After
six years of doing other things, I am now translating a recent note by
Franco Pratesi, all of whose work on playing cards, especially tarot,
can be seen on naibi.net, much of it there only in Italian. For an
introduction to other essays or notes of his now availble in English,
see my first post in Feb. 2017, updated slightly in 2021.
On July 5, 2023, Franco posted the note "Idee di un
egiziano. Cremona 1795," at http://naibi.net/A/CREM1795.pdf.
What follows is my translation (run through Google Translate and then
corrected). Insertions in brackets are mine. I have commented on this
essay at https://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2682, but for ease of reference I have transcribed it here, following Franco's essay.
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Ideas of an Egyptian. Cremona 1795
Franco Pratesi
1. Introduction
I have recently been conducting studies of pamphlets and almanacs printed at the end of the eighteenth century in the Milanese milieu. One in particular concerns an almanac with important descriptions of the game of tarocco, of interest to me.[1] In that case I had the opportunity to express various comments on that type of publications and their fate for a short-lived and unlikely presence currently in the various libraries; I write among other things that "The very idea of the almanac-calendar is the enemy of preservation!"
In the case under consideration here it is still about
tarot, but although the title speaks of a game of tarot, the subject is rather
that of the tarot cards used in the game - there is no information on the
actual playing practice useful here. If there was a need for proof of the
unfavorable fate of these almanacs, this could be cited; in fact, it would
appear that in the whole world today only two copies can be found (of which
only one for the introductory part), and both in the State Library of the same
city of Cremona, where they were produced not by any entrepreneur but by the
"printer of the diocese and the city."
(State library of Cremona - CIVA.A DD.8.2.12)
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This is how our Almanac is filed in the catalog:
Ideas of an Egyptian on the game of tarot almanac for the leap year 1796
Cremona : for Giuseppe Feraboli print. of the diocese and the city
Names: Bianchi, Isidoro <1731-1808> (Author). Feraboli, Giuseppe (Publisher)
Physical description [24] c.; 24° long
Notes: The introductory text, from c. [pi]2 to c. [pi]5, is by Isidoro Bianchi
2. The letter
I asked the Library for information on the initial part of my interest and they kindly sent me a complete scan, which I transcribe below, inserting capital letters as superscript in the few cases where I intend to add a comment.
SECOND (A) LETTER
My voyage in Europe has filled me with yet another astonishment, which is no less than the one I wrote you about last year. That famous book of ours, which contains the purest doctrine of our Elders, is there in everyone's hands. But there is no one who knows that this is a very rare Egyptian codex; no one tries to penetrate the meaning of the allegorical figures that it depicts. Among us too such a book is needed for our entertainment (B); but each of us knows well that our ancient Egyptians turned even the most useful knowledge into a game. The names preserved in this game are all Oriental, such as Taro, Mad, and Pagad. The word Tarrocco is composed of the following Egyptian terms, namely Tar, which means Road, [and] Ro, Ros, or Rog, which means royal, i.e. the royal road of life. In fact, our compatriots find in this game everything that can serve them as instruction throughout their lives. The name of the Madman [Pazzo] comes from the Eastern word Mat, which means drowsy [assopito] ; and the word Pagad, which the Italians call Bagatto, in the East Pa means Head, or Lord, and Gad, Fortune. In fact, the Bagatto is painted at a table like a Player of Bussolotti, which is meant to indicate that the entire life of man is nothing but a dream and a game. The figures that make up that book reach the number of 21, without the Madman, who has no number, thus wanting to show that we all have some branch of the madman. The figure of the Madman, who walks with such speed to escape a tiger which is pursuing him, is as described by Horace. But before him it was well known to the Egyptians, from whom he must have taken it. The first figure which distinguished with numbers, is the Bagatto. Numbers 2 and 3 represent two Women, and numbers 4 and 5 their Husbands. Those are among Us the leaders of Society. No. 4 represents the King, and no. 3 the Queen. Both are seated on a throne with the symbol of the eagle depicted on a shield. Both carry a scepter in their hand, on the end of which a Tau is seen. The King is seen in profile, and the Queen in front. Her throne is higher, and the King with his legs crossed sits on a chest shaped like a gondola. No. 5 represents the high priest, and no. 2 his wife the High Priestess. Everyone knows that in Egypt the Ministers of the cult are married. The dress of the High Priestess is all Egyptian, and she wears a double crown with two horns, as Isis wore; and the scepter with a triple cross, which is held in the right hand of the high priest, is also a wholly Egyptian monument, which can be seen expressed in a marble of the goddess just mentioned [the so-called Isiac Tablet – trans.]