Carte Méthodique
Reproduction of a French pack by François Silvestre intended to teach heraldry, produced in Paris in 1