_Monde Primitif, analysé et comparé avec le Monde Moderne._ Par M. Court de Gebelin. Vol. 8, 4to, Paris, 1781.
The articles on the _Jeu des Tarots_ will be found at pp. 365 to 410. The plates at the end show the Trumps Major and the Aces of each suit. These are valuable as indications of the cards at the close of the eighteenth century. They were presumably then in circulation in the South of France, as it is said that at the period in question they were practically unknown at Paris. I have dealt with the claims of the papers in the body of the present work. Their speculations were tolerable enough for their mazy period; but that they are suffered still, and accepted indeed without question, by French occult writers is the most convincing testimony that one can need to the qualifications of the latter for dealing with any question of historical research.
The Works of Etteilla. _Les Septs Nuances de l'[oe]uvre philosophique Hermétique_; _Maniére de se récréer avec le Jeu de Cartes, nommées Tarots_; _Fragments sur les Hautes Sciences_; _Philosophie des Hautes Sciences_; _Jeu des Tarots, ou le Livre de Thoth_; _Leçons Théoriques et Pratiques du Livre de Thoth_--all published between 1783 and 1787.
These are exceedingly rare and were frankly among the works of _colportage_ of their particular period. They contain the most curious fragments on matters within and without the main issue, lucubrations on genii, magic, astrology, talismans, dreams, etc. I have spoken sufficiently in the text on the author's views on the Tarot and his place in its modern history. He regarded it as a work of speaking hieroglyphics, but to translate it was not easy. He, however, accomplished the task--that is to say, in his own opinion.
_An Inquiry into the Ancient Greek Game, supposed to have been invented by Palamedes._ (By James Christie.) London: 4to, 1801.
I mention this collection of curious dissertations because it has been cited by writers on the Tarot. It seeks to establish a close connection between early games of antiquity and modern chess. It is suggested that the invention attributed to Palamedes, prior to the Siege of Troy, was known in China from a more remote period of antiquity. The work has no reference to cards of any kind whatsoever.