Three scarce Italian playing cards depicting Denmark

Anonymous.

XIIII Danimarca. [&] Nord III. Danimarca. [&] Nord 8. Danimarca ha.
Bologna: Tipografia de' Franceschi alla Colomba?, c.1790. Three playing cards, one engraved, one woodcut and letterpress and one letterpress, each sheet 115 x 60mm, with red woodcut design on reverse.

Slightly trimmed, as issued, stain on one letterpress card.

Three playing cards representing Denmark, including a miniature map of the country on a tromp l'oeil scroll, a description with a woodblock armorial and a list of regional capital cities.
They are from a 78-card geographical game pack which was played with the same rules as tarocchi (tarot). The map is one of the 21 map trump cards; the two others are from the suit 'North' (the other suits being 'Central' & 'South' Europe & 'Islands'), the card with the armorial being a court card.
The woodcut pattern on the back of the card is a red flower design with the address 'Alla Colomba' (At the Dove). This was the address of Tipografia de' Franceschi in Bologna from the 1790s until at least 1860.


Stock ID : 24240