. It is carried around among us [fra di noi] when we celebrate [si celebra] the feast of having found Osiris, or the Sun, which, having been lost in Wintertime, appeared in Spring brighter than before. Osiris is therefore found in no. 7 in the form of a triumphant King seated on a chariot drawn by two white steeds. In number 6 are seen the figures of a Youth and a Girl, who are united in marriage with a love above them. A similar idea to indicate conjugal faith is found expressed in a marble reported by Boissard in his Antiquities Tom. 3. Plate 26. Numbers 8, 9, 12, 13 refer to four virtues that are too necessary for Man. No. 11 represents Strength. That is a Woman who, having become mistress of a Lion, tears it to pieces, as she might do with the smallest Dog. In No. 13 is expressed Temperance, who pours hot water from one vase into another to thus temper its heat. In no. 8 Justice is seen, who is placed on her
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throne holding a sword in one hand and scales in the other. In no. 12 we have Prudence, a virtue too necessary in human life. Such a virtue could not be expressed better than by keeping our eye on a young man who, placing one foot on the ground, keeps the other suspended, in order to carefully examine where to place it safely. However, the foolish Card makers, not understanding the beauty of the allegory expressed in this figure, had the temerity to alter it by painting a man hanged by his feet. No. 9 represents a venerable old man who, with a lantern in his left hand, seeks virtue and justice. In view of this ancient painting, many writers then imagined the story of Diogenes. In numbers 19, 18, 17 we have depicted the Sun, the Moon, Sirius, or rather the Canicole [Dog-star—trans.] with various emblems all conforming to the doctrine of the Egyptians. The sun distills from its rays tears of gold and pearls, as does the moon to indicate that it also contributes to the productions of the earth. Pausanias in the description of Phocis assures us that the tears of Isis, according to the Egyptians, were stars, which swelled the waters of the Nile every year, and which thus made the countryside of Egypt fertile. At the foot of the figure representing the Moon we see a Crayfish, or a Cancer [Cancro], and this either to symbolize the retrograde motion of the Moon itself, or to indicate that since the Sun and the Moon arise from Cancer, the floods caused by their tears occur. Beyond the Crayfish two towers can be observed, which express the two famous pillars of Hercules, and in the middle of the same, two dogs are seen, which seem to bark at the moon. These ideas are perfectly Egyptian. Our Ancients, always fond of allegory, compared the two Tropics to two Palaces, each of which was watched over by a Dog, who, like faithful Gatekeepers, held the two Luminaries in the middle of the sky without allowing them to move towards one or the other Pole. The Canicule [Dogstar] is also an allegorical figure, and absolutely Egyptian, called the Star, which rises when the Sun rises from the sign of Cancer; and the seven stars which surround her are the planets, among which she triumphs as a queen. The woman who spills two rivers from two vases, in whom Isis must be recognized, and the other objects that can be seen around her, are all Egyptian emblems. It is no wonder that in no. 13 we see Death. This is a war game. Number 13 represents an Egyptian personage, namely Typhon, brother of Osiris and Isis; and number 16 is a lesson against greed. The tower full of gold falls to ruin, and its worshipers are overthrown. No. 10 is a satire against Fortune. It is badly expressed in the no. 20 the Final Judgment. Rather, this figure represents the creation that took place at the beginning of Time. The time of facts, and not the world, is expressed in no. 21. All the other cards are divided into four suits, which signify the four estates into which the Egyptians were divided. A certain (C) Court de Gebelin was the only one in Europe who understood the allegory of this game.
I didn't keep the dots after the numbers, as was the custom at the time, but I didn't introduce any other writing update changes.
A. There is initially talk of a Second Letter, because in the previous year's almanac the author had initially inserted a similar letter, in which instead of an Egyptian there appeared an Oriental and instead of the game of tarot that of pharaoh.
B. In these terms, it would seem to mean that no one has raised the problem of the possible meaning of the tarot before; confirmed by the following “only in Europe”.
