From 1738 (Etteilla's birth) to 1783

 Introduction

This blog is an updated version of the thread "Etteilla and Variants Timeline II" on Aeclectic Tarot Forum, done in January, 2016, at http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=250106. Since Aeclectic is now closed, items and links cannot be added to it. Yet new information and links are being found all the time. Hence this blog, which copies and builds on Timeline II. I have added numerous links, especially to printed works by Etteilla and his followers  now online.

Besides Timeline II, there is also its first version, at http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=122602, to which many of the links below direct one, as well as 10 or 12 other threads on Aeclectic and a few on Tarot History Forum.But is so long - 389 posts, many of them quite lengthy, over 41 pages - that something shorter was needed.

The idea is that if you know roughly the year for something historically Etteilla-related, you can go to that year on the Timeline, which will then summarize that year and provide links more material. I have tried to give enough information so as to enable one to find another link in case the one I have given becomes broken. I have divided the timeline into four sections for easy access, listed at right. The fifth is my scans of two works by Etteilla and a third published by him, added because they are short and not found elsewhere on the Internet that I know of.

I will try to update periodically. Feel free to comment if I have missed something.or you see an error on my part. Updating of January 2020 is in bold red. These additions are mainly the result of input from "Huck"and "SteveM" on the thread "Collection to Etteilla followers" (http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=827) and "Tarot John" on the thread  "Origin of the Etteilla II lower panels" (http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1554). . I have put links to their posts in the relevant places.  

 Abbreviations: DDD = Ron Decker, Thierry Depaulis and Michael Dummett, A Wicked Pack of Cards, 1996. Kaplan = Encyclopedia of Tarot (vol. 1, 1978; vol 2, 1984). LWB = Little White Book (booklet that comes with a deck of cards).

The Timeline

Before 1738. For 16th century Italy, 16th-17th century Spain especially, see Ross Caldwell at http://www.academia.edu/6477311/Brief_history_of_cartomancy and at http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=115111. For a timeline of other early uses of playing cards for fortune-telling, especially England starting 1620, see https://marygreer.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/origins-of-divination-with-playing-cards. As far as decks are concerned, besides ordinary French-suited playing cards, there were the "Tarot de Marseille", used then mainly in the south of France and the "Tarot de Besancon" variant with Jupiter and Juno instead of the "Marseille" Pope and Popess, used on the eastern border of France and in western Switzerland. Another variant, in northern Belgium as well as France near Belgium, had Bacchus and a "Spanish captain" instead of the Pope and Popess. There was also the "Minchiate Francese", of 98 cards, sometimes fewer, designed and made by  Francois de Poilley I and II, Paris, of which card 1, "The Chaos", is at right, from a deck said by the current manufacturer to date to 1730. All of these influenced what was to come

1738. Jean-Baptiste Alliette born (per burial certificate, which says he died 12.12.1791 at age 53), by his account (at end of Zodiac Mysterieux, 1772) on 1 March, in Paris (in Lettre sur l'Oracle du Jour, 1772), all per Decker, Depaulis, and Dummett [DDD], Wicked Pack of Cards 1996, p. 76), son of a caterer (“maitre rotisseur,” DDD p. 77) by the same name. (In "Apperçu d'un Rigoriste sur la Cartonomancie et sur son Auteur" (see 1785 entry) he says he was born on April 25, 1745 (p. 6 of online version]. This contradicts his burial certificate, of course.)

Before 1750. Divination with tarot cards is recorded in a manuscript of Bologna, Italy, It uses 35 of the 62 cards of the Bolognese Tarocchini deck, divided into 5 piles of 7 cards each, with short divinatory meanings listed for each of the 35. The manuscript was discovered by Franco Pratesi, whose article is at http://trionfi.com/pratesi-cartomancer (for the specific topic, go to “cartomancy list”).

1751-1753. This is from Etteilla or a close follower endorsed by him, in a 45 page booklet printed 1791 and reprinted 1796, except for changing the spelling of "cartonomancie" to "cartomancie" (DDD, pp. 96-98 and 274 note 64, the 1796 seemingly reprinted with English translation in the Little White Book (LWB) to the currently published Petit Etteilla, title page at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ykZ98EagMQeAMxjm5YJHbLabpScVItAUwdabwy1fopTUkLVgwYuAHMk9fiQHYa7CZHdZhGy_6S7UPtQk-7p-ALWqeJ_kmDvVCziJ9jxK7nX90OwzyIElpXU7JTRT_YsGhoQPQGVv3E_0/s1600/petitTitley7.jpg). The passage quoted below is from LWB pp.9-10, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitjyTB5y8OZ3oZC4ufCxp2fx1LcFX5Bi8hCO-XhsKMhIV0nisu7_dVa_KzbnhmzDoNxdVr7ob0AXS0nXJXuLSOOgf4Em6cu6SwwwDOWI-ho-SsaSKNyYpPQ8Sy2ZC1YvNV0nSk00RsfPNd/s1600/petit8y9.jpg and https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNNyNzixMgIekZnzOtH8mrxWRcKmQ32quJWLdUfPjG2L88hJAMrsZW8QfbjRDDtp1u0wlG2_ZQKKRVjVBSnj3_NQebNnb7AHrl71xQkcj6URhs7cUBTcWoQBLYsJIcxDQe52Juihl3DK4/s1600/Petit10et11.jpg.
Quote:

In 1750, the art of drawing cards was unknown in France; but in 1751, 1752, and 1753, three elderly people worked at drawing them. They were right, although having shuffled and cut a deck of 32 cards, they read the cards one by one; and when the Enquirer had drawn a sword, that [these old people alleged] announced sorrow; likewise hearts foretold happiness, diamonds the country [la campagne, mistranslated as “campaigns” in the English translation] and clubs money. Fanaticism cried sacrilege, and in order to save these alleged sorcerers from the devouts, they were locked up, without being listened to, in Bicetre or the Salpetriere.

As DDD note, the characterization of the suits is the same as de Mellet’s in 1781. The Bicetre was one of the places where the Marquis de Sade later was sent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bic%C3%AAtre_Hospital ). The Salpetriere was a prison for prostitutes, the mentally disabled, the criminally insane, and the poor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piti%C3%A9-Salp%C3%AAtri%C3%A8re_Hospital).

1752. "Tirer les cartes" (drawing or reading the cards, for fortune-telling) mentioned in a play in Paris, "Paradie L'Omphale". See Kwaw at http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4601075&postcount=3.

1753. LWB pp. 10-12, for which see the previous entry, plus https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyXnrIxiGzCxGMlzq-Dylw-0WZERDkFb8f0_cTyZFdSZmH6gcFBx7XY81ZEVsbJL5uZh23LCkYoT47ns5oV6KN2fYo2b_2akbENXhjmEDwhsPmv6MYbwE2ItPkK5de-UBWUhkqbAWGPB5c/s1600/Petit12y13.jpg.
Quote:

From 1753, our savant renovated cartomancy by throwing out the art of drawing the cards one by one and replacing it with the art of reading the cards on the table as a whole. ... In giving the way of reading the significance of the cards, our author from 1753 wrote up not only the false meanings given each in their own way by the three elderly people but also gave the legitimate meanings, taking that of victory for the 9 of hearts, which was wrongly allocated to the 9 of diamonds by one of the three people, etc. The art of drawing cards, according to Etteilla, could not be as modern as an invention as French cards. With the backing of ancient manuscript, he thought it came from the 33 sticks of a Greek, who used them in Gaul to pronounce oracles and had taken or naturally had the name Alpha.

This account, from the current Petit Etteilla LWB, is at variance with DDD’s in one respect: they say it was the 9 of spades that for Etteilla deserved the meaning “victory”. (In the actual Petit Etteilla, Victory is the 9 of Hearts.) Either way, the passage dates Etteilla’s first writing on cartomancy to 1753. DDD p. 78 note that in his 1785 Philosophie des Hautes Sciences p. 116, he also speaks of 1753 as the date of his first writings. They also cite a statement by the editor of an “an V” (1796-7) book on cartomancy (see entry “1796-1797”), the editor says that he is simply “transcribing verbatim a short work of some folios which appeared at the end of the year 1771, under the title of Le Petit Etteilla.” DDD go on (all p. 98):

Quote:

Etteilla allowed him [the editor] to reprint this ‘petit amusement’, since he had ‘given this method of reading the cards when he was 15 or 16 years old, and having verified it just at 33.’ Researches have failed to discover such a book, and we must note that Etteilla himself never mentions any work printed in 1771 or 1772. But 22 years is exactly Etteilla’s age in 1771, who actually ‘was 15 or 16 years old’ in 1753.

DDD think that what follows in the “an V”("year 5) book, the “short work of some folios” is in fact the “Abrege de [Synopsis of] Cartomancie” of 1753. Whether it is the same as what appears in the modern LWB’s explanation of cartomancy is not clear. Only one section, called “Fragment d’Etteilla” (pp. 38-55 of modern LWB), is actually attributed to Etteilla. It says nothing about how to read the cards; instead, it is a very general account of the significance of card-reading in relation to the conduct of one’s life. Also, Etteilla does not claim that either this 1753 work or the 1757 that followed existed in a printed edition. In fact, Etteilla or his follower speaks of the “tyranny” that existed then, with its arrests and imprisonments (LWB p. 10). In 1770 he “opposed himself to the ignorance of fanaticism with as much force as reasoning and skill”. 1770 would seem to be the year of Etteilla’s first printed book, for which see entry 1770 below. That book significantly has as its frontispiece a man labeled "Alpha" at a table doing calculations while cards are spread out to one side (image taken from http://expositions.bnf.fr/jeux/grand/132.htm.

