Salon de Magie: The Klosterman Collection Part I

[Playing Cards] The Perpetual Almanac, or Gentleman Soldier’s Prayer Book. London: J. Catnatch ca. 1820. Wood-engraved broadside illustrated with vignettes of a pack of cards used by a soldier for various practical purposes in place of his Bible and almanack and bearing a border of individual printed cards. Explanatory text underneath the images explains how the cards were used in church in place of the soldier’s prayer book. Matted and framed (and including a printed paper wrapper printed by Goode & Bros, London and a typed explanation of the broadside) to 20 ¾ x 19 ½". Visible soiling and folds; good. As the text on this broadside explains, the common pack of cards is “a Bible, Almanack, Common Prayer Book, and Pack of Cards.” The soldier in the story explains how the suits, spots, and composition of the deck can replace each of these essential text in a man’s life.