Below is my translation (with Franco's help) of "Atlante tascabile e minchiate del 1780," at https://www.naibi.net/A/83-atlante-02.pdf, originally published in The Playing-Card
Vol. 47, No. 4 (April-June 2019), pp. 230-240. As usual, comments in
square brackets are mine, after consulting with Franco, for
clarification purposes. Numbers by themselves in the left margin are the
journal page numbers, and the footnotes are at the bottom of these
pages. Before the essay there is a brief English summary.
Pocket atlas and minchiate from 1780
Franco Pratesi
English Summary
Pocket Atlas and Minchiate from 1780. This study was first carried out
in the Biblioteca Riccardiana of Florence, beginning with a detailed
inventory of its books, compiled in 1810; a title there read Gioco delle
minchiate geografico, clearly that was a nice incentive for research.
Aniello Lamberti engraved the figures and was the most active person in
advertising the publication enterprise; his partners Giovanni de Baillou
and Agostino da Rabatta were renowned experts of geography and science
in Florence at the time.
A search in the OPAC indicated that a second copy was present in the
Faenza library. The study has been continued with current web tools and
several further items and descriptions were found, coming more from
specialists of geography than from playing-card experts. All the copies
found in public and private libraries have been reviewed, including one
case of evident use as playing cards.
The conclusion is that this extraordinary object - with very few
surviving copies - was used both as a pack of playing cards and as
engravings to be hung on walls, in addition to its main use as an
updated pocket atlas of the world, which included countries such as New
Zealand that had just been discovered at the time of its publication.
Introduction
Among the numerous customs that affected playing cards there was also
that of decorating them with geographical maps. Entire books have been
written on this particular type of cards, understandably quite rare,
which has nevertheless found space among collectors, always in search of
out-of-the-ordinary motifs. Sylvia Mann also had a pioneering role in
this sector, [note 1] although her
greatest merit was that of having made ordinary decks of cards
appreciated as a priority, even by collectors themselves (or at least of
having tried).
At the origin of this study is an inventory of the works present in
1810 in the Riccardiana Library in Florence. This catalog was officially
compiled on the occasion of the sale of the entire collection and
should therefore be considered completely reliable; it has recently been
reproduced in digital form on the web pages of the Library. [note 2].
Among the works listed we can note: “2341 Baillou, and Rabatta, gioco
delle minchiate geografico [geographic game of minchiate]. Florence 1779
in l6°.” The particular deck of cards in question looks like a pocket
atlas. Already in the long title
____________________
1. S. Mann, D. Kingsley, Playing cards, depicting maps of British Isles, and of English and Welsh counties. London 1972.
2. www.riccardiana.firenze.sbn.it/BRFI_INV ... A_1810.pdf [not currently found, but now see https://www.google.it/books/edition/Inv ... frontcover]
231
its usefulness for the study of geography and ancient and modern history [note 3] is
indicated. The reduced dimensions of the pages have been utilized to
offer the work another possibility: to be used as a deck of playing
cards, not an ordinary one, but a Florentine minchiate, with all its 97
cards; it is a well-known fact that at that time, minchiate enjoyed
widespread popularity in Florence.
The atlas is known to historians of cartography such as Vladimiro
Valerio, who described it in his extensive review of works of the genre.
[note 4] A peculiarity of this
tiny atlas is that the suit-signs of the playing cards are also
indicated on the geographical maps, and it was printed only on the
fronts of the pages, so that each page can serve precisely as the figure
of a playing card, also having comparable dimensions.
Special features of the atlas
Format
In the "Prospectus of the Work," printed in three pages at the beginning
of the book, at least in the Riccardiana copy, the particular character
of this Atlas is also underlined.