1757. Etteilla writes again, apparently a revised version of the 1753 work. as well as meeting his instructor in the tarot (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyXnrIxiGzCxGMlzq-Dylw-0WZERDkFb8f0_cTyZFdSZmH6gcFBx7XY81ZEVsbJL5uZh23LCkYoT47ns5oV6KN2fYo2b_2akbENXhjmEDwhsPmv6MYbwE2ItPkK5de-UBWUhkqbAWGPB5c/s1600/Petit12y13.jpg):

Quote:

In the synopsis [abrege] of 1757, our author does not fail to emphasize again that drawing the cards one by one, so as to explicate them one by one, was an ignorance imitating the manner of finding oracles in the Odyssey of Homer, the verses of Virgil, and the abuse of the Fates of the Saints. In 1757, finally, our learned professor of cartomancy [was] instructed by a Piedmontese that the book of the first Egyptians, a book named THOT or TOUT, engraved in hieroglyphics and known under the name and the game Tarots, or better THAROH, summarized all the ancient knowledge, and was a serious study...

“Fates of the Saints” probably refers to one or more books of oracles that are selected by means of dice, each related to a particular saint. It is the medieval adaptation of earlier works in Latin and Greek that related various gods to each piece of advice. As to the “Piedmontese”, Etteilla says more about him in the 2nd Cahier, pp. 134-136. He was named Alexis, whom he met in Lamballe, Brittany. This Alexis, he tells us, was the grandson of “Alexis called Piémontese”. For the translation of this passage, see http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=2805500 post 130. “Alexis Piémontese” was the pen-name of an Italian physician, generally assumed to be Girolomo Ruscelli, (1520-1566), who was most famous for a book of remedies still in print in the 1790s, per Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexius_Pedemontanus).

1759. Two women in Marseille are sentenced to 8 days in prison for because they had “taken advantage of the simple-mindedness of several people and took money from them under the pretext of finding for them things stolen or lost, by the means of some packs of cards” (Ross Caldwell at http://www.academia.edu/6477311/Brief_history_of_cartomancy).

1760. First mention of Etteilla in the archives: Jean-Baptiste Alliette owes 600 livres to one Jean Langlois. (DDD p. 77)

1762-1763. Oliver Goldsmith mentions fortune-telling with cards, see Greer timeline, above.

1763 and after. Cartomancy in Germany. see http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=250160&highlight=1752 and Mary Greer timeline, top of post, from Goethe.

1763. Jean-Baptiste Alliette and Jeanne Vattier are sued for a job certificate delivered to a young apprentice. They are said to be seed merchants (“Marchands grainiers”). Other documents from the same source confirm that Etteilla sold seeds at least until 1769. Jeanne Vattier is Etteilla’s wife. (DDD p. 77)

1763-1767. Etteilla has at least one child, Louis-Jean-Baptiste, the only child mentioned in his 1791 death certificate (DDD p. 76). The son is called a “merchant grocer” there.

1765a. "The Oracle, a pack of Cards” advertised in The Public Advertiser, London; see Mary Greer timeline, also for England entries 1791, 1796.

1765b. Casanova, in his memoirs (written 1789-1797 per Wikipedia, on account of his being short of funds), writes of 1765 Russia where a 13 year old girl he had hired would read the cards to tell where he had been that night (http://www.academia.edu/6477311/Brief_history_of_cartomancy)

1767. Etteilla separates from his wife (DDD p. 77, no documentation). They surmise that he may have begun his card-reading activities then. They observe later that in Philosophie des hautes sciences of 1785, Etteilla says:

Quote:

It is in the company of my Xanthippe, in household embarrassments, among my children, in the distress of business, and other different mortifications that I have endured, that I conceived the hautes Sciences. (p. 140, quoted in DDD p. 79)

Xanthippe was the wife of Socrates, who Xenophon's Symposium characterized as "the hardest to get along with of all the women there are" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthippe).

From 1768-69. Alliette engages in print selling, mentioned as such in a 1797 bibliography of current French literature, ‘Alliette, by anagram Etteilla, Print seller in Paris”. In 1768, three thieves steal some books and prints. Alliette's shop was inspected on 11 March 1769 and found to have some of the stolen prints. Alliette was proven innocent of wrongdoing (DDD p. 80).

1769-70. The Prussian national known only as Hisler studies with Etteilla in Paris. (Decker, The Esoteric Tarot 2013, p. 191.)

1770a. Etteilla publishes his first book, Etteilla, ou maniere de se récréer avec un jeu de cartes par M***,(Etteilla, or a Way to Entertain Oneself with a Pack of Cards by Mr***), title page at right, online at https://archive.org/details/1770etteillaoumaniere/page/n2/mode/2up. It includes both upright and reversed meanings for a deck of 32 cards, plus a 33rd card, blank, called “Etteilla”. At the end he mentions ”les Taraux” in a list of methods of fortune-telling (DDD, p. 83). The book is reviewed in a couple of established journals. Added Oct. 2022: see L'Avant-Coureur, p. 518, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k61159041/f6.item. I do not actually know of any other in this year.

1771. A “short work of some folios which appeared at the end of the year 1771, under the title of Le Petit Etteilla”, as reported by its reprinting editor in “an V” (1796) (DDD p. 98). No record has been found of such a book, nor does Etteilla ever refer to such a thing otherwise, according to DDD. They speculate that it might be the “Abrege” of 1753 referred to in the 1791 publication, reprinted 1796 changing the spelling of “cartonomancy” to “cartomancy”.

1772. Giuseppi Balsamo, an adventurer probably the same person later known as Count Allesandro Cagliostro, arrives in Paris from England (McCalman, The Last Alchemist, p. 32:

Quote:

With creditors pressing, the couple hastily caught a boat to Calais on 15 September 1772.

The visit goes unnoticed except in court records. But the following is relevant to Etteilla. McCalman, p. 32, notes that in exchange for allowing a French nobleman access to his wife,

Quote:

...Giuseppe was funded to set up a laboratory where he happily tried out the experiments from a sixteenth century book he’d acquired. It was Alesso Piémontese’s Secretes admirables, one of the most comprehensive occult manuals ever written, setting out detailed prescriptions for making paints, inks, medicines, cosmetics, and magical spells.

McCalman unfortunately does not cite his source, unless it is Photiedes, Les Vies de Cagliostro, p. 101f, his only reference for this period. Alexis, of course, was the first name of the “Piémontese” Atteilla claimed taught him about the tarot. The Secretes admirable had been first published in 1557 Savoy, online in Google Books, a translation of Piemontese, Alessio, I Secreti del reverendo donno Alessio Piemontese (Venice: Sigismondo Bordogna, 1555), about which a Google search will provide more information.

1772a. A small work, Lettre sur l’oracle du jour, gives, under the signature of one ‘Duchesse de ***, a flattering portrait of Etteilla (DDD, p. 79). I have uploaded my scans of this letter to the bottom post of this blog, after the timeline. Allegedly from this period, but not published until 1782, are Instruction sur le lotus des Indiens nous a Donné Que en 1772 M. Etteilla, professeur d'Algèbre, and/or Instruction sur la hislérique combinaison, Extraite du Loto des Indien (information from https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etteilla)

1772b. Etteilla publishes Le zodiac mysterieux, ou les oracles d’Etteilla (The mysterious zodiac, or Etteilla’s oracles). It is a collection of astrological predictions. According to a study by Halbronn in 1993, it was not real astrology (DDD p. 79). This work in an 1820 reprint by Gueffier jeune [the younger], rue Bourtebourg no. 12 (?) is digitalized at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k622696.r=Etteilla. The 1772 frontispiece is at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...?1451519737126 (which I get from http://www.wikiwand.com/it/Etteilla).The 1772 text is at https://books.google.com/books?id=FY85AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA5&dq=Etteilla&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&
sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjoouj78qjnAhVBs54KHe1qDRk4ChDoATABegQIAxAC#v=onepage&q=Etteilla&f=false

1773a. New edition of Etteilla's 1770 book, with the same title, digitalized at https://books.google.de/books?id=CI85AAAAcAAJ&pg=PR1&dq=Etteilla+ou+la+seule+mani%C3%A8re+de+tirer+les+cartes&lr=&as_brr=1&hl=de#v=onepage&q&f=false. There are colored engravings of several spreads as fold-outs in this book not part of the digitalized version, posted at http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=3068578&postcount=229. Around the same time (undated,  but written, it says, on the day on which the second edition of his book appeared) is an "Extrait d'une Response a une Lettre Anonyme". I have uploaded my scans of it to the bottom pos, after the timeline, of the present blog. 

1773b (or perhaps 1772). DDD p. 79:

Quote:

Etteilla is alluded to in a small light-hearted pamphlet written by Claude-Nicolas Bricaire de La Dixmerie much about the same time. The writer says in a footnote that ‘the famous card-reader in China [here an amusing metaphor for France] prints his judgements as the author of l’Almanach des Muses prints his, and adds this ironical comment: ‘The whole of China is divided between these two inspired men.”

This work by Bricaire de La Dixmerie is accessible on Gallica. The reference is on p. 34, at https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k81534j/f35.

Added Oct., 2022: There is also another review of the book, referring to a second edition, in L'Avant-Coureur of 1773, p. 323,   https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3058635q/f331.item.

1775. A print auction catalogue in Paris lists Alliette many times as a buyer (DDD p. 80).[/b]

1775. In England, S. Hooper, according to the name on some of the cards, makes a deck with many of the motifs found later in the c. 1790 deck and others (http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4546903&postcount=85)--and also earlier, i.e. the Minchiate Francesi. English works on playing cards were popular on the Continent, due to the popularity of Edmund Hoyle’s works, translated into French in 1761. For earlier English divinatory decks and uses of playing cards, see https://marygreer.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/origins-of-divination-with-playing-cards/ .

