Grand jeu de la main

Toward the end of the nineteenth century there was a growing market for increasingly elaborate divinatory systems, often combining cartomancy, palmistry, astrology and other occult disciplines into specially designed fortune-telling cards. An example of this is “Grand jeu de la main” (subtitled “Chiromancie Nouvelle”) published by B.P Grimaud in 1890, based on a divinatory system devised by the Parisian chiromancer and cartomancer Adèle Moreau (1816-1888). Each card shows a hand palm in the centre, moon phases at each side, along with a miniature playing card, a description of the lines on the palm, a suggested divinatory interpretation at the top, and large legends at top and bottom. Some cards have additional symbols or hieroglyphs.

Paris was one of Europe's principal centres for a revival of interest in topics such as spiritualism, mesmerism, astrology, chiromancy (palmistry), graphology, phrenology, dream interpretation and cartomancy, especially among the expanding urban middle classes. A fashionable hostess might bring out a fortune-telling deck during an evening gathering, much as people later enjoyed séances or party games. Some users genuinely believed the cards revealed character and destiny. Fortune-telling manuals were explicitly addressed to readers interested in marriage prospects, social advancement and personal relationships. The first card shown, for example, predicts a "new acquaintance with a woman" (Nouvelle connaissance de Femme), illustrating the everyday concerns these systems often addressed.

The cards occupy a cultural position somewhat comparable to modern personality tests or astrology columns. Not everyone believed them literally, but many people found them meaningful or entertaining... a blend of palmistry, cartomancy and lunar symbolism. Unlike traditional cartomantic packs, each card functions almost as a printed chart or diagram, combining multiple layers of information - palmistry, mystical symbolism, playing-card indices, personality types and predictive texts - into a single visual reference. This encyclopaedic approach reflects the nineteenth-century fascination with systems of classification and hidden correspondences.

The popularity of these cards is underscored by the fact that there were several editions over the years, published by Grimaud or Avril fils et Cie. The lavish design of Le Grand Jeu de la Main reflects commercial strategy: instead of simple fortune-telling cards, buyers received a more complex system that appeared sophisticated and authoritative. The hand diagrams, lunar imagery and classifications such as "Type lymphatique" gave the impression of an integrated body of systematic or scientific knowledge rather than simple fortune-telling. We continue the numerical series in a coloured version of the deck published by Avril fils et Cie in which card 55 shows the manufacturer's badge plus the claim that Adèle Moreau was a pupil of Mlle Lenormand ("Chiromancie nouvelle par A. Moreau (élève de Melle Lenormand) et de A. de Para d'Hermès"). See note below.