__________________Once the first V [five] Cards [carte, also = Sheets] have been removed, each of the others is divided into two parts: in the upper part the Card [carta] of a given Province is outlined, and in the lower part a small Table where the general division can be seen at a glance, and details of that Province, its Relevance, and the Quality of Government: Arabic numbers repeated in the Geographical Card [carta] precede each district to identify the situation; as well as that of the respective Capitals, which are followed by the names of the ancient Peoples corresponding inhabitants of those Districts and Cities; then by means of some Asterisks explained in a separate small Table affixed to each City its former qualities are known, e.g. whether it is a Bishopric, a Presidium, in the Plain, in the Mountains, on the bank of a River, etc.
3. G. di Baillou, A. da Rabatta, Nuovo atlante generale metodico ed elementare tascabile per lo studio della geografia ed istoria antica, e moderna arricchito di varie carte delle nuove scoperte. Florence 1779.
4. See Valerio, L'Universo, Vol. 70 N. 3 (1990), 298-353.
232
The geographical maps [carte - the same word in Italian used for both cards and maps] appear as hand-colored engravings in pale tones of pink, yellow, and a few other colors. The new pocket atlas does not limit itself to presenting geographical maps [carte]: these usually only occupy half of the page, typically the top half. The maps in atlases of similar dimensions are usually printed full page, or on two facing pages; therefore, these maps, finely engraved, can be considered among the smallest printed, if not the smallest ever.
Halfway down the page will be found the symbols that indicate which playing card [carta da gioco]
it is; at the bottom there are lists of the main places, with the types
of government and information on the administrative subdivisions. In
effect, this is detailed information that was not normally reported in
atlases, even larger ones. The indicated schema is not always strictly
respected: some pages show two geographical maps without annotations;
even the division of the page between map and notes is not repeated in a
rigorous manner and one of the two parts can be much larger than the
other.
Layout
In Valerio’s article already cited, it was noted that the copy preserved
in Rome was printed double-sided, while a second copy preserved in a
private collection had the geographical maps only on the front of the
page; only in the second case would it have been possible to use the
pages of the atlas as playing cards. That peculiarity now appears more
common: all the other specimens traced are printed only on one side of
the sheet; normally, therefore, when you open a book you will find a
blank page on the left and one with a map on the right; or pairs of
facing maps appear, with pairs of blank pages between them.
Correspondence of geographical maps and playing cards [carte geografiche e da gioco]
The following table lists all the cards in the deck of minchiate, in the
order in which they appear in the Riccardiana’s book; for each card (in
the suits of BAtons, SWords, CUps and COins) the corresponding
geographical card is indicated [and similarly Ki for King, Qu for Queen,
Kn for Knight, and Pa for Page; the original has BAStoni, SPAde, COPpe,
DENari, then Re, Do, Ca, and Fa, for Re, Donna, Cavaliere, and Fante].
233
Mann and Kingsley's 1972 publication is clearly of interest both in the cartographic field and for the history of playing cards. It is precisely in the second sector that Sylvia Mann played an important pioneering role. As has
234
occurred among historians of playing cards, also in the cartographic and geographical fields in general, the fame of this particular atlas has remained rather limited. It was examined for the first time by Valerio in 1988 [note 5] and in 1990 in the important review already mentioned; little progress has been made since then. The atlas is briefly described in specialist reviews of the late twentieth century such as King's Miniature antique maps and Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers; van der Heijden also takes it into account in Oude kaarten der Nederlanden, for the United Provinces and the Low Countries, but only indicates the presence of examples in Chicago, Leinfelden and Rome.
That the book is actually an atlas is certain; equally certain is that as an atlas it is not among the common specimens. The term "Atlantic” sheet is used in stationery to indicate the largest format available for a sheet of paper, which today would be referred to as A2; this makes it even more evident that this atlas is very out of the ordinary. However, it is not the first object of this kind; Valerio's study specifically indicates a previous rather similar edition, published in Paris in 1762. The experts' comment is that these objects met the fashion of the time for tiny and valuable objects.
