At what period cards were first used in Europe for the purposes of divination or fortune-telling has not been ascertained. In the 'Magasin Pittoresque' for 1842, page 324, there is a cut entitled "Philippe-le-Bon consultant une tireuse de cartes," copied from a painting ascribed to John Van Eyck. Though it has been denied that this picture is really by Van Eyck, it is yet admitted that the costume is that of the reign of Charles VIII, between 1483 and 1498.[138] Supposing then that the picture belongs to the latter period, we have thus evidence of cards being used for the purposes of fortune-telling before the close of the fifteenth century. The gypsies, who are unquestionably of Asiatic origin, appear to have long used them for this purpose; and if they brought cards with them in their earliest immigration into Europe, as Breitkopf supposes, they are just as likely to have brought with them their occult science of cards as to have acquired it subsequently from Europeans. The earliest work, expressly treating of the subject appears to be 'Le Sorti,' written or compiled by Francesco Marcolini, printed at Venice in 1540. In the prologue, the author professes to explain the mode of applying what he calls his pleasant invention--"piacevole inventione;" but beyond the fact that certain cards are to be used, I have not been able to make out his meaning. The only cards to be employed were the King, Knight, Knave, ten,[139] nine, eight, seven, deuce, and ace of the suit Danari or Money. Besides the small cuts of cards, of which the following are specimens, the work contains a number of wood-engravings, some of which are designed in a spirited manner. A work similar to Marcolini's, entitled 'Triompho di Fortuna,' by Sigismond Fanti, professing to teach the art of solving questions relating to future events, but without using cards, was printed at Venice in 1527.
Juggling and fortune-telling by means of cards, whenever introduced, appear to have had many professors in the latter half of the sixteenth century. A trick performed with cards by a juggler, appears to have excited the inquisitive genius of Lord Bacon when a boy; and his biographer, Basil Montagu, thinks that from this circumstance his attention was first directed to an inquiry into the nature of the imagination.[140] Reginald Scott, in his Discovery of Witchcraft, first published in 1584, has a chapter "Of Cards, with good cautions how to avoid cousenage therein; special rules to convey and handle the cards; and the manner and order how to accomplish all difficult and strange things wrought with cards."