1776. Alliette’s shop advertises in a directory. It says that he has traveled widely in the Provinces. (DDD p. 81) See also https://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/collection?navigation=14031-notice-d-une-collection-d-estampes-montees-sous-v&perpage=10&page=1&search=Etteilla&fulltext=&bookmarks=&sort=_score#page, an advertisement of prints for sale by him.

1777-c.1780. Etteilla is in Strasbourg, settling as a “print-seller and bachelor, from Paris, legitimate son of Jean-Baptiste Alliette, burgess and caterer from there, and of Marie-Anne nee Bautray,” according to citizenship records there (he became a citizen of the city). He joins the guild for printers, print sellers, cardmakers, and book-binders. The guild record for 1781 lists him in “guild members no longer resident.” Etteilla himself verifies his stay in Strasbourg in a 1785 comment, saying that “when in Strasbourg, I was pleased to fix M. Cerbere’s youngest son’s birth chart” (DDD p. 82). He says that the best tarot cards are made there. But he objects to the cardmaker Jean-Baptiste Benoit’s removal of the “butterfly” on the “hieroglyph called the Star.” (Kaplan, Encylopedia of Tarot, vol. 2, reproduces the “Benois” deck, whose Star card has no winged creature. It is one of those decks that have replaced the Pope; Kaplan has Benois producing in Strasbourg starting in 1780.)

1779-1780. In 1779, Cagliostro introduces his “Egyptian Rite” in Mitau (in what is now Latvia), from material gathered in London (an alleged manuscript by "Cofton," possibly, per McCalman p. 41, a "minor Oxford scholar of eastern religion named George Costard”), Leipzig (from Dom Pernety), etc. Then does the same in St. Petersburg, Warsaw, and elsewhere, healing the sick and conducting seances. Sept. 1780, Cagliostro arrives in Strasbourg to much publicity, continuing to heal and gain adherents. (Source: Roberto Gervaso, Cagliostro, pp. 69, 82, 92; confirmed in McCalman.) Cagliostro’s popularity could have influenced Etteilla. Pernety is an alchemical writer referred to by Etteilla in his 2nd Cahier, 1785.

1781. Publication of vol. 8 of Le Monde Primitif by Court de Gébelin, claiming an Egyptian origin for tarot (essay on tarot uploaded at http://www.tarock.info/gebelin.htm; translated in Rhapsodies of the Bizarre, by J. Karlin). De Gébelin clams that the images reflect Egyptian ideas and allegories, and so constitute an “Egyptian Book,” just as Etteilla will two years later. The volume also includes an essay by le Comte de M*** [de Mellet] (same website and book), who goes so far as to call the tarot cards “The Book of Thoth,” just as Etteilla will, consisting of hieroglyphs and describing Thoth’s teachings on cosmogony, i.e. on the origins of the universe. For de Mellet the trumps start with the 21st card and proceed downwards. Etteilla will similarly start his sequence with four of the last five trumps, in his case identifying them with four of the first six days of creation in Genesis.

1782a. Etteilla publishes combination hislérique, Hisler's lotto system. (Decker, The Esoteric Tarot p. 191).

1782b. Etteilla applies to the royal censor to publish his new work on the tarot. (DDD, p. 83). Of Etteilla’s application, DDD write (p. 83):
Quote:

The Book Office (‘Librarie’) archives have kept the mention of his original title Cartonomanie [sic] [the censor’s misspelling of “cartonomancie”] Egiptienne, ou interprétation de 78 hierogliphes qui sont sur les cartes nommées Tarots (Egyptian Cartonomania, or Interpretation of the 78 hieroglyphs which are on the cards called Tarots). But the manuscript was denied publication. In the right-hand column, someone has written “rayé du 20 novembre 1782’ (canceled 20 November 1782).

This corresponds well to what Etteilla says in his 1787 Léçons theoriques et pratiques du livre de Thot; DDD p. 99:
Quote:

In 1782, upon the report of a rigid censor, we were forbidden to print them [the arguments of the Book of Thoth]; they were printed in 1783, under a vague title, a title which got us a more tolerant censor...

The title that won acceptance was Manière de se récréer avec le Jeu de Cartes nommées Tarots. And despite Etteilla’s protests, his word “cartonomancy” was soon replaced by its derivative, the equally new word “cartomancy,” first proposed by one of his students in 1789 (DDD p. 99).

1783a. Etteilla has three confirmed tarot publications: Manière de se récréer avec le jeu de cartes nommées tarots: pour servir de troisième cahier a cet ouvrage (A way to entertain oneself with the pack of cards called tarots: serving as the third book of this work) was first; then the “premier cahier,” or 1st book (or perhaps "notebook"); and lastly a “Supplement” to the “premier cahier” (DDD p. 84). It is not clear whether it was the 1st Cahier, the 3rd Cahier, or both, that he had submitted in 1782. But the 1st Cahier makes reference to something in the 3rd, DDD say. The 1st Cahier and its supplement are online bound with the 2nd Cahier following its supplement, at https://wellcomelibrary.org/item/b2877732; it has as its frontispiece an engraving of Temperance, later to become his Temperance card. The 3rd Cahier, with its supplement, is at https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k312882c; it  has Prudence as its frontispiece, which will later become Etteilla’s Prudence card. A transcription of the text is at http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=180963, with an English translation following, also posted without interruptions at http://thirdcahier.blogspot.com/. The 3rd Cahier explains how to "rectify" a standard "Marseille" tarot deck; it is a matter of numbering them differently and writing Etteilla's upright and reversed keywords on them. The number cards’ upright keywords correspond to those of the keywords of the 1770/1773 book; and the upright keywords for the number cards not represented in the piquet deck derive from the reversed meanings in 1770/1773, as explained by Kwaw in post 8 of the thread http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=123910: “In general but not always the fives are reversed tens, twos reversed sevens, fours reversed nines.”

1783b. An additional possible publication is L'Homme à projets, which Etteilla said in 1791 was first published this year, and which he was reissuing to show the accuracy of its predictions.The 1791 edition is online at https://books.google.com/books?id=tJlgAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA44&dq=l+homme+%C3%A0+projets&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjDts6vjKrnAhXlPn0KHf4gAr0Q6AEwAnoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=l%20homme%20%C3%A0%20projets&f=false.

1783. There is also a reprint of his 1773 book. The following is probably from this reprint.

https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3225052&page=1&partId=1&searchText=Etteilla

c. 1783. Charles Greille-Saint Leger de Bonrecueille (b. 1753) moves to Lyon and sets up a secret society known as the Temple of the Sun, whose members called themselves the "Unknown philosophers", following the lead of Louis-Claude de St. Martin (1743-1803), who referred to himself by the same term and had moved to Lyons in 1773. (Decker p. 191, from Robert Amadou, "Alchemie et Société Sécrète," L'Autre Monde, no. 98 (1985) pp. 24-29; no. 99 (1986) pp. 18-23, 57).

From 1784 to 1791 (Etteilla's death)

Timeline III continued from preceding post: 1784-1791. Updates in Jan-Feb. 2020 are in bold red, mainly due to input from "Huck", "SteveM" ("Kwaw" on Aeclectic) and "Tarot John" on Tarot History Forum, at http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1554&sid=a436ee9e5ce416928c820a15e7e4bbfe and http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=827&sid=a436ee9e5ce416928c820a15e7e4bbfe.

1784a. May 19. Etteilla publishes Supplement au troisième cahier (Supplement to the 3rd Cahier). (DDD p. 84). See http://thirdcahier.blogspot.com/2012/10/blank_23.html and http://thirdcahier.blogspot.com/2012/10/blank.html  The scanned original starts at p. 59 at

1784b. Jacques Grassett Saint-Sauveur (1757-1810), French diplomat and author (on his life, thread http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=248670), participates in a book series 1784-1788, Costumes Civils actuels de tous les Peuples connus. It was dedicated to "Charles-Eugene-Gabriel de La Croix, Maréchal de Castries, Comte d'Alais, premier Baron des Etats du Languedoc, Ministre d'Etat", who was "secrétaire d'État à la marine” (Secretary of State of the Navy) 1780-1787 (http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4552730&postcount=3, https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eug%C3%A8ne_Gabriel_de_La_Croix_de_Castries). The de La Croix family came from Montpellier, as did Grasset Saint Sauveur's. This project puts Saint-Sauveur, who will publish 20 books as well as decks of divination cards, in the company of high government officials, perhaps including de La Croix’s friend the wealthy Jacques Necker, retired in 1781 as France’s Director-General of Finances, returnng in 1788 and becoming Finance Minister July 1789 - Sept. 1790 http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Jacques_Necker). From 1788, such officials will include François-Emmanuel Guignard de Saint-Priest (1735 – 1821), See http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4552372&postcount=387. He will be associated with a divinitory deck in c. 1790 (see entry).

1785a, 30 Jan. Cagliostro installed in Paris, promoting his “Egyptian Rite”, conducting healings and seances, to great acclaim. 23 Aug, he is arrested and imprisoned in the Bastille from association with con artist Jeanne de Saint-Remy, accused of being part of the "diamond necklace" swindle. 30 May 1786, he is judged innocent but banished from France by the King, his seized goods not returned. Goes to London, Basle, and finally Rome, where the Inquisition condemns him to death for heresy, changed to life imprisonment; he dies in prison 1795. (Dates in Gervaso's Cagliostro p. 122, 147, 239.)