Book as minchiate
We can understand the trend of fashion towards unusual books and atlases like these, but what does minchiate have to do with it? At the same time, only in Florence (or at least more than any other place) could one think of that strange combination of minchiate and atlas. For a historian of playing cards, the problem arises of understanding whether the obvious analogy with a deck of minchiate was introduced to use these pages also as playing cards, or whether it was just a kind of additional decoration on the atlas. One might think that our atlas was nothing more than the result of a ploy to have a pack of minchiate at one's disposal while evading any control over manufacturing and marketing, and avoiding any stamp duty; in short,
__________
5. See Valerio, The Map Collector, 45 (1988), 10-18.
235
a deck of playing cards with additional content that is only apparently educational in nature.
However, there are several clues to make us think that it is a book conceived above all as a geographical atlas, albeit of an unusual format. If geographical maps [carte] had been nothing more than an additional function compared to their main use as playing cards, there would have been no need to compose them with such care, both in the fineness of the engravings and in the updating of the descriptions, up to and including areas discovered in recent months. It is also true that the typical symbols of playing cards are present on each of these cards, but in a way that is too inconspicuous for comfortable use by players, accustomed to "reading" very different figures, drawn across the board and painted in bright colors.
Authors and their contributions
To better understand the situation, it is useful to know something more about the people interested in the project: Baron Giovanni de Baillou, friar Agostino da Rabatta, and the engraver Aniello Lamberti.
Giovanni de Baillou. Essential biographical data can be found in the Dizionario biografico degli Italiani [Biographical Dictionary of Italians]. Of a noble family originally from Flanders, he was born in Livorno in 1758 and died in Florence in 1819. In the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, he received high-level official positions. Among his main interests was the theatre, but he also distinguished himself in other fields for his vast linguistic knowledge, his studies of law and, in particular, he was professionally active and appreciated as a geographer.
Agostino da Rabatta. To better define the activity of this friar, it is necessary to insert ourselves into the context of the scientific studies of the time, which saw notable progress in Florence, also in connection with the most recent Parisian developments. Several of his handwritten works are preserved in the Conventi soppressi [Suppressed Convents] collection of the National Central Library of Florence; mostly they are didactic texts on theological and philosophical topics. However, the sector in which he stood out the most was aerostatics. After previous local experiments, when news of Montgolfier's successes arrived from France, Agostino da Rabatta with a couple of confraternity brothers created prototypes of aerostats which, in a couple of very successful demonstrations, aroused the interest of the whole city.
Aniello Lamberti. Of the three people involved, Lamberti's role is the most specific: in the pocket atlas initiative he played the role of engraver, which coincided with his profession. There are no other works of his in the field of playing cards, nor of atlases; however, as an engraver, Lamberti
236
had notable fame and was able to work for not only the Florentine but also the Neapolitan courts. His engravings commissioned to illustrate the Boboli Gardens and later the royal palace of Naples and the excavations of Pompeii met with considerable success. His activity was also appreciated in scientific publications which he illustrated in an original way.
Authors' contributions.
Also of some interest is the fact that thanks to the "Notice to the Public" we are informed about the very manner in which the work was created, using plates, each with four engraved cards.
______________
6. http://trionfi.com/minchiate-atalante-1779
237
Specimens traced
The small format of the edition and the print run itself, originally limited and split at different times, make it unlikely that preserved copies will be found. In addition to the large public libraries of Florence, one can search in the private libraries of two types of collectors, corresponding to the two characteristics of the book: geography enthusiasts and playing card collectors. There are, and have been, copies on sale on the book market, as we will see. A brief description of the copies found will clarify the situation.
Riccardiana Library, Florence. In the public libraries of Florence, which are also very rich in ancient collections, no other specimen is found other than that of the Riccardiana, BRF 2341. The fact of finding it already listed in the 1810 Inventorio constitutes proof of its early inclusion in this Florentine collection. The dimensions of the pages (11x7 cm) are slightly larger than those of the cards glued on top (10.7x6.5 cm). All figures are inserted in a rectangular frame of 9.5x5.3 cm. This atlas-book is more complete than usual, thanks also to the interesting "Notice to the Public," inserted at the end and bound together with the cards. The binding is in cardboard covered with marbled paper [as decoration]. At the top of the back there is a label glued with the title Nuovo Atlante [New Atlas] written in pen.
