Major Project: History of Cards

A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games. Playing cards are typically palm-sized for convenient handling.

A complete set of cards is called a pack (UK English) or deck (US English), and the subset of cards held at one time by a player during a game is commonly called a hand. A deck of cards may be used for playing a variety of card games, with varying elements of skill and chance, some of which are played for money. Playing cards are also used for illusions, building card structures, etc.

The front (or "face") of each card carries markings that distinguish it from the other cards in the deck and determine its use under the rules of the game being played. The back of each card is identical for all cards in any particular deck, and usually of a single color or formalized design. Usually every card will be smooth; however, some decks have braille to allow blind people to read the card number and suit. The backs of playing cards are sometimes used for advertising. 

HISTORY

Early history

A Chinese playing card dated c. 1400 AD, Ming Dynasty, found near Turpan, measuring 9.5 by 3.5 cm.

Playing cards were invented in imperial China. They were found in China as early as the 9th century during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). The Song Dynasty (960–1279) scholar Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072) asserted that playing cards and card games existed at least since the mid-Tang Dynasty and associated their invention with the simultaneous development of using sheets or pages instead of paper rolls as a writing medium. The first known book on cards called Yezi Gexi was allegedly written by a Tang era woman, and was commented on by Chinese writers of subsequent dynasties.

By the 11th century, playing cards could be found throughout the Asian continent. During the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), characters from novels such as the Water Margin were widely featured on the faces of playing cards.

Ancient Chinese "money cards" have four suits: coins (or cash), strings of coins (which may have been misinterpreted as sticks from crude drawings), myriads (of coins or of strings), and tens of myriads (a myriad is 10,000). These were represented by ideograms, with numerals of 2–9 in the first three suits and numerals 1–9 in the "tens of myriads". Wilkinson suggests that the first cards may have been actual paper currencies which were both the tools of gaming and the stakes being played for, as in trading card games.

Introduction into Europe

Playing cards first entered Europe in the late 14th century, probably from Mamluk Egypt, with suits (sets of cards with matching designs) very similar to the tarot suits of Swords, Staves, Cups and Coins (also known as disks or pentacles), and which are still used in traditional Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese decks.

The Mameluke deck contained 52 cards comprising four "suits:" polo sticks, coins, swords, and cups. Each suit contained ten "spot" cards (cards identified by the number of suit symbols or "pips" they show) and three "court" cards named malik (King), nā'ib malik (Viceroy or Deputy King), and thānī nā'ib (Second or Under-Deputy). The Mameluke court cards showed abstract designs not depicting persons (at least not in any surviving specimens), though they did bear the names of military officers.

A complete pack of Mameluke playing cards was discovered by Leo Mayer in the Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, in 1939. This particular complete pack was not made before 1400, but the complete deck was matched to a privately owned fragment dated to the 12th or 13th century. It is not a complete deck, but there are cards of three packs of the same style. 

Spread across Europe and early design changes

In the late 14th century, the use of playing cards spread rapidly throughout Europe. Documents mentioning cards date from 1371 in Spain, 1377 in Switzerland, and 1380 in many locations including Florence and Paris.  A 1369 Paris ordinance does not mention cards, but its 1377 update does. In the account books of Johanna, Duchess of Brabant and Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxemburg, an entry dated May 14, 1379 reads: "Given to Monsieur and Madame four peters, two forms, value eight and a half moutons, wherewith to buy a pack of cards".

The earliest cards were made by hand, like those designed for Charles VI; this was expensive. Printed woodcut decks appeared in the 15th century. The technique of printing woodcuts to decorate fabric was transferred to printing on paper around 1400 in Christian Europe, very shortly after the first recorded manufacture of paper there, while in Islamic Spain it was much older. The earliest dated European woodcut is 1418.

No examples of printed cards from before 1423 survive. But from about 1418 to 1450 professional card makers in Ulm, Nuremberg, and Augsburg created printed decks. Playing cards even competed with devotional images as the most common uses for woodcut in this period.

Most early woodcuts of all types were coloured after printing, either by hand or, from about 1450 onwards, stencils. These 15th-century playing cards were probably painted.

The Master of the Playing Cards worked in Germany from the 1430s with the newly invented printmaking technique of engraving. Several other important engravers also made cards, including Master ES and Martin Schongauer. Engraving was much more expensive than woodcut, and engraved cards must have been relatively unusual.