1785b. Etteilla publishes Fragment sur les hautes sciences, suivi d’une note sur les trois sortes de medicines donnees aux hommes (Fragment on the High Sciences, followed by a note on the three kinds of medicines given to men) (DDD p. 84).https://books.google.com/books?id=qdHgqW1ExDgC&pg=PA35&dq=Fragment+sur+les+hautes+sciences&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjozJP38KjnAhWLsJ4KHZv5DYYQ6AEwAXoECAEQAg#v=onepage&q=Fragment%20sur%20les%20hautes%20sciences&f=false.

1785c. Etteilla publishes his 4th Cahier (with Fortitude as frontispiece) and its Supplement. These have been reprinted in Jacques Halbronn’s L’Astrologie du Livre de Thot (1785) Suivis de Recherches sur l’Histoire de l’Astrologie et du Tarot, Paris 1993. They are also online at https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3128878. In the 4th Cahier he sets up correspondences between the 12 signs of the zodiac, in order

starting with Aries, with the first 12 of his trumps. He also has the 10 Coin pip cards correspond to the 7 planets plus head and tail of the Dragon and Part of Fortune. Attributes these assignments to the Egyptians (DDD p. 87). The 4th Cahier Supplement in part is an addition to the 3rd Cahier. That part is online with translation at http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=185573 and http://thirdcahier.blogspot.com/2012/10/blank_239.html. At the back of the book, following the 4th Cahier Supplement, appears the "Avant-Propos", pp. i-viij, to the to Leçons Théorique et Pratiques du Livre de Thot, preceded by the Tableau of the Temple of Memphis, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3128878/f262.highres (at right). This will be the setting for the watercolor version of the cards in 1788. For an explanation of the layout and of the symbols around the boards, see my blog at http://templeinmemphis.blogspot.com.

1785d. The last of the Cahiers in order of publication is the 2nd Cahier, with Justice as Frontispiece, explaining the cards as the Book of Thoth, put together under the supervision of Hermes Trismegistus. Online at https://wellcomelibrary.org/item/b28777323.  Etteilla mostly focuses on the deck as a whole and as a series seen in a variety of ways. Cards 2-8 represent the days of creation, but not in sequence; cards 2-5 are the four elements, not in sequence. He gives correspondences between the Marseille tarot trumps and his “Egyptian” ones and describes some of the trumps. Selections from the 2nd Cahier, in French with English translation are at http://etteillastrumps.blogspot.com/ (previously posted on the “Etteilla Timeline” thread)

1785e. Etteilla publishes Philosophie des hautes sciences, ou la clef donnée aux enfans de l’art, de la science & de la sagesse (Philosophy of the high sciences, or the key given to children of art, science and wisdom) (DDD p. 84), at https://archive.org/details/BIUSante_76508/page/n5/mode/2up. This work of 114 numbered pages focuses on the 72 angels, after which, up to p. 166, are appended selected letters to Etteilla and his responses. After that, starting on p. 167 is an "Apperçu d'un Rigoriste sur la Cartonomancie et sur son Auteur", in 21 pages. This is almost identical to one online in 24 pages, at https://books.google.com/books?id=LSpbAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=Apper%C3%A7u+d%27un+Rigoriste+sur+la+Cartonomancie&source=bl&ots=8ANJhCnyR-&sig=ACfU3U1hAgLhLoqpbf-VPXR4xNZxZK7yHA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjUgrft7KjnAhXSl54KHe_EBNoQ6AEwA3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false. WorldCat gives "[1790?] as the date.So it is a slightly enlarged version of the 1785; the main differences are the addition of a couple of notes near the beginning (of the later version) and a diagram at the end. It also is included at the back of Leçons Theorique et Pratique in the copy I have (from the collection of Lo Scarabeo, formerly of Andrea Vitali), which is dated 1787.


1786. Etteilla publishes Supplement au deuxième cahier, ou mieux cinquième livre des tarots (Supplement to the 2nd cahier, or better 5th book of the tarots). (DDD p. 84). A short selection, with translation, is posted at http://etteillastrumps.blogspot.com/2012/05/cards-as-whole.htmll; find “161”.It is online in the same volume as the 2nd Cahier itself, in the link given in the 1785d entry.

c. 1786. A treatise on alchemy: Les sept nuances de l’oeuvre philosophique-hermétique, suivies d’un traité sur la perfection des métaux (The seven grades of the philosophical-Hermetic work, followed by a treatise on the perfection of metals). “Historians of alchemy regard Etteilla’s book as the last alchemical treatise of the classical period” (DDD p. 88; they cite the 20th century writer Conseliet) Original of first 48 pp. online at https://wellcomelibrary.org/item/b24923370#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&z=-1.1092%2C-0.1011%2C3.2203%2C2.076. For the rest, including his declaration of having never joined a masonic lodge on p. 54 of the 2nd part (after "Petit Avant-Propos four le Denier du Pauvre", and entitled "L. D. D. P. ou la perfection des metaux"), see http://www.livres-d-hermes.com/PDF/SEPTN101.PDF.

1787a. Two books by Etteilla unrelated to tarot. The title of one may be translated as The art of knowing men by inspecting the forehead, or elements of metposcopy according to the ancients. The other is The art of reading in the lines and characters that are in the palms, or elements of chiromancy. (DDD p. 88; for French titles see https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etteilla)

1787b. Etteilla invited to speak to the “Philelethes,” which had been founded in 1775 as a Masonic-like secret society. Etteilla in his Treatise on the Perfection of Metals had said he had the highest regard for “true Masonry,” but “All the little denominations of lodges and grades announce folly more than wisdom.” (DDD p. 89).

1787c (end). Melchior Montmignon d'Odoucet is “recommended” to Etteilla as a student. (DDD p. 104, quoting Etteilla’s 1790 Apperçu; see entry 1790d below). His studies proceed in 1788.

1787d. Leçons Théorique et Pratiques is published (in Paris). It starts with an Avant-Propos, i-viij, title page as 1, three other introductions, 1-9, first lesson, 9-79; then "Some questions delineated in the Book of Thoth" (205 questions, followed by 4 to be asked of the querent), Starting at the title page, it is online at https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k840095k/f1.image. The parts before the title page can be found online at the end of the 4th Cahier (see 1785c entry). At the end, after the questions, is attached the expanded version of "Apperçu d'un Rigoriste sur la Cartonomancie et sur son Auteur".

1788a. Etteilla organizes the Société des Interpretes du Livre de Thot, so as to gather together all those who were interested in the “interpretation of the Book of Thot”. Etteilla made “correspondent general.” He designs his 78 card deck, raises funds, has the engravings made. (DDD p. 90)

1788b. Claude Hugand, a Lyon native, joins the Temple of the Sun, and also Etteilla's Société (Ron Decker, The Esoteric Tarot, p. 191, from Robert Amadou, "Alchemie et Société Secrète, in L'Autre Monde, no. 98 (1985), pp. 24-29 and 99 (1986) pp. 18-23 and 57.)

1788c. Hisler visits Etteilla in Paris (Decker p. 191).

1788d. Pierre Joseph Joubert de La Salette (1742-1833), an army officer stationed in Grenoble, contacts Hugand and de Bonrecueille in Lyon, joins Etteilla's group (Decker p. 192).

1788e. Date that Albert D’Alby says his L'Oracle parfait, ou nouvelle manière de tirer les cartes, au moyen de laquelle chacun peut tirer son horoscope” was approved by the censor; online at https://books.google.de/books?id=nmVQAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22albert+d%27alby%22&source=gbs_navlinks_s. discussed at http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4550530&postcount=1 and http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4537560&postcount=333. Mentioned by DDD p. 146 and note 8, p. 282. It uses three 36 card decks, each 32 + four special ones. See also entry 1802, the year of publication and the first date actually known. In the same year is Etrennes nouvelles de l'horoscope de l'homme et de la femme By M. G. D. R., published by G. Quinet, using an expanded piquet set of 36 cards, online at https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Bmg8AAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22M.+G.+D.+R.%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQwujpkq7KAhXKXRQKHXvaAbIQuwUIJTAA#v=onepage&q&f=false.

1788f. Uncolored sheets printed from engravings made for Etteilla's cards, attributed to Pierre-François Basan, online at https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10545802x/f1.item.r=cartes%20de%20jeu. Watercolor was then applied to the engravings, on a large sheet that can be seen at https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b53167640p/f1.item.r=%22Thot%22; at right is card 1 from this sheet.  The layout of the sheet is one Ettteilla referred to as as that of the Egyptians' "Temple of Memphis"; with card numbers instead of scenes, it had previously appeared as the frontispiece to the "Avant-Propos" to Leçons Théorique et Pratiques (for this frontispiece, see 1785c entry).  Basan was identified by DDD, p. 80, as a fellow print-seller, leaving unclear his engraving skills. In the image at right, it is hard to make out the engraving lines. At https://wellcomelibrary.org/item/b15848577#?#7ellcomelibrary.org/item/b15848577c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&z=-0.575%2C-0.086%2C2.15%2C1.7207.&c=0 there is a higher resolution image (click on "+"), but there is a large vertical line down the middle of this card, I would guess caused by folding the sheet.

