Decan Posted February 17, 2020 Posted February 17, 2020 (edited) Do you know Le Petit Cartomancien? It's a French deck of 36 cards. I have it, don't use it much (my bad!), but it could interest people. The meanings of the cards are written in French on the cards (there is a meaning for the card upright and also reversed). It's short so you can type what is written and have a good translation with google translate since the sentences aren't complicated. The LWB is actually just one leaf, in French only for the edition that I have. Very simple, nothing more about the meanings concerning the cards (nevertheless there is a list of combinations when you pull 2,3 or 4 Kings/Queens/Jacks/ etc.) but an explanation regarding the spread to use with this little deck. Example for the King of Diamonds: "Marchand" (Merchant): "Homme de commerce, Mariage de raison, Ami indifférent. Renversé: difficultés dans les affaires". Businessman, marriage of convenience, uncaring friend. Reversed: problems in affairs. Simple! Edited February 17, 2020 by Decan
Guest Posted February 17, 2020 Posted February 17, 2020 I have this, Decan. I like using it with the L’oracle parfait house syste, sinister and dexter and counting — 3, 7, 9 and 13, et cetera. It’s nice little deck.
Decan Posted February 17, 2020 Author Posted February 17, 2020 Great! I take note for l'oracle parfait 🙂 Concerning the method explained on the leaf which comes with the Petit Cartomancien (the sevens spread), I have learned lately that it is something they use in Russia with playing cards. Actually this spread probably comes from French cartomancy.
Guest Posted February 17, 2020 Posted February 17, 2020 Mine did not have the instructions. However, I think I know the draw. There are several French draws use in Slavic practice. They favour the l’oracle parfait houses with the Lenormand Oracle, et cetera. There is an old cartomantic text that was translated into both Russian and Romanian that has these draws.
katrinka Posted February 17, 2020 Posted February 17, 2020 I have that one, too. I've been told that the illustrations are by Grandville,. I don't know, but it does share a lot of themes with the Parlour Sibyl. There's an english version out there someplace, too, IIRC, but I can't vouch for the quality of the translation.
Decan Posted February 18, 2020 Author Posted February 18, 2020 12 hours ago, leroidetrèfle said: Mine did not have the instructions. However, I think I know the draw. There are several French draws use in Slavic practice. They favour the l’oracle parfait houses with the Lenormand Oracle, et cetera. There is an old cartomantic text that was translated into both Russian and Romanian that has these draws. Interesting! 8 hours ago, katrinka said: I have that one, too. I've been told that the illustrations are by Grandville,. I don't know, but it does share a lot of themes with the Parlour Sibyl. There's an english version out there someplace, too, IIRC, but I can't vouch for the quality of the translation. For Grandville it's something I don't know. The illustrations in the Parlour Sibyl are very nice and a selection of them was used for the Petit Cartomancien. It's possible the translations aren't bad because what is written isn't complicated, but I didn't find a pic of a few cards online to check that.
Decan Posted February 18, 2020 Author Posted February 18, 2020 Actually I also have the Parlour Sibyl, so I compared the 2 decks (not the same size!). Likely the Parlour Sibyl is prior to the Petit Cartomancien. The illustrations were taken from the Parlour Sibyl but simplified somehow and the way things were arranged with regard to the playing cards isn't exactly the same. Therefore they look very similar but they aren't exactly the same. Below a pic of both. You can see for example that the 8 of Spades is the same (illness) for both decks, but the King of Diamonds is the "Soldier" in the Parlour but it is the "Merchant" in the Petit Cartomancien.
katrinka Posted February 19, 2020 Posted February 19, 2020 Yes, they scrambled things a bit, lol. It looks like the soldier got demoted from a King to a Jack. But a good many of the drawings are obviously copied. I'd really like to know more about the history of these two, but the answers may be lost to time.
Decan Posted February 19, 2020 Author Posted February 19, 2020 (edited) Yeah, but the Soldier looks more to an arrogant captain than an enlisted soldier in the Parlour 😄 But apart some cards they are mostly the same as you said. Below another pic where we can see more the similarities (drawings, titles, and associated playing cards). I'm sure there are people who must know the story about these decks, and it would be an interesting topic indeed!! Edited March 26, 2020 by Decan
Guest Posted February 19, 2020 Posted February 19, 2020 I have the parlour sybil, le petit cartomancien and the livre du destin. Going on memory, one believes the latter two were published in the very late nineteenth century c. 1895. Grandville did the drawings for the parlour sybil and whoever did the latter two was clearly using his designs. All three are nice. The designs are quite arresting — but both the livre and petit cartomancien work best (in my experience) in tableaus.
Decan Posted February 20, 2020 Author Posted February 20, 2020 (edited) I have too these 3 decks! The drawings in the Book of Destiny Oracle (Le Livre du Destin) are very nice too. EDIT: by taking a closer look at the Book of Destiny, it seems that some drawings were also used in the Petit Cartomancien, which seems to have been created from both the Parlour Sibyl and the Book of Destiny (just my impression!). Below another pic, the larger card is from the Book of Destiny with a card from the Petit cartomancien beside. We can see that the Merchant (a fabric salesman) is depicted in both decks. Personally I find that it has more sense to have a Merchant for the King of Diamonds than a Military (Parlour Sibyl). The suit of Diamonds represents money in many systems I think. The Jack of Spades "Homme de Campagne" (the man with the bouquet) is the bad guy in the deck (he is cunning and deceptive). Edited February 20, 2020 by Decan
Decan Posted March 26, 2020 Author Posted March 26, 2020 (edited) I heard that the English version for le Petit Cartomancien is named the Concise Fortune Teller. But I don't know if in this version the verses on the cards are translated into english or not. I hope that the LWB is in English in this edition though (probably I think). Edited March 26, 2020 by Decan
katrinka Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 (edited) I found an ebay listing for the english version (I'm not about to pay $60, though!) The LWB does appear to be in english. And the translation seems OK, at least on the KH. Not a perfect translation - I think "Rentier" is a lot more specific than "Person of independent means" - but OK. https://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-1970-BP-Grimaud-The-Concise-Fortune-Teller-France-SEALED-Complete-Tarot-Deck/153725053933?hash=item23caba2bed:g:ZU0AAOSwE-pdzdbN Edited March 30, 2020 by katrinka
Decan Posted March 30, 2020 Author Posted March 30, 2020 Ah you have it finally! Yes 60$ is expensive for a little deck like this one.
katrinka Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 I have the french version. When I got it in the early 2000's, the english version was available for about the same price. I don't think either one was selling for more than about $10. So when you see all those listings for 1970's vintage, at least some of them are actually from 2005 or so. 🙄
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