C. “A certain Court de Gebelin” sounds strange to us, because today it would have been more familiar if we had read about a certain Isidoro Bianchi who reproposed the thought of the well-known Court de Gébelin.
3. The author
It is very rare that the author of writings present in almanacs of this type is known. In this case there is a convergence of opinions that assures us of the authorship of the text, attributed to Isidoro Bianchi. On this Camaldolese friar who traveled a lot and taught and wrote a lot, we find more information than strictly necessary in the Biographical Dictionary of Italians.[2] Beyond
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remembering the dates of his birth and death, 1731-1808 in Cremona, I will focus only on a couple of points. The first concerns his long final stay in Cremona with a close relationship with the publisher Manini.
In Cremona he bonded closely with the publisher Lorenzo Manini, collaborating on the patriotic Novellista and on the almanac he published (with writings on the freedom of the grain trade, on the "influence of commerce on talents", on "common sense," “on the game of the pharaoh,” and “of the tarot”). In association with Gian Rinaldo Carli, he procured, from the same publisher, a re-edition of the American Letters, preceded by a dedication to B. Franklin (1781) and followed by an apology of this work against Clavigero's attacks (preface in the edition of the Works of G. R. Carli, XI, Milan 1785). He also gave an edition of Opuscoli eruditi by G. Allegranza (1781).
It can be noted that the name and date of the publisher in the reference to the tarot does not match with what can be verified in the Almanac in question; it may be that earlier editions existed, even closer to the French original. The second point of notable interest is his connection with Freemasonry, although not precisely defined.
B. could already be in contact with Freemasonry since the time of his travel and stay in southern Italy and in Denmark, even if we do not have probative documentation in this regard. The importance of the Cremonese lodge and the intense Masonic activity of Manini could make these links closer. He then collected a vast material for a history Of the Eleusinian mysteries and of the ancient arcanum and in 1786 he published a pamphlet, with the false indication of Ravenna, with Pietro Martire Neri, but printed in Cremona, Dell Istituto dei Veri Libero Muratori. He continued to be interested in Masonic life even later.
It is not strange that an ancient Bolognese
cartomancy-type writing was also found together with Masonic documents.[3]
4. Checks on the reputation and originality of the Almanac
A double comparison was necessary: on the one hand it was necessary to verify whether there were previous studies on this specific almanac; on the other hand, what in the text contained could be considered an original and personal contribution by Bianchi. Let us first look at the notoriety of the Almanac; it would be useless to report it here if it were already known by all interested parties. I have been informed by the Library that studies in this regard are not known, but articles in local periodicals and even in general works cannot be excluded. As it happens, the bibliography on tarot cards is vast, and it is precisely so because of the many fantasies of the genre that begin here. Since tarot has always interested me as a card game, I decided to limit the necessary check to a few but good sources. So I checked the existence of Isidoro Bianchi's text in the bibliographies of the first three volumes of Stuart Kaplan's Encyclopedia,[4] and I couldn't find it. Then I looked in vain for traces of it in a rigorous book by authors worthy of the maximum respect.[5] Finally, I looked for Isidoro Bianchi in the Tarot History Forum.[6] with the answer “0 matches” – something that happens very rarely in that kind of hodgepodge with an infinite number of discussions and information of all kinds. I finished here this type of checks. It may turn out that with this Almanac, it is as if I have rediscovered the wheel, but I cannot read hundreds of books and articles of which I hardly appreciate anything. It remains to be seen how original Isidoro Bianchi's "theory" is. In this case I find something vague already in the depths of my memory, but pages 57-64 of the book mentioned[7] were enough to
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confirm its full source in Court de Gébelin. Obviously, it would have been better if it had been an unknown original reconstruction, better if sufficiently credible, but the Letter itself referred to the Frenchman "only in Europe." However, in my opinion the Second Letter copied here retains some documentary value.