In the 15th century in Europe, the suits of playing cards varied: typically a deck had four suits, although five suits were common and other arrangements are also known. In Germany, hearts (Herz/Rot), bells (Schellen), leaves (Grün), and acorns (Eichel) became the standard suits and are still used in Eastern and Southeastern German decks today for Skat, Schafkopf, Doppelkopf, and other games. Italian and Spanish cards of the 15th century used swords, batons (or wands), cups, and coins (or rings). The Tarot, which included extra trump cards, was invented in Italy in the 15th century.

The four suits now used in most of the world — spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs — originated in France in about 1480. The trèfle (club) was probably derived from the acorn and the pique (spade) from the leaf of the German suits. The names "pique" and "spade", however, may have derived from the sword of the Italian suits.  In England, the French suits were eventually used, although the earliest decks had the Italian suits.

Also in the 15th century, Europeans changed the court cards to represent European royalty and attendants, originally "king", "chevalier" (knight), and "knave". The original meaning of knave was male child (cf German Knabe), so in this context the character could represent the "prince", son to the King and Queen; the meaning servant developed later.  In a German pack from the 1440s, Queens replace Kings in two of the suits as the highest card. Decks of 56 cards containing in each suit a King, Queen, Knight, and Valet (from the French tarot court) were common.

Court cards designed in the 16th century in the manufacturing centre of Rouen became the standard design in England, while a Parisian design became standard in France. Both the Parisian and Rouennais court cards were named after historical and mythological heroes and heroines. The Parisian names have become more common in modern use, even with cards of Rouennais design.

 

 

 

Traditional Western Playing Cards
Culture	Suit
French suits	Hearts French: Cœurs (hearts)	Diamonds French: Carreaux (tiles)	Clubs French: Trèfles (clovers)	Spades French: Piques (pikes)
German suits[note 5]	Hearts German: Herz (heart), Rot (red)	Bells German: Schellen (bells)	Acorns German: Eichel (acorn), Ecker (beechnut)	Leaves German: Laub (leaves), Grün (green), Gras (grass), Blatt (leaf)
Swiss-German suits	Roses Swiss-German: Rosen	Bells Swiss-German: Schellen	Acorns Swiss-German: Eichel	Shields Swiss-German: Schilten
Italo-Spanish or Latin suits	Cups Italian: Coppe Spanish: Copas	Coins Italian: Denari Spanish: Oros	Clubs Italian: Bastoni Spanish: Bastos	Swords Italian: Spade Spanish: Espadas
Italian-suited Tarot	Cups	Wands, Clubs, Batons or Staves	Pentacles, Coins, Rings or Discs	Swords
Feudal Class (French suits)	Clergy	Merchants	Peasants	Nobility
Feudal Class (German suits)	Clergy	Nobility	Peasants	Burghers (middle class)
Feudal Class (Italian suits)	Clergy	Merchants	Peasants	Nobility
Symbolism in cartomancy	love, joy, happiness	money, risk, excitement	work, effort, achievements	problems, disappointments, sickness
Symbolism in cartomancy	love, friendship, happiness	money, lottery winnings, carefree life	trouble, loss, sickness	hope, pleasant events and activities
Element (Tarot)	Water	Fire	Earth	Air

  

Design

The primary deck of 52 playing cards in use today includes 13 ranks of each of the four French suits, clubs (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥) and spades (♠), with reversible Rouennais "court" or face cards. Each suit includes an ace, depicting a single symbol of its suit (quite large often only on the ace of spades) a king, queen, and jack, each depicted with a symbol of their suit; and ranks two through ten, with each card depicting that number of symbols (pips) of its suit. As well as these 52 cards, commercial decks often include between one and four jokers, most often two. These Jokers are not used in most basic game rules, but have a variety of uses with rule variations, and can simply serve as "spares" to replace a damaged or lost card.

Sizes

The most common sizes for playing cards are poker size (2.5×3.5 inches (63×88 mm), or B8 size according to ISO 216) and bridge size (2.25×3.5 inches (56×87 mm)), the latter being narrower.  Other sizes are also available, such as a smaller size (usually 1.75×2.625 inches (44×66.7 mm)) for solitaire, tall narrow designs for travel and larger ones for card magic. The weight of an average B8-sized playing card is 0.063 ounces (1.8 g), and deck 3.3 ounces (94 g).