How to Tell Fortunes: 1902 book with playing card meanings

rachelcat

AND Napoleon's book of fate/geomancy meanings, too!

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/52741/52741-h/52741-h.htm

I was checking Project Gutenberg for some Victorian novels to put on my Kindle, and this was in their new books section:

How to Tell Fortunes: Containing Napoleon's Oraculum and the Key to Work It; also Tells Fortunes by Cards, Lucky and Unlucky Days, Signs and Omens, Aaron A. Warford, New York, 1902

It has two sets of playing card meanings:

"French and Italian methods" using 32 cards: Ace King, Queen, Knave, Ten, Nine, Eight, and Seven of each suit; and

an "English method" using all 52 cards.

With reading methods and spreads.

There's also a card game called "Hymen's Lottery" that is, yes, a combination of a lottery and a foretelling of what kind of marriage you'll have. (Obviously designed for hilarity among young single people . . .)

Maybe someone here can tell us if these card meanings are close to the accepted ones or what you use. Or just check it out and enjoy!
 

AnemoneRosie

Nice find! Thanks :)
I'll have to add it to my kobo.
 

EmpyreanKnight

Thanks for this rachelcat! That site is such a treasure trove, an embarassment of riches. :D

Here are other books you might be interested in from the same site, and they're all FREE:

Telling Fortunes By Playing Cards by Mohammed Ali
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42008

Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards by Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42950

The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination by L. W. De Laurence
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43548
 

rachelcat

Ooo, prophetical AND educational! :)

And good old DeLaurence, king of the plagiarists. Well, at least he plagiarized good information!

Thanks for the ideas. I'll check them out!
 

EmpyreanKnight

And good old DeLaurence, king of the plagiarists. Well, at least he plagiarized good information!

I'm in my Thoth phase, so I haven't dived into the RWS in depth at all, though I did download the Pictorial Key and peruse it some. In all honesty though, I was scanning some of the pages of the De Laurence and I was like . . . Hmmmm this is a bit familiar, but I can't put my finger on it?

So this is the reason! Lol thanks for the heads up, rachelcat. It might have been more fun though if he also plagiarized the title and the real author's name, just to be thorough. :p