5. Concluding comments
First of all, the date of this Almanac is important, because Court de Gébelin had only published his pioneering text in 1781, a few years earlier. It is not easy to reconstruct exactly the passage from Paris to Cremona, but Bianchi had more than one possible channel at his disposal. He had traveled extensively and had also maintained close relationships with Parisian circles; he was connected to Freemasonry; he had access to bookstores and libraries internationally, and so on. The possible acceptance of these ideas is not clear, however, but the mere fact of using them as an introduction to the year's almanac makes it clear that a considerable appreciation from the public was being counted on. It remains uncertain how much tarot players were looking for explanations of this kind; if it really involved innovative interpretations, the easiest situation to imagine is that scholars and neophytes of esoteric cultures were decidedly more interested than the "real" tarot players. But this too is an important step: until then tarot cards only attracted the interest of those who used them to play with, but from then on anyone, even those who did not play with them, could find great, let's say philosophical, interest in them.
In the moment when the ideas of an Egyptian on the tarot somehow arrived in Cremona, a notable importance of our
derives precisely from its nature, being addressed to the entire citizenry as a booklet for useful daily consultation. What better advertising initiative could you imagine, capable of immediately spreading this new "philosophy" throughout an entire city?
Florence, 05.07.2023
[1] “Per chi tarocca ‒ Milano 1793” (For those who tarocca -Milan 1793). To be inserted on www.naibi.net
[3] F. Pratesi, L’As de Trèfle, N. 37 (1989) 10-11. http://www.naibi.net/A/22-BODIVADT-Z.pdf.
[4] Stuart R. Kaplan, The Encyclopedia of Tarot. Vol. I-III U.S. Games Systems, Stamford, CT 1979-1990.
[5] R. Decker, Th. Depaulis e M. Dummett, A Wicked Pack of Cards. Duckworth, London 2002
[6] https://forum.tarothistory.com/search.php?keywords=Isidoro+Bianchi&sid=8fd486a031c562a5c5bcf804f0b0d9f1
[7] [in note 5 - Pratesi's repetition of 5 changed to 7 for clarity by trans.]
COMMENTS ON FRANCO'S ESSAY by the translator Michael S. Howard
The other, which I want to talk about here, is a 1795 almanac (for 1796) that starts off with a lettera, the second in a series, the first, the previous year, having been about the game of pharaoh). It is a summary of Court de Gebelin's "discoveries" about the Egyptians' original meanings of the cards. The author is a certain Isadoro Bianchi (1730-1808) and the publisher is Giuseppe Feraboli, "stamp. vesc. e della città", i.e. printer for the diocese and the city. The city in question is Cremona.
This summary is mostly direct quotes, but unattributed, except with a nod at the end to Gebelin, as "the only one in Europe who has understood the allegory of the game" (p. 4 of my translation).
What I am going to do here is make some additional comments about the summary and its author.
COMPARING BIANCHI'S SUMMARY WITH GEBELIN'S ORIGINAL
It is in general an able abridgement, accurately translated into Italian, of what Gebelin says regarding the 21 trumps plus the Fool, as well as his derivations of tarrocco, mad (Bianchi's odd spelling of the Matto or Mat), and Bagatto. It is mostly Gebelin's own words, with his characteristic phraseology and scholarly references.
In case you were wondering what decks were actually available in 1794 Cremona, according to the histories of Italian card production they would have been Tarot de Marseille's, precisely what Gebelin was referring to. This was true even in Bologna Sometimes even the titles were in French, or else Italian translations of the French (except for "Maison-Dieu", for which they substituted "Il Torre").
What interested me was those few instances where Bianchi's summary departs from what Gebelin says, or what is on the cards. That might reveal something about the author's own preconceptions, I thought.
One error in describing a card is actually made by Gebelin, too, something I had never noticed before. Gebelin assigns the number XIII to Temperance, even though in all the French decks it was XIIII. The number XIII is even on Gebelin's illustration of the card. Here is Bianchi's description of the card
Comparing this to Gebelin himself, we find the number XIII but not the temperature of the water (Monde Primitif, Tome VIII, p. 372, at https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k ... texteImage.Nel num. 13 si esprime la Temperanza, che da un vaso versa dell’acqua calda in un
altro per temperare così il suo calore.
In no. 13 is expressed Temperance, who pours hot water from one vase into another to thus temper its heat.
To me this shows nothing about how Bianchi or others saw the card, but might about how they saw the stereotypical image of Temperance: as cooling hot water.XIII. La Tempérance . C'est une femme aîlée qui fait passer de l'eau d'un vase dans t un autre, pour tempérer la liquer qu'il renferme.
