An uncut sheet with all the maps for an 18th century Tarocchi pack

Anonymous.

Gioco Geografico dell' Europa.
Naples, c.1770. 460 x 440mm.

Some slight wear.

An extremely scarce uncut sheet containing the title and 27 cards of a 78-card Tarocchi pack. The sheet contains all 22 atouti (all 20 maps in the pack and two allegorical cards titled 'Fiumi Principali de Europa) and 6 - 10 of the suit 'Isole'.
Tarocchi cards, on which the modern Tarot are based, were used for playing rather than fortune-telling, often with an educational theme. This pack was geographical, with the atouti consisting of five maps of the continents (including North and South America), fifteen of European countries and the allegorical rivers card, all of which are on this sheet. The four suits were 'Nord', 'Centro', 'Sud' and 'Isole'; each had four country cards with armorials (numbered I - IV) and 10 cards listing provinces (1 - 10). In this first issue the numbers are within cartouches; in the second issue of c.1780 the cartouches have been removed.

BRITISH MUSEUM: 1896,0501.56; KING: Miniature maps p.179.
Stock ID : 19841