contemporary pagination in ink, upper outer corners.

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary parchment. Moderate to severe moisture damage has made the paper very fragile and the text illegible in many places. Volume 4 has severe moisture damage to paper and many leaves are stuck together.

Decoration

Several pen and ink diagrams throughout (for example, V. 3, p. 212); pencil drawings of tarot figures (V. 2, p. 175; V. 3, p. 150).

Script

Written in a cursive script.

Provenance

• Owned by the 2nd through 12th Dukes of Northumberland, ms. 604-607, Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, 1809-2014 (bookplate, inside upper covers; stamps throughout).
   
• Formerly owned by Charles Rainsford (British army officer, fellow of the Royal Society, and alchemist); bequeathed by Rainsford to Hugh Percy, Second Duke of Northumberland.
   
• Sold at auction at Sotheby's (London), 15 July 2014, as part of Lot 411.
   

Subjects topical

• Tarot (Game)--Early works to 1800
• Occultism--Early works to 1800
• Tarot (Game)
• Occultism

Genres

• Manuscripts, English
• Manuscripts, European

Keywords

• Treatise
• 18th century
• English
• French
• Damage
• Diagrams
• Paper
• England
• Games

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Ms. Codex 1692: An enquiry into the origin of the game of tharot. are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

• Text

  Metadata is ©2017 University of Pennsylvania Books & Manuscripts and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Decorations

• 150 (V.3) — Drawing, p. 150 (V.3)
• 212 (V.3) — Drawing, p. 212 (V.3)