XIII. Temperance. It is a winged woman who passes water from one vase to another, to temper the liquor it contains.
What Bianchi says about number 11, Forza (Gebelin's Force), is also of interest.
Gebelin does not say such a thing, but says only that "she holds open its mouth, as she might that of her little spaniel" ("lui ouvre la gueule avec la même facilité qu'elle ouvriroit celle de son petit éspagneul"). So Bianchi is probably thinking of what Samson did to his young lion, or Hercules with his.Il num. 11 rappresenta la Forza. Quella è una Donna, che, resasi padrona di un Lione, lo sbrana, come potrebbe farsi del più piccolo Cane.
No. 11 depicts Strength. That is a Woman who, having become mistress of a Lion, tears him to pieces, as might be done with the smallest Dog.
When Bianchi gets to Death, he correctly identifies it as 13, despite its being the second card with that number. Not only that, but he gives the card that Gebelin identified with the Egyptian Typhon, brother of Isis and Osiris, the same number. Gebelin had associated Typhon with card 15, of course. As a result, Bianchi has nothing for card 15 at all. Bianchi:
Gebelin:Non è maraviglia, che nel num. 13 si vegga la Morte. Questo è un gioco di guerra. Rappresenta il num. 13 un personaggio Egizio, cioè Tifone, Fratello di Osiride, e di Iside.
It is no wonder that in number 13 is seen Death. this is a game of war. The number 13 represents an Egyptian personage, that is, Typhon, Brother of Osiris and Isis.
Finally, when it comes to the Sun and the Moon cards, 19 and 18, Bianchi cites Gebelin's story from Pausanias about the tears of Isis:Le no. XV représente le célebre personnage Egyptien Typhon, frere d'Osiris et d'Isis, le mauvais Principe, le grand Démon d'enfer.
No. XV represents the famous Egyptian personage Typhon, brother of Osiris and Isis, the bad Principle, the great Demon of hell.
This sentence appears between his mention of the Sun and his mention of the Moon, so it is not clear which card he is talking about. It doesn't matter, since these "tears" are on both cards. What is absent from the cards is any suggestion that they are stars; nor does Gebelin say that they are stars, although all the rest is a direct quote. Whether Bianchi has actually looked at the card is unclear. Gebelin (p. 373):Pausania nella descrizione della Focide ci assicura, che le lagrime d’ Iside, secondo gli Egiziani, erano stelle, che gonfiavano ogni anno leacque del Nilo, e che rendevano così fertili le campagne di Egitto.
Pausanias in the description of Phocis assures us that the tears of Isis, according to the Egyptians, were stars, which swelled the waters of the Nile every year, and which thus made the countryside of Egypt fertile.
At the end, Bianchi says, "A certain Court de Gebelin was the only one in Europe who understood the allegory of this game," his only acknowledgement of Gebelin. So for Bianchi, Gebelin is offering a unique interpretation, hitherto unknown in Europe.Pausanias nous apprend dans la Description de la Phocide, que, selon les Egyptiens, c'étoient les larmes d'Isis qui enfloient chaque année les eaux du Nil & qui rendoient ainsi les campagne de l'Egypte.
Pausanias teaches us in the Description of Phocis that, according to the Egyptians, it was the tears of Isis which swelled the waters of the Nile each year and which thus restored the countryside of Egypt.
DATE AND AUTHOR
While the almanac is dated 1795, its preface is quite possibly a reprint of work printed earlier. Pratesi refers to a rather long biography of Bianchi on Treccani, https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/is ... iografico). Besides his best-known work, the Meditations, and others, it mentions the almanac, including his piece on the tarot:
I wondered about this Lettere americane. I findat https://bookcollectorshop.com/products/2688, that its author, Gian Rinaldo Carli (1720-1795), also known by other names, was an Italian economist, historian, and antiquarian. That site continues, "This work contains Carli's letters theorizing about the origins of the American Indians, possibly from Europe via Atlantis to Brazil." Bianchi wrote the dedication. Carli was another pro-Austrian enlightenment intellectual and has his own biography in Treccani.Ripubblicò a Lodi, presso Antonio Pallavicini, nel 1779, le sue Meditazioni e riprese l'attività di pubblicista. A Cremona si legò strettamente con l'editore Lorenzo Manini, collaborando al Novellista patriotico e all'almanacco da questo pubblicato (con scritti sulla libertà del commercio dei grani, sull'"influenza del commercio sopra i talenti", sul "senso comune", "sul gioco del faraone" e "del tarocco"). Legatosi con Gian Rinaldo Carli, procurò, presso il medesimo editore, una riedizione delle Lettere americane, facendole precedere da una dedica a B. Franklin (1781) e seguire da un'apologia di quest'opera contro gli attacchi di Clavigero (prefazione nell'edizione delle Opere di G. R. Carli, XI, Milano 1785). Diede pure un'edizione degli Opuscoli eruditi di G. Allegranza (1781).