Manfrediana Library, Faenza. Using OPAC, an example can be found in the Manfrediana Municipal Library of Faenza with location R 2-1-16. We have confirmation from the library of the layout: when opening the book, we encounter alternatively either two pages with geographical maps [carte] or two blank pages; evidently, rather than the printing method, the binding method has changed here. Other information was added by the librarian Fabiano Zambelli. The booklet is part of the Gioacchino Regoli Donation. With the exception of Regoli's ex-libris there are no other ownership notes; the binding is in leather with small gold friezes on the plates and on the back; at the top there is a leather scroll with the imprint: Novvea atlas; the covers are marbled.
Library of the Italian Geographical Society, Rome. From Valerio's article there is information of a specimen in Rome at the Italian Geographical Society. [note 7] This is the specimen that was reported first in the world of cartographers. Some additional information was also obtained from the librarian of the Italian Geographical Society, Marina Scionti: The small volume is printed on both sides of the sheets; the cover is made of cardboard. There is a dedication in pen: gift from correspondent Member. Prof. E Teza (?) October 1905. Its main characteristic, which distinguishes it from the others we know of, is therefore that all the pages have figures on both the front and the back; which obviously involves both a reduction in thickness and the impossibility of using these pages as playing cards.
__________________
7. www.societageografica.it/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=13 [at this posting a dubious link]
238
Spielkartenmuseum Collection, Leinfelden-Echterdingen. This atlas was used in the aforementioned book by Sylvia Mann and David Kingsley, who had an example available in the Mann collection and were therefore able to reproduce a couple of cards (IX and X of cups). That specimen has become better known to playing card enthusiasts thanks to the interest of the Spielkarten-Museum in Leinfelden-Echterdingen (Inv. Nr. 1991 - 25, acquired in 1991) and in particular of the expert Detlef Hoffmann, who gave information in his books. [note 8] It turns out that the cards of this atlas are made up of several layers, while what usually appears as the intermediate white sheet within the printed cards has here a motif of black crosses on a light background. From the Museum, Annette Köger communicated the data reported and the information that this example is missing the frontispiece.
Newberry Library, Chicago. An example is preserved in Chicago in the Newberry Library with the signature VAULT Ayer G1015.R33 1779. Some particularities of this copy are indicated in the two different catalogs of the library. [Note 9] Other information was communicated by Jim Akerman, curator of the relevant section of the library, in particular, that this specimen was missing three initial cards, for which photocopies taken from the book of the Italian Geographical Society were inserted.
A - Crini Collection, Florence. A private communication from Valerio reported the presence of a specimen in the rich library of Pietro Crini, a Florentine collector of atlases and geographical maps. It was the only one Valerio had information of, in addition to the one he had been able to consult in Rome at the Italian Geographical Society. The specimen entered the collection around 1980, following purchase on the book market. The binding is of excellent quality, all in dark leather decorated in gold and embossed on the spine at the top: Nuovo Atlante [New Atlas], and at the bottom: 1779. On the first page the surname Romiti has been written, evidently one of the previous owners, of which, however, no traces have been preserved. Also in this case, we observe the alternation of printed and blank pages, as in the Faenza example.
Pagliani Collection, Milan. This specimen was described in a book dedicated to the rich collection of small atlases collected by Paolo Pagliani in Milan; [note 10] Unfortunately, we also read that this rare piece was stolen in May 1998, along with others from the collection. From the description it is clear that the curator did not know the minchiate: "The numbering of the geographical cards is curious, using instead of numbers, zodiac signs, allegories of capital sins and theological virtues, sticks, swords, cups and coins on the Neapolitan cards." The relative presentation also required little effort: “Nothing is known about the A. [Author] except that he was active in Florence in the second
_____________________
8. D. Hoffmann, Tarot - Tarock - Tarocchi. Leinfelden 1988; same author, Kultur und Kunstgeschichte der Spielkarte. Marburg 1995.
9. Newberry Library. Dict. cat. of the E. E. Ayer Coll., Vol. 2, p. 510.
10. M. Bonomelli, Atlas minor: atlanti tascabili dal 16. al 18. Milan 2001.
239
half of the 18th century. Similar consideration must be made regarding this work, which is not reported in the inventories." On this atlas, an autograph dedication was present, also dated in Florence, but in 1882, and at the beginning, the ownership stamp of the Antonio Limoncelli Library.
Mario Cuciniello Collection, Rome. After many copies of the Atlas, seen especially in the geographical context, news has finally appeared of one that looks just like a deck of minchiate, contained in its own box, as typically happens with many decks of playing cards, albeit in this case uncommon. It is an object owned by a Roman family who has kept it for more than a century. In the first half of the twentieth century, it was part of the Mario Cuciniello Collection in Rome, where that lawyer of Neapolitan origins, collector and bibliophile lived. This precious specimen, probably the only one of its kind preserved, was still in the possession of the same Roman family at the end of 2018, namely by Enrica Schettini Piazza, who had received it as a gift from her lawyer grandfather as a child. Of all the specimens carefully examined or just glimpsed (like this one), it is undoubtedly the most interesting for the history of playing cards; we are in the presence of a deck of cards uniformly cut into the dimensions of 10x6 cm. As can be seen in the figure, here the recreational use is evident, even if it can reasonably be assumed to be very sporadic. A further advantage of this object is that together with the cards there is a copy of the useful Notice to the Public, which until now had only been identified in the copy of the Riccardiana Library, preserved here in a previous version, printed in italics.
B - Crini Collection, Florence. This example is different from all the others, as the work was not bound as a book, but left in the form of loose sheets. How many sheets? Not the hundred of the various editions but the twenty-four original sheets, obtained directly without cuts from the copper plates on each of which four cards had been engraved. The missing cards here are those that constitute the title page in the book and another couple of initial cards, in addition to the figure of the Fool, which turns out to have been printed separately. The addition of these last cards must not have occurred in a homogeneous manner, so much so that in the preserved books they are partly absent, partly inserted without a fixed position, at the beginning or at the end.
In this copy, the coloring is faded or absent; however, this is the only
240
example, which allows us to glimpse the third possible application indicated by the engraver: small pictures to hang in studies "to decorate Studies."
Cards sold separately. Unfortunately, from a commercial point of view, the custom of selling the cards individually is preferred, which can favor the seller's profit. Selling individual geographical cards can appeal to local history enthusiasts, who will be interested in purchasing, even at very high prices, a geographical card of their region, so old as to represent an important historical relic. It is easy to imagine several sales of this type, even if detailed information and prices are only available on the internet for a few. We can thus overlook, for example, a card of Ireland, on sale online, or an isolated card with Corsica and Sardinia present in an auction catalog, but it seems appropriate to point out at least one catalog from 2013 which of these loose cards put up for auction as many as twenty-eight [note 11] and a seller who, still in 2018, offers as many as thirty-three. [note 12]
Conclusions
The book described here is both an unusual pocket-sized atlas and an equally unusual pack of minchiate. Information was collected on the existing examples and on the promoters of the initiative that led to the printing. In reality, each engraving was originally made on a copper plate on which four cards or pages were drawn. The same sheets could be used as decorative prints to frame and hang on the walls of the studies, or be cut to obtain individual cards, intended as geographical or for the game; in the first case, these loose sheets were usually bound as atlas-books; in the second they were preserved in special boxes. While this work has great interest in the history of cartography (if only for the timely inclusion of newly discovered regions, such as New Zealand), the interest for the history of playing cards is limited, if not as evidence of a decidedly extraordinary pack of minchiate. To conclude in this way, however, we must have absorbed Sylvia Mann's great lesson, that is, it is the ordinary decks of playing cards, the ones least sought after by collectors, that provide us with the most historically important information; otherwise, for any collector looking for rare pieces, it would be difficult to point out more desirable examples than these.
________________
11. https://www.gonnelli.it/uploads/auctions/catalogo12.pdf
12. https://alteagallery.com/