1789a. Etteilla applies for a “general” patent to print his deck on 19 Jan. 1789, granted 5 Feb. 1789, registered on 13 March (DDD p. 92). A 4 page pamphlet entitled “Livre de Thoth” dated 1789 says, “See the Book of Thoth, which I am permitted to publish today, with the King’s appointment”, online,p. 2, at  https://archive.org/details/1789Livredethot/mode/2up. Also establishing Etteilla’s involvement with this deck are copies, made by their author, of letters written in Lyon by De Bonrecuille, one of the “interprètes.” On 27 November he writes to Etteilla: ‘I am very glad to hear that we will soon have the Tarot cards you have restored.’ Then on 14 March 1789: “We very satisfactorily have received the Tarot cards which you sent us...” (DDD p. 91) The keywords are those of the 3rd Cahier. In addition, Cards 2-5 each have the name and number of one of the 4 elements, not in sequence; cards 2-8 say which of the 7 days of creation, not in sequence, relates to the card. Unlike most later versions, there is no sunburst on card 1 and no clothing on the small figures in card 14. Cards 13-17 have extra numbers: a 14 on card 13, a 15 on card 14, a 16 on card 15, a 17 on card 16, and a 13 on card 17 (DDD p. 93). DDD say that according to the Dictionnaire Synonymique of 1790, they are "signs of death." In the 2nd Cahier Supplement of 1786, Etteilla says of the double numbering on 13-17, that it indicates "the chain from birth to death" (p. 162: "la chaîne de la naissance à la mort"). For more details see http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=2806765&postcount=131. 40 of these cards are now owned by Depaulis; some are pictured in DDD (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhJ9xGosepld8cIZ52MLEN2TDjXrbSnbhgFG5B3GBkyi_qFJLqJfB66eB-JoofHQibyeNzV_s09TM-D9y5aJTwpGafnbQwEO4iKc2REFI_EmOYijrjjI4SQwvwMltV-LmDShr8X2_ZBhc/s1600/WickedPackCh6LeNorm%25267EtteillaTradition-19a.jpg). There is also a four page pamphlet that went with the deck:

1789b. In May, National Assembly declared, inaugurating the French Revolution. Bastille prison stormed 14 July, new government formed by Louis XVI July 16-19.

1789c. In Lyon Hugand writes a pamphlet Faites Mieux, J'y Consens, ou les Instructions d'Isis Divulguées par un Electeur de la Commune de Lyon, en l'Année 1789 (Do Better, I Agree, or the Instructions of Isis Revealed by a Voter of the Commune of Lyons, in the Year 1789). (DDD p. 100f, Decker p. 191. For a translation and discussion of some of this pamphlet, see http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.p...&postcount=251).

1789d. Etteilla in an advertisement of his work mentions that lessons are available from d'Odoucet as well as from himself (Decker p. 192).

c. 1789 or later. The "Nouvel Eteila". A deck pf 32 cards with small inserts of playing cards at the bottom right, crudely added to the originals, plus 4 cards with “Eteila” in the corner instead (http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.p...&postcount=381 ). According to the BM, which has a deck at http://www.britishmuseum.org/researc...=eteila&page=1, they are “late 18th“, “Anonymous”, and “36 cards”, On ATF they are at http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p...&postcount=346. “Late 18th century” is also the dating in an 1898 publication at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt...%20Eteila.zoom, item 53, of a deck called the “Petit Oracle des Dames/Nouvel Eteila/Petit Necromancien” published by a “Mme. Finet”. The Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor has an uncut sheet identical to the cards of the BM deck except for added color; the sheet is labeled “Nouvel Eteila, ou le Necromancier” on the top right, no date (information from Philippa Plock at http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.p...&postcount=350). The BnF attempts no dating for a “Nouvel Eteila ou le petit nécromancien” in their catalogue, at http://catalogue.bnf.fr/servlet/Rech...host=catalogue. Some of the imagery of the BM’s deck is very close to Etteilla’s tarots published 1789 (e.g. cards 15, 16, 22, 25, 33.34, 36). So either it is after then, or Etteilla’ tarot borrowed heavily from it (unlikely because the cards in question derive from prior French tarots, and the Anonymous is not a tarot). Other of its cards are similar to a c. 1790 66-card deck (see “c. 1790” entry). Many of the cards in the Anonymous are reversals of cards in the c. 1790 (or vice versa). Deck comparisons are in the first two posts of http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=248830. The deck has 4 images found also in the 33 card version of a Saint-Saveur "geographic" deck, 3 of them reversed. These cards are dated "18th century" by the Metropolitan Museum, http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/...%89trangers%27, for more on which see "c. 1820" entry, the date of a 52+1 card version. The earliest verified date for a “Finet” is 1824, per Kwaw at http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php...24#post4547267, citing Depaulis personal communication 24 Dec. 2015. There is also a c. 1840 “Finet” in the Cary Collection (http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p...&postcount=331 and http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p...&postcount=337 ). A deck with the same title (Nouvel Eteila, ou le petit necromancien) but lacking the small cards in the corner also appear under the name of “Robert” in the Bibliographie de la France for March 1820 (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...44%2C79&edge=0, and in a BNF listing at http://catalogue.bnf.fr/servlet/Rech...host=catalogue . DDD (p. 144, citing in note 5 p. 282 Depaulis 1984, no. 133), had given a dating of c. 1810 to the same “Robert”, as did Depaulis in Tarot, Jeu, et Magie (http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.p...7&postcount=18, per Kwaw). For another “Nouvel Eteila”, also a Petit Etteilla type, see entry 1791b.

1790a. D’Odoucet publishes a booklet entitled “French Revolution, the events that have caused it, accompanied it and those which will follow it, prognosticated through Mr. M. Nostradamus’s prophetical ‘centuries’”, online at https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24341140M/R%c3%a9volution_fran%c3%a7aise, with relevant scans posted by Huck at http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=827. DDD describes it as follows (pp. 103-104)

Quote:

...there a final footnote expresses negative feelings for two magi ‘living in France, one in Paris and the other in Lyons’.. It is easy to recognize Etteilla, and Hugand, his Lyonese disciple; ‘the first one a “half-savant” who is causing much trouble to science by stepping back from his sacred duties of a husband, of a father, etc., with impunity’, is accused of ‘real ignorance, concealed with much art.’ Hugand is ‘enthusiastic’, but ‘less skilled’.

D’Odoucet also puts his name to a leaflet promoting a forthcoming journal; the leaflet ends “AMOUR POUR LE ROI,” i.e. Love for the King (DDD p. 104). In a book published in 1895, compiled from French files up to 1895, "chez Dodoucet" is listed, in 1790, as underwriting a royalist journal "Journal des Fédérés", deemed royalist, http://www.archive.org/stream/lesclubscontrer00chaluoft/lesclubscontrer00chaluoft_djvu.txt.

1790b. De la Salette joins the Temple of the Sun. Reveals its existence to Etteilla & is reprimanded for breaking the vow of secrecy. (Decker p. 192, Amadou 26ff.)

1790c. 1 July. Etteilla founds, with his son, the “Nouvelle Ecole de Magie” (New School of Magic), on “le premier juillet de la seconde annee de la liberte francaise,” as a July 19 leaflet for a lecture announced: the first July of the second year of French liberty. An account in German of the speech he gave on the occasion was published in 1792 by a certain Wilhelm von Archenholz, https://books.google.de/books?id=IksMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA469&dq=etteilla&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nQm0T5GFAsrF8gOCiZka&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=etteilla&f=false. Von Archenholz has entries in both English and German Wikipedia. The Ecole publishes Cours theorique et pratique du livre de Thot (In full: Theoretical and practical course in the book of Thoth, so as to understand correctly the art, science, and wisdom of giving oracles). 6 lessons are planned, but all copies have only 4 (DDD p. 95). Online at https://archive.org/details/1790courstheoriqueetpratique/mode/2up. Another book is “The Game of Tharaoth, following one of the ways of the first Egyptians.” Another is the Apperçu sur La Nouvelle Ecole de Magie (Prospectus on the New School of Magic), where he calls d'Odoucet "Dodo", which Decker (p. 196) says is equivalent to the infantile "goo goo" in English and not the name of the famously stupid bird. Etteilla attacks this disciple’s "despising tone" in one who “should have been grateful” for his master’s 35 or 36 years of studying (DDD p. 104). Another pamphlet, November, is “Oracle pour et contra mille sept cent dix-huite-onze [Oracle for and against 1791]”, seen at (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62271r.r=Etteilla).

1790d. De Bonrecueille, Hugand, and de La Salette have all begun to compile interpretations of individual cards. De Bonrecueille writes de La Salette: "Brother Hugand has indeed received your epistle on the synonyms of the Book of Thoth, but according to the announcement made by Monsieur Etteilla, we had presumed that you had composed something more complete about it" (Decker p. 197, from Amadou, p. 20).

c. 1790. A 66 card hand-painted divinatory deck now in the BnF (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10510967c/f1.planchecontact) is produced, perhaps for a family member of François-Emmanuel Guignard de Saint-Priest; but it might have been for the court in his capacity as “Secrétaire d'Etat à la Maison du Roi”). Some designs later appear in "Petit Oracle des Dames" decks, combined with designs from Etteilla’s tarot; they are also, reversed, in the “c. 1789 or later” deck above. For the cards, see the first three posts of thread http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=248520, additional comments in posts 4 and 5, more in other threads, e.g http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=249766 and http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=248670, with links. Here is a summary. Why Guignard, and when? Card 66 has a map of an area just north of the Danube River in what is now Rumania showing places where the Russian army scored key victories over the Ottomans in 1769-1770; Guignard was then the French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=171379&page=6, posts 53, 55). Also, card 3 is the “Minister of the Interior”. The latter was an office created by the King on 7 Aug. 1790, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Emmanuel_Guignard,_comte_de_Saint-Priest), filled by Guignard until Jan. 1791 (compare the blue sash on the Wikipedia portrait with that on the card). But the handwritten “Ministre de l'Intérieur” on the card is on what looks like a piece of paper pasted on (http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4559559&postcount=4). Guignard, before assuming that office (or that office was renamed), was “Secrétaire d'Etat à la Maison du Roi”, from July 16 of 1789 (Philippe at http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4540405&postcount=56, confirmed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Emmanuel_Guignard,_comte_de_Saint-Priest). Card 4 is “minister of war”. The man on that card is most likely Jean-Frédéric de La Tour-du-Pin Gouvernet, who held the office of “Ministre de la Guerre” from Aug. 4, 1789, to November 16, 1790, and who was part of the same post-July 16 government as Guignard (and Jacques Necker, who would be the “finance minister” of card 54). Both he and Guignard had roots in Grenoble, a springboard of the Revolution. So the deck was likely produced sometime between July 16, 1789, and August 4, 1790. Guignard's connection is to Etteilla: The town of Saint-Priest, with its Saint-Priest family chateau, is located just outside of Lyon, where Etteilla’s disciple, attorney (and son of a local "sieur") Claude Hugand, lived. The “Prelate” (card 61) could be the Archbishop of Lyon. A stronger connection is to de La Salette and Grenoble; see entry 1794d. On a similar Russian deck but of 42 cards, see entry 1825.