He republished his Meditations in Lodi, with Antonio Pallavicini, in 1779 and resumed his activity as a publicist. In Cremona he became closely linked with the publisher Lorenzo Manini , collaborating on the Novellista patriotico and on the almanac he published (with writings on the freedom of the grain trade , on the "influence of trade on talents", on "common sense", "on the game of pharaoh" and "of the tarocco"). Linked with Gian Rinaldo Carli, he procured from the same publisher a reprint of the Lettere americane, having them preceded by a dedication to B. Franklin (1781) and followed by an apology [i.e., defense] of this work against Clavigero's attacks (preface in the edition of the Opere of G.R. Carli[/i] XI, Milan 1785). He also gave an edition of the Opuscoli eruditi by G. Allegranza (1781).
Given the inclusion of the article on the tarot in Treccani's paragraph going from 1779 to 1781, Pratesi is justified in wondering if the 1795 publication is perhaps a reprint of something earlier.
Treccani says that he maintained a vast correspondence. Treccani lists a series of Italian and perhaps Portuguese or Spanish names, but no French ones. However, it adds (most of this part quoted by Pratesi):
In Denmark Bianchi had been part of a diplomatic mission for the Kingdom of Naples, working as secretary to the prince of Raffadala, for which he got permission from the Holy See to travel (Bianchi was a monk). I think that this prince must be Salvatore Montaperto Uberti e Branciforte, listed at https://www.geni.com/people/Salvatore-M ... 6102013685, ca. 1717 Palermo - 1801 Madrid. Naples was then one of the two most active centers of Masonry on the peninsula. Luca G. Manenti, in The Grand Orient of Italy, 2019 (online), p. 30, writes:È possibile che questa rete epistolare segua talvolta canali latomistici. Con la massoneria il B. poté già essere in contatto fin dal tempo del suo viaggio e soggiorno nell'Italia meridionale e in Danimarca, anche se non abbiamo una documentazione probante in proposito. L'importanza della loggia cremonese e l'intensa attività massonica di Manini poterono rendere più fitti questi suoi legami. Raccolse allora un vasto materiale per una storia Dei misteri eleusini e dell'antico arcano e nel 1786 pubblicò un opuscolo, con la falsa indicazione di Ravenna, presso Pietro Martire Neri, ma stampata a Cremona, Dell'istituto dei veri liberi muratori. Alla vita massonica continuò a interessarsi anche in seguito.
It is possible that this epistolary network sometimes follows Masonic [latomistica] channels. B.[Bianchi] could already be in contact with Masonry [massoneria] since the time of his travel and stay in southern Italy and in Denmark, even if we don't have any probative documentation in this regard. The importance of the Cremonese lodge and Manini's intense Masonic activity could make his ties even closer. He then collected a vast amount of material for a history of the Eleusinian mysteries and of the ancient arcane and in 1786 he published a pamphlet, with the false indication of Ravenna, with Pietro Martire Neri, but printed in Cremona, Of the institute of true free masons. He continued to be interested in Masonic life even later.
Treccani's biography also mentions that after Denmark, in 1776, Bianchi spent some months in Paris, where he met Rousseau and the encyclopedists among others, and then Bordeaux, traveling with the prince of Raffadala. Paris is an obvious place for contacts with Freemasons, as Franco observes.Most of the lodges were to be found in Turin and Naples, seats respectively of the Grand Priory of Italy, founded in 1775 and presided over by Count Gabriele Asinari of Bernezzo, and the Grand Lodge “Lo Zelo” [The Fervour], led by Francesco d'Aquino, prince of Caramanico and the favorite of Queen Maria Carolina.
