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Imperiia: a spatial history of the Russian Empire

The history of playing cards

Care to read up on the history of playing cards? We recommend William Chatto's Facts and speculations on the origin and history of playing cards (London, 1848). You can access it via the Internet Archive by clicking this link.

Chatto was properly fascinated - possibly even obsessed - by playing cards. Why?

Cards, considered with respect to what they simply are - the instruments of a popular game, and the productions of art - suggest several questions, the investigation of which is not without interest: Where and when were they invented, and what is the origin of their names? When were they introduced into Europe? What has been their progress as a popular game; and what influence have they had on society? What changes have they undergone with respect to the figures and the marks of the suits; and to what purposes have picture and fancy cards been made subservient, in consequence of those in common use being so generally understood?

From Chatto you can learn about the incredibly wide variety of deck designs: Flowers, Pomegranates, Leaves, and Roses; or Books, Printers' inking balls, Wine-cups, and Goblets. You can read all about the morality of card playing.

And you can learn the local histories of certain cards. You will discover that the Six of Hearts, for example, was known in Ireland as "Grace's card." A gentleman named Grace, you see, was lobbied by supporters of William III of England and promised royal favor should he ally himself with the king. Grace wrote his answer on the back of a Six of Hearts:

Tell your master I despise his offer; and that honour and conscience are dearer to a gentleman than all the wealth and titles a prince can bestow.

Facts and speculations is full of such gems. The history of playing cards is as colorful as their designs.

This page is referenced by:

Deal: History through Playing Cards
In 1856, a hot new item hit the shelves in Russia: a set of playing cards. Created by Konstantin Matveevich Gribanov, the set had an impressive title:
Album of Geographical Playing Cards of Russia, arranged on 80 cards according to maritime basin (A wonderful and instructive child's game of patience)
As you can imagine, these were not ordinary playing cards. They were elaborately illustrated, beautifully-produced, and laden with pedagogical and ideological value. If you had money to spare and fancied yourself an educated, elite, or prestige-hungry subject of the tsar, you no doubt found a way to get your hands on a set.

Playing cards of this kind were popular teaching tools in the nineteenth century. Imagine standing in your parlor (if you had the money to purchase the playing cards, you most likely had a parlor), thumbing through the set of texts and images describing the culture, history, economy, and geography of the provinces. It was like holding the empire in the palm of your hand.

Despite the fact that you are (most likely) not a wealthy inhabitant of the Russian Empire, you too can play cards. You can look through the gallery, explore one of the "card sorts" (each of which has a thematic focus), do some filtering of your own on a series of interactive visualizations, play a game, or sit back and enjoy a quick flipbook.

This project teaches you loads about the history of the Russian Empire, but it rests solely on the information contained in a deck of cards. We have resisted the relentless urge to expand and explain and expound at every turn. Instead, we hope you will feel compelled to do that work. Our job is to fire up your sense of curiosity... and provide a bit of entertainment.

Note: The cards were digitized as the "Geographic Card Set of the Russian Empire" by the Meeting of Frontiers project: a collaboration between the Library of Congress and the Russian National Library. They are available for noncommercial educational use.