1791a. Etteilla’s Nouvelle Ecole de Magie publishes a 4 page pamphlet every week from 1 Jan. To 27 March, then 4 more. Issue 1 is devoted to a plan for old-age insurance. Others are on administration, social insurance, and against the death penalty. No. 14 calls for abolishing taxes on playing cards, or at least divinatory ones, e.g. “the Book of Thoth, renewed from the Egyptian, and the Etteila, composed of 33 cards.” This last became known as the “Petit Etteilla”; the French card images are in the middle of each card and the keywords from Etteilla’s 1770 book above and below. For examples, many later reprints can be found under “Petit Etteilla” in Google Images. I have uploaded what appears to be the original 1791 text (much reprinted) to the bottom post in the present blog. Etteilla also reissues (he says) his 1783 L’homme a projets, “proudly stating in its forward,” DDD report, “that he had foreseen the 1789 events some six years ago.” https://books.google.com/books?id=tJlgAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA44&dq=l+homme+%C3%A0+projets&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjDts6vjKrnAhXlPn0KHf4gAr0Q6AEwAnoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=l%20homme%20%C3%A0%20projets&f=false. Another publication is Etteilla, ou l’art de lire dans les cartes (DDD p. 95f) This is the booklet that is the basis for the 1751-1759 material above.

1791b. A card-maker named Lebouviet publishes 24 “Eteila” packs (DDD p. 96 and 274, note 61, which cites “Arch. Nat. (Paris), G2 185, file no. 16: “Etat des jeux controles et des produits operes pendant les premiers mois de l’annee 1791”) No pack with his name survives; but there is a 33 card pack “chez Etteilla, Rue de Bauvais, Paris” (DDD p. 96, and p. 274, note 62, now at the Bodlean Library, Oxford). http://a-tarot.eu/p/2012/tarots/sauveur-2.jpg and http://a-tarot.eu/p/2012/tarots/sauveur-6.jpg, from http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=824&p=11735&hilit=grasset#p11735. There is also the undated 36 card pack with “Eteila” on four of the cards, see entry “c. 1789 or later”.

1791c. In February de Bonrecueille writes to Etteilla, "You will find here enclosed the manuscript of our estimable competitor Monsieur de La Salette. There are many synonyms [for individual Tarot cards] whose fortunate conjunctions I have admired. However, there are many others that I do not think are at their natural places. Either he is wrong or I am; but it is true that the work is very helpful, and--for fear it would not be printed--I made a copy of it." (Decker p. 213, from Wicked Pack, p. 110.)

1791d. On 22 June. King and Queen of France are arrested following their flight from the Tulleries Palace, returned under guard.

1791e. On 30 Sept., in Vienna, is the premier of Mozart’s Magic Flute, an opera using Egyptian-style Masonic initiations. Hundreds of performances in the 1790s. It had been preceded by the collaboratively written Philosopher’s Stone of 1790. For more on this see http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=893 .

1791f. De Bonrecueille, a government bureaucrat, is transferred from Lyon to Toulon. At his urging Hugand is now "first pilot" of the Temple of the Sun (Decker pp. 198-199). In Lyon Hugand publishes Cartomancie, our l’art de développer la chaine des événements de la vie: récréations astrologiques par le livre de Thot (Cartomancy, or the Art of Developing the Succession of Life's Events: Astrological Recreation through the Book of Thoth. (DDD p. 101)

1791g. Dictionnaire synonymique du livre de Thot published anonymously (Decker, p. 197, says by Hugand in Lyon), online at https://archive.org/details/1791dictionnairesynonimique/page/n4/mode/2up. The title page says that it is available at the house of (chez) "Etteilla the son" (Etteilla fils) in Paris and the house of Hugand in Lyon. The author is probably de La Salette. His name is mentioned as author of such a work by another student, de Bonrecueille (DDD, p. 110). The author himself says he “lives in a village” and is “joined to considerable details related to the troops of whom I am in command.” In its “Preliminary discourse,” the author says that he was preceded “in the same undertaking” by another member, M. Jejalel (Hugand’s “Cabalistic” name). He also mentions that another member, M. de B., is occupied with the same task. That is likely de Bonrecuille (DDD p. 110). The core of the book, DDD says, is its ‘Table-des-synonymes de livre de Thot,’ pp. 19-57, following Etteilla’s order of the cards and their keywords.

1791h. On 13 December, Etteilla dies, age 53, leaving his son, his widow, and the companion of his later years, Elizabeth. He also leaves, as he said in the forward to L’homme a projets, 500 students, of whom 150 became professional cartomancers, but only two were really good; “all the others are charlatans”. One is Hisler, who lived in Berlin. The other is Hugand, in Lyon. But the one taking over, at least in the short term, and acting as publisher, is D’Odoucet, as letters by other followers make clear. (DDD p. 100; Decker, p. 198, says that Etteilla died on Dec. 12.)

1792-1808 (death of D'Odoucet?)

This is the third part of "Etteilla and Variants Timeline II", copied here from Aeclectic Tarot Forum, Jan. 2016. Additions added now (Jan. 2020) are in bold red. They derive mainly from Tarot History Threads at http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=827&sid=a436ee9e5ce416928c820a15e7e4bbfe#p11761 and http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1554&sid=a436ee9e5ce416928c820a15e7e4bbfe. They are due mostly to "Huck", "SteveM" (Kwaw on Aeclectic) and "Tarot John".

1792a. In March. De Bonreceuille reports that d'Odoucet has seized Etteilla's private papers and is usurping Etteilla's role. He is also selling Etteilla's merchandise, as evidenced by the 40 cards of the original first edition of Etteilla's Tarot that Thierry Depaulis owns, where on the Eight of Batons, Etteilla has obliterated the engraving and used a pen to insert his own name and address. (Decker p. 199, from Wicked Pack, p. 91.) Hugand moves to Paris and collaborates with d'Odoucet until 1794, running a small press with him. Hugand, like Etteilla, is a supporter of the Revolution. D'Odoucet is a Royalist. (Decker p. 199.)

1792b. In August, King and Queen of France imprisoned. September, monarchy declared abolished. Sept. 21 is the beginning of a new calendar, "an I" (year 1) of the French Revolution.

1793-1794. German translation of Cours théorique et pratique du livre de Thot, in Leipzig. (DDD p. 100), published by Baumgärtner, Leipzig, as listed in a book catalog at https://books.google.de/books?hl=de&id=-oYzcSvjm7MC&dq=eteilla&q=Hisler#v=snippet&q=Hisler&f=false, on p. 127 (it is listed without Hisler's name, but the information is repeated on p. 128, for the next year). For scans of relevant pages and English translation see Huck at http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=827&sid=a436ee9e5ce416928c820a15e7e4bbfe.  Also in 1793, per DDD’s dating (p. 113, but perhaps 1794 per Huck), an Etteilla deck with German keywords, elements, and days of creation, in script at top and bottom. Hand colored. The bottom keywords on the first 12 cards are printed right-side up. Card One has “Etteilla” and “Forschung” (Search) as keywords. Otherwise the cards are identical to the original 1789 deck, including the astrological signs and the extra numbers on cards 13-17. For colored pictures of the first page, as well as the deck, which appears to have accompanied the book, see http://www.tarotforum.net/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=2802242 (Kaplan, vol. 2 p. 401, says erroneously that the designs are like the Lismon decks. Pictures of the cards are on his p. 402.) These cards are issued again in 1857 (DDD p. 114).

1793b. January 20, King Louis XVI executed. Committee of Public Safety takes power, instituting “Reign of Terror.” October, Queen Marie Antoinette executed.

“1793?” 33 card pack (Petit Etteilla) published by “citoyen Saint-Sauveur” at “rue Nicaise, Section de les Tulleries, Paris.” DDD p. 274 n. 62: http://a-tarot.eu/p/2012/tarots/sauveur-6.jpg. citing Depaulis 1989, no. 98 and Keller 1981 no. FRA 191. Probably a misdating, see entry for c. 1797.

1794a. March. Hugand, under the name Jéjalel, is advertising his Course Complet: Théorique et Pratique du Livre de Thot (Complete Course: Theoretical and Practical, for reading the Book of Thoth). The book extends Etteilla's Cours Théorique et Pratique and unlike that one "is truly complete" (Decker p. 291 n20), It includes a list of synonyms (Decker p. 244). On p. 6 Hugand mentions that the Alexis from whom Etteilla learned about the Egyptian tarot was a "descendant" of the famous "Alexis Piémontese" (Decker, p. 191. Hugand also says (p. 72 of his book) that the name Jéjalel is from a Table of the 72 Cabalist Angels in the Zodiacus Vitae of Palingenius, where it is number 40; this is in contrast to its usual number, Decker says (p. 215), which is 58. (No such Table in either the French or the Latin editions of Palingenius that appear online. For more on this book, see the thread "Palingenio's Zodiacus Vita, 1535 Venice" at http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=854).

