Excerpt from Facts and Speculations on the Origin and History of Playing Cards In the Illustrations will be found a greater variety of Cards than have hitherto been given in any other work on the same subject, not excepting the splendid publication of the Society of Bibliophiles Francais, entitled J eux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numerales du Quatorzieme au Dix huitieme Siecle.' All the cards - with the exception of the French Valets, at p. 250, and the Portuguese Cheva liers, at p. 252, -have been 00pied by Mr. F. W. Fairholt and all the wood-engravings - with the exception of the tail-piece, by W. J. Linton, at p. 330, - have been executed by Mr. George Vasey. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.