Some of the correspondence between Bianchi and Manini in the relevant time period is online; I have not yet found any reference to Masons in it. It seems to be mostly about Latin and Greek inscriptions on marble slabs.
Bianchi's book Del Instituto dei veri liberi Muratori is online at https://books.google.com/books?id=EIEkk ... &q&f=false. It appears to be a speculative history going back to ancient times rather than an account of recent actual Masons, although they are mentioned in very general terms and never referring to Italy. Actual Masons were called "Franchi Muratori," or "Franc-Maçons," as opposed to "Liberi Muratori." Both mean "Free Masons". I do not know the term "Liberi Muratori" outside of Bianchi.
Pratesi does not go into the political situation at this time in relation to our author, but it seems to me worth mentioning. Lombardy, including Cremona, was at the time of Bianchi's return (starting 1779), occupied until 1796 by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bianchi expressed himself a fervent supporter of the enlightenment-oriented emperor Joseph II, Trecanni says. This is the emperor who supported Mozart, and also religious toleration and Freemasonry, as did his immediate successor (who died in 1792). In fact, it seems that Bianchi owed his job to Austrian connections: the count of Fermian, plenipotentiary to Maria-Theresa (n. 5, p. 238 of the Correspondence Inedite, https://www.persee.fr/doc/mefr_0223-487 ... _13_1_6096), enabling him to leave the Calmadolese monastery in Classe, outside of Ravenna, where he then lived and taught, and take up a professorship at the gymnasium (academic high school) of Cremona, his hometown. He even tried to get himself defrocked, unsuccessfully. Treccani says that his friends warned him that if he entered the papal state, he would be arrested by the Inquisition. After the French Republic invaded in 1796, he managed to keep his teaching position; there is a letter urging him to teach republicanism. When the Austrians took over again, Bianchi wrote against the previous French occupiers. When France retook Lombardy, Bianchi had to retire but kept his pension.
RELATIONSHIP TO THE BOLOGNESE CARTOMANCY DOCUMENT
Franco in his comments reminds the reader of the fact that the Bolognese cartomancy document was (and is) stored at the University of Bologna Library (BUB) with material on freemasonry ("Franc-Maçons"). I can say a little about that, since the storage seems not to have changed. It is 3 pages, "Dall'origine dei Franc-Maçons," BUB_4029-R-2; the cartomancy document is 2 pages BUB_4029-R.
BUB_4029-R (cartomancy):
BUB_4029-R2 (freemasonry):
The handwriting of the freemasonry document of subfolder BUB 4029R-2 seems to me, and to Franco, similar to that of the cartomancy document in the nearby subfolder 4029R (file 4029 itself has many subfolders, each with a letter of the alphabet; R is the highest). I asked Franco what date range he would give for this style of handwriting. He emailed back, "1750-1850," adding that perhaps an expert could give a narrower range. Lorenzo Cuppi, in his article discussing the cartomancy document, said
("Tarocchino Bolognese. Due Nuovi Manuscritti Scoperti e Alcune Osservazioni, Part II," The Playing Card 30, No. 4 (2003) p. 191.)Regardo a questo manoscritto vorrei osservare brevemente che esso si trova tra manoscritti del 1760 e che la sua grafia e talmente moderna che puo sembrare ottocentesca.
Regarding the manuscript, I would like to remark briefly that it is found among manuscripts from 1760 and that the handwriting is so modern that it may seem nineteenth century.
Cuppi supposed it to be a copy of the original (probably based on the erroneous supposition that fantesche - female pages, maids - stopped being used in Bologna by 1760).
There is also a BUB_4029-R-1, a 2 page letter, plus a doodle on the back of the second page, that purports to be the translation of a letter from Paris. Pratesi tells me that the handwriting of this letter looks "foreign"; it seems to me similar to French handwriting I have seen. I can't read it, but it doesn't seem to pertain to either freemasonry or cards. There is no date, but the subfolder tab has the dates 1783-1784 printed on the other side; someone recycled the back of a handout of some kind. Below, I have flipped (left and right) and enhanced the scan so that the other side is more legible.
In the handwritten Freemasonry document 4029-R-2, the last date I can make out is 1766. When I emailed the scan to Franco, he noticed a large watermark on the center of the 2nd and 3rd pages, the letters DV in a circle. If anyone knows that watermark, it might at least help document the time and place of the paper that was used:
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