1794b. Hugand publishes under his real name a booklet Les decans francais: méditations politiques, morales, pour chaque jouir de l’année (French decans: political and moral meditations for each day of the year), https://books.google.com/books?id=V-5mQwAACAAJ&dq=inauthor:%22C.+Hugand%22&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjVpuuxqKXnAhXNop4KHdNBA-UQ6AEIKDAA. After 1794, DDD say (p. 102f), there is no trace of Hugand. However Huck has found a mathematics text by him published 1797, https://books.google.de/books/about/Le%C3%A7ons_%C3%A9l%C3%A9mentaires_de_calcul_%C3%A0_l_us.html?id=r6M5twAACAAJ&redir_esc=y&hl=de

1794c. In July. Robespierre and other members of the Committee of Public Safety executed.

1794d. Marriage in Grenoble 15 Messidor an II (3 July 1794). Groom is Joseph Marie de Barral Marquis de Montferrat (Guignard de Saint-Priest's cousin: his father is the brother of Guignard's mother). The bride is Bibiane (?) Joubert de La Salette, the sister of Pierre-Joseph Joubert de La Salette, general, musicologist, Etteilla's pupil, and author of the Dictionnaire synonimique du Livre de Thot of 1791 (http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=171379&page=7, post 69; with documents post 68). Both Pierre-Joseph Joubert de La Salette and Guignard were born in Grenoble, de La Salette in 1743 and Guignard in 1735 (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Joseph_Joubert_de_La_Salette, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Emmanuel_Guignard,_comte_de_Saint-Priest). Also born in Grenoble (1727) was La Tour, the “minister of war” in the 1790 deck for Guignard (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_de_La_Tour_du_Pin_Gouvernet).

1796a. Saint-Sauver publishes Europe. Tome I, per announcement at http://a-tarot.eu/p/2012/tarots/sauveur-5.jpg. The address of the author is given as “rue Nicaise, maison de la section des Tulleries”. In the same year is his Encylopedia des Voyages, at https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BD4TAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Jacques+Grasset-Saint-Sauveur&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHrZPH-ZTKAhWL2BoKHfAZAvUQ6AEIIDAA#v=onepage&q=Jacques%20Grasset-Saint-Sauveur&f=false, at the same address, published by Deroy. It seems to be just about Asia.

1796b. L’Art de Tirer les Cartes, ou le Moyen de Lire dans l’Avenir (The art of reading the cards, or the means of reading into the future), with a treatise on interpreting dreams, and accompanied by a “jeu de cartes” (deck of cards), described negatively in a 1796 review at https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XXO2K0eiruwC&pg=PA569&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U2MOva76VlDXqARYMEcsYcn1QDuhw&ci=95%2C186%2C685%2C1068&edge=0.  . According to Depaulis (personal communication to Kwaw of 24 Dec. 2015) it is the same as the booklet published in 1791, except that the spelling “cartonomancie” has been changed to “cartomancie”. It is for use with a Petit Etteilla deck. No author given. Published by Deroy, at the address “librarie, rue du Cimitiere-Andre-des-Arts, no. 15”. The content as described in the review corresponds to that of the LWB that accompanies the current Petit Etteilla published by France Cartes.

1796-1797 (“An V”). Deroy publishes Le Tireur de cartes, ou le petit cartomancien. This is described in detail in DDD, p. 98. It is a "compilation of different methods of card-reading", with much borrowing from L’Art de Lirer dans les Cartes (of 1791 and 1796). The part on the Petit Etteilla is introduced by an editor who says he asked Etteilla personally if he could reprint “some folios that fell into his hands” in 1772, originally published 1771. Etteilla told him that he wrote it when he was 15 or 16 years of age. DDD estimate that this conversation would have been 1782-3, based on a program of projected works that this editor also reports: except for the Cahiers of 1793, they are unknown and reflect Etteilla’s troubles with the censors then. It is this “Petit Etteilla” thus introduced that DDD suspect is the Abrège of 1753. For the suspected identity of the “compiler” in “an V” see entry for 1797-1798, “an VI”.

c. 1797. A re-issue of the 1791 Petit Etteilla (Depaulis, personal communication to Kwaw, 24 Dec. 2015, http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4547267&postcount=377
Quote:

a mere copy (or a re-issue?) of these cards [first edition 1791 (see Wicked Pack, p. 96 and pl. 5)] appeared around 1797 under the name and signature of our dear friend "le citoyen Saint-Sauveur" (see Cary Coll., FRA 191; Les cartes de la Révolution 1989, n° 98).

This is undoubtedly Depaulis’s new dating of the deck reported as “1793?” by DDD p. 274 n. 62: the other references are the same, no. 98 and FRA 191. It is also likely to be the same as a “1789-1804” Petit Etteilla deck at the BM, given with no images but with the following description (omitting line separations).

Quote:

Incomplete piquet pack with 31 of 32 playing-cards for cartomancy (Etteilla), plus one extra card. Hand-coloured etching. Backs plain. Circa 1789-1804. Each card has in its centre a representation of a smaller card surrounded by various words and numbers. The pack has one extra card with "No. 1 Etteilla ou le Questionant" which bears the address "Chez le Cen. (citoyen) St Sauveur, Rue Nicaise...a Paris".

This is at http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3097986&partId=1&searchText=etteilla&page=1. Kwaw suggests, previous link, that this is possibly the deck that accompanied the booklet described in the review of 1796. In that case the author of at least part of the booklet in 1796b might be Saint-Sauver, and maybe of the 1791.)

1797a, reprinted 1799/1800. Depaulis (same reference as at beginning of previous entry)

Quote:

Petit oracle des dames / Petit Etteilla' (both titles), later with "ou récréation du curieux" added, 42 cards, most double-headed, issued by Grasset de Saint-Sauveur, "A Paris, Chez l'Auteur, rue Nicaise Nr. 513. An cinquième / 1797", re-issued as 'Petit oracle des dames, ou récréation du curieux' in 1799 ("A Paris, Chez l'Auteur, rue Coq-Héron, Maison de France ; Deroy, libraire, rue Hautefeuille, n° 34, an VIII de la Rép. fr. [1799-1800]"); and reprinted later under the same or variant titles, notably by Gueffier, his widow and his son’.

Depaulis offers no evidence, but this conclusion is suggested by the address of the author, that of Saint-Sauveur at rue Nicaise in 1797 (compare to other entries for Saint-Sauver: c. 1797/“1793?”, 1796a, 1797b) changed to rue Coq-Héron by 1799 (see entry for Dec. 1798/Jan. 1799. Argued at http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4542516&postcount=358 and http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=824&hilit=grasset. It is not clear what booklet accompanies the deck.

1797b. Date suggested for an "Oracle des Dames", without "Petit". See http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4579019&postcount=12 and after, and links there.

1797-1798 (“an VI”) Petit Escamoteur, by “citoyen” Saint-Sauveur, rue Nicaise, Section de les Tulleries, Paris, http://a-tarot.eu/p/2012/tarots/sauveur-6.jpg. Published in “an VI” (1797-1798), with Le Tireur de cartes, ou le petit cartomancien (first seen the previous year), but now with the publisher’s address that of Pigoreau (DDD p. 274, note 65). So it may be that the author of both Escamoteur and Tireur are written, or at least compiled, by Saint-Sauveur.

1797-1808. D’Odoucet imprisoned several times and under surveillance often, for anti-government printing activities. (DDD p. 104ff)

Dec. 1798/Jan. 1799. Saint-Sauveur publishes Tableau des principaux peuples de l’Europe, de l’Asie, de l’Afrique, & de l’Amerique, & les decouvertes des capitaines Cook, Laperouse, Wilson, etc., according to an announcement in Journal général de la littérature de France, Volume 2 of “Nivose an. 7", i.e. Dec/Jan 1798/1799. Saint-Sauveur’s name is listed, followed by the address is “chez l’auteur, rue Coq-Heron, maison de France, derriere de la Poste aux Lettres”. The announcement is at https://books.google.de/books?id=QwQ...%A9ron&f=false. One tableau is shown at http://www.dsloan.com/Auctions/A22/i...a-grasset.html. Google Books has the book at https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...page&q&f=false The BnF has the text, or a variaton, at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1158445/f388.item (from http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=249390 ). The BnF and Google Books’ title page has, besides the Coq-Heron address, also “a Bordeaux, chez la citoyenne Saint-Sauveur, sous le peistile de la grande Comedie”: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt...t-sauveur.zoom The date is “An VI”, i.e. Sept. 21, 1798-Sept. 21, 1799.

1798. L’Art de Tirer les Cartes, ou le Moyen de Lire dans l’Avenir, the 1796 in a new edition, including the treatise on interpreting dreams, but now with an application to the Lottery (http://www.livresanciens.eu/anciens/...tems/20048.jpg). This would seem to be an expanded version of the 1796 publication and not merely a reprint, since the other did not appear to have an application to the lottery. A “c. 1800” book described in DDD pp. 274f note 64 as a reprint of the 1791 “Etteilla, ou l’Art de lirer les cartes..” with the spelling “cartomancie”, is either this one or the 1796 (DDD do not give the full title, so it is impossible to say which they mean). The application to the lottery would seem to be the numbers appended to the dream symbol entries, as shown in the 1809 booklet at http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=3091451.

1799. Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt, which includes artists and scientists. Upon his November return, he becomes First Consul of France in a coup. Proclaimed Emperor in 1804.

1800, Jan. 19. Advertisement for booklet called Petit Oracle des Dames, ou recreation du curieux in Paris, with accompanying cards, “42 tableaux, often double, joined with ordinary cards”, .This is in the Journal Typographique et Bibliographique for “30 Nivose, An 8”, i.e. 19 Jan., 1800, on p. 115: https://books.google.de/books?id=KW4...0dames&f=false No author given, but the first address listed, "rue du Coq-Héron, maison de France et chez Deroy, rue Hautefeuille, No.34" is the same as for a publication of Saint-Sauveur (https://books.google.de/books?id=QwQ...%A9ron&f=false . The second is of the publisher Deroy. (See http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewto...grasset#p11735). A 19th century Grimaud lithograph of card 22 is at right. For the full modern Grimaud edition (1997?) of the 42-card “Petit Oracle des Dames” deck, see the first two posts of http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=171379. For an 1841 reprint of what is presumably still the same booklet, see http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt...te.langEN.zoom. For discussions of the philosophy behind the sequence, see http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread...=171379&page=2, post 18 and continuing on to p. 3 of the thread, picking up again at http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread...=171379&page=4, post 34 to the bottom of the page.

c. 1800a. DDD p. 143 mention a “Petit Oracle des Dames” published by "Mme. Finet", with 36 cards. DDD’s references (footnote 3, p. 282), are Depaulis, Les Cartes de la Revolution 1984 no. 1321984, Hoffmann & Kroppenstedt, Wahrsagencarte 1972 no. 68; Hoffmann and Dietrich Tarot - Tarock – Tarocchi 1988 no. 105; and Depaulis Mademoiselle Lenormand 1989, nos. 100, 101, and 102. This would seem to be a different book and game from Petit Oracle des Dames, ou recreation du curieux, given the difference in the title, and that it is for a 36 card deck, 32 piquet cards plus 4 “Etteilla” cards. The cards are probably the same as given in “c. 1789 or later” entry above.

c. 1800b. A "Grand Jeu de Geographie" produced, similar to Saint-Sauver's geographic deck of "c. 1789 or later". See http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p...2&postcount=33.

1801a. Publisher Deroy dies, his rights acquired by Gueffier jeune (http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.p...&postcount=367). Depaulis says (personal communication to Kwaw, above link):

Quote:

Pierre-Charles-Augustin Gueffier, d. 1803/4), was succeeded by his widow, the Veuve Gueffier, who died in 1809 (a probate inventory is in our Archives Nationales), then by their son Gueffier jeune no. 2 (or Gueffier fils), who bought the remaining stock of Etteilla's books in 1817, and later (1823) sold Le Petit Oracle des Dames and Le Veritable Etteilla to Philippe-François Peytieux.

1801b. For 13 April, (Journal des débats et des décrets -- Du 23 Germinal An 9) lists Le Petit Oracle des Dames, ou Combinaisons de 72 figures symboliques en 42 tableaux coloriés, formant la fin, complet de 52 cartes auxquelles est joint un livre qui indique la manière de lire dans le futur , at “Cabinet de Lecture, at boulevard Cerutti, No.21”. Price 3 fr. Image of entry at http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...psd14mj2pf.jpg. Given by Kwaw at http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.p...&postcount=344

1802a. Listing for “Petit Oracles des Dames, etc.” by Guillaume Fleisher, Annuare de la Librarie, Première Année, at https://books.google.de/books?id=Udh...ancien&f=false, given at http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewto...grasset#p11812). Also for “24 Messidor, An 10” (about 12 July 1802) in the Journal Typographique et Bibliographique, https://books.google.de/books?id=L3O...mes%22&f=false. This is again for “Le Petit Oracle des Dames, ou Recreations du Curieux, Guefflier, librarie, boulevard Cerutti.”

1802b. Fleischer also lists a “Petit Necromancier, ou le Tireur de Cartes...”. Address is in Bordeaux, that of Saint-Saveur’s engraver Labrousse, or perhaps of Saint-Saveur at that time; see http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p...30&postcount=1 . This could be a reprint of the 1796 publication, or of any other using 33 or 36 cards.

1802c. An Albert D’Alby publishes “L'Oracle parfait, ou nouvelle manière de tirer les cartes, au moyen de laquelle chacun peut tirer son horoscope”, online at https://books.google.de/books?id=nmV...gbs_navlinks_s and discussed at http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p...30&postcount=1 Mentioned by DDD p. 146 and note 8, p. 282. It will be part of the inventory of Gueuffier, documented in 1824 (http://tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p...&postcount=333 ) It is claimed that the book was approved by the censor in 1788, but difficulties prevented publication then. It uses three 36 card decks, each 32 + four special ones.

1804. D’Odoucet publishes vol. 1 of Sciences des signes, ou médecine de l’esprit, connu sous le nom d’Art de tirer les cartes; it is similar to Etteilla’s Cours théorique et pratique. (DDD p. 106).Online at https://archive.org/details/b22018529_0001/page/n7/mode/2up.

1805. Dec. 2. Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon’s greatest military victory, defeating a combined Austrian-Russian army.

c. 1806. (Between July 1806 and August 1807, per DDD p. 107; but Philippe [http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.p...7&postcount=9] justly points out that the terminus is unjustified: Between July 1806 and Dec. 1808 is the most that can be said, the period in which the dedicee, if it is Talleyrand as universally believed, had the titles d'Odoucet gives him). D’Odoucet publishes Vol. 2 of Science des signes. This includes woodcuts of all the cards. (If he used woodcuts, he must not have had access to the original copper plates.) Philippe posted the first two cards, really parts of pages of the book (card 1 at right), at http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.p...&postcount=292, and all of the first 21 tarot cards at https://www.flickr.com/photos/315159...57662037222321. (These last at http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread...doucet&page=31.) The full title, translated,  is Science of signs, or mind medicine, colloquially known under the name of card reading; containing the literal and philosophical meaning of the hieroglyphs and inscriptions of each sheet of the book of Thoth, their synonymous, homonymous, and numerical relationships, embellished with 78 woodcuts. Second Part. The book as a whole is online at https://archive.org/details/b22018529_0002/page/n6/mode/2up, with no date appearing on any page scanned.

1806a. Example of Petit Etteilla with 32 + 3 extra cards, published by Mme. Gueffier, at http://www.britishmuseum.org/researc...tteilla&page=1 The extras are Questionant, Questionnante, and one in color of Etteilla in a giant conical hat surrounded by magical paraphernalia. Sample pages are on view, including the manner of drawing cards and the interpretation of dreams. Lottery numbers for the years 1788 and 1789 are provided.

1806b. Veuve (Widow) Gueffier publishes 82 page Le petit oracle des dames, ou Récréation du curieux... / (par Alliette), with 42 coloured cards for Le Petite Oracle Des Dames, as listed in the 1806 Journal General de la Litterature de France (https://books.google.com/books?id=ii...effier&f=false ; also “Le Veritable Etteilla, ou l’Art de Tirer les Cartes", same link, brochure with 33 cards, including dream explications and applications to the imperial lottery. (found by Kwaw at http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.p...&postcount=316).

1807a. D’Odoucet publishes Vol. 3 of Science des Signes, per DDD p. 107. The full title, or most of it, translates as follows: Science of signs, or mind medicine, containing 1st, The understanding of numerical and astral sciences of the first Egyptians. 2nd The art of knowing the heart of man through his external signs; 3rd, An interesting survey of the diversity of minds and characters; 4th, The true origin of Freemasonry and initiation to the different ranks, third and last part, illustrated and engraved by M. D’Odoucet, one of the interpreters of the book of Thot, possessor of the collection [fonds] of Etteilla, his collaborator and continuator of his works. The book has a copper engraving showing a Masonic allegory with two pillars and bearing D’Odoucet’s name ('D’Odoucet invenit’) together with the signature of the engraver: “De Bonrecuille Scripts.” De Bonrecuille, another long-time disciple, was a known Mason. (DDD p. 107f). Vol. 3 is part of an upload of all three volumes, totalling 250 mb, by the Warburg Institute at https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/fmh4218b3243959.pdf.

1807b. A “Petit Oracle des Dames” is published by the Veuve (widow) Gueffier, 42 cards, with designs that DDD observe (p. 143) are partly from the 66 card fortune-telling pack of about 1790 and partly from Etteilla’s tarot pack. Images and booklet (page by page, 64 in all) are at http://gallica.bnf.fr/services/engin...#resultat-id-2, number 2. This deck appears to be the basis for the modern Grimaud (1997), per information at http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.p...62&postcount=6.

c. 1807. Date Kaplan gives for another "Petit Oracle des Dames", not colored, now in pieces with titles removed. Dogs face different direction than in the other. See http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.p...&postcount=394 and the one after.

1808. D’Odoucet is in Lille in November 1808, and there is no further trace of him (DDD, p. 106). Lille is where Blocquel and Casteaux start up their business in 1809 (from Cerulean, http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread...4546&page=2%29), citing Roger D.J. Collins, Journal de la Societe des oceistes. n. 81, 1985, pp. 235-240. Imperial decree now requires the licensing of printers. DDD observe that D'Odoucet is not among the Paris printers that were approved in the regulations in 1811.(Kaplan, vol. 2 p. 401, says erroneously that the designs are like the Lismon decks. Pictures of the cards are on his p. 402.) These cards are issued again in 1857 (DDD p. 114).