SOCIETE DES BIBLIOPHILES BRETONSLivre Rare Book
Merlin, RomainBiblio.com
Origine des Cartes a Jouer. Recherches nouvelles Sur Les Naibis Les Tarots et sur les autres especes de cartes. Ouvrage Accompagne d'un Album de Soixante-Quatorze Planches offrant plus 600 sujets la plupart peu connus ou tout a fait nouveaux
186949063Paris: Chez L'Auteur 1869. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. First Special Edition. 4to. Pp. vii 144 followed by 75 engraved plates total of which 6 are chromolithographs special to this edition with 4 being on double sheets with tabs 2 to a sheet all with tissue guards; 7 are double sheets on tabs and 17 are folding. Recently rebound in full red morocco with black leather spine label lettered in gilt with gilt-outlined bands and date stamp to the spine foot red green and white marbled endpapers and club-and-spike-like dentelles. Original blue illustrated wrappers bound in upper and lower. Interiors in fine condition and the plates also in fine condition. Housed in a new red cloth slipcase. Very neat small inscription by the author at the head of the title page: "Exemplaire sur papier vergé avec 6 chromolithographies. A mon bon ami M. Geureau père hommage et souvenir d'un ancien disciple R. Merlin." This important work is one of the earliest serious investigations into the origins and development of playing cards with critical attention given to Tarot Naibis and Eastern traditions. Merlin's rigorous historical approach and the breadth of his visual documentation have made this a foundational reference for scholars of gaming history iconography and the early European printed arts. Chez L'Auteur hardcover
