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The Book of Trades by Jost Amman, 1588

Published July 03, 1996 Updated June 08, 2024

The Book of Trades by the prolific German Renaissance artist Jost Amman (1539-91). Suits are books, printers' pads, wine-pots and drinking cups.

1588 Germany Edizone Il Meneghello Lo Scarabeo Jost Amman Facsimiles & Replicas Renaissance Suits
Woodcut by Jost Amman

Jost Amman, “Book of Trades”, 1588

Following in the wake of Italian art, the German Renaissance developed a new form of medieval knightly culture. Imaginative decks of playing cards were produced by Jost Amman, Schäufelein, Schön and Peter Flötner...

cards from the Book of Trades by the prolific German Renaissance artist Jost Amman (1539-91)

Above: cards from the Book of Trades by the prolific German Renaissance artist Jost Amman (1539-91). Suits are books, printers' pads, wine-pots and drinking cups. Some of the images had already appeared in books published prior to the cards, along with moralising verses beneath each card. The deck promotes industry and learning over idleness and drunkenness.

"Indulging their fancy, they [German card-makers] varied the signs according to every capricious notion: unicorns, dogs, rabbits and apes, monkeys and lions, parrots and peacocks, stroll or fly or flutter through the cardboard world. Packs appeared with suits of pinks, of columbines, printers' inkpads, vases, drinking cups, books, combs, fishes, crowns, bellows, frying-pans, shields, alms-houses and knives; some were circular."  Roger Tilley 'Playing Cards', p. 35.

The artist's humour is discernible in almost every card, where little groups of figures decorate the numeral cards. Jost Amman's cards influenced several later cardmakers. Below are two recent facsimiles   read more

The Book of Trades by Jost Amman (1588) published by Lo Scarabeo, 2004 The Book of Trades by Jost Amman (1588) published by Lo Scarabeo, 2004 The Book of Trades by Jost Amman (1588) published by Lo Scarabeo, 2004

Above: cards from facsimile edition “The Book of Trades” by Jost Amman (1588) published by Lo Scarabeo, Torino, Italy 2004. This modern edition contains 2 jokers and six extra information cards  see more →

The Book of Trades by Jost Amman (1588)

Above: the four cards designated by the Roman numeral 'X' are female. Are these 'Queens' or female pages? German decks, like Spanish ones, do not usually contain Queens. The Kings are mounted on horseback. If these ladies are Queens then we have an Italian or French element to account for. But in Spanish decks the 10s are 'Sotas' and sometimes female. Cards from the limited edition facsimile deck published by Edizone Il Meneghello, Via Fara 15, Milano, Italy.

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By Simon Wintle

Member since February 01, 1996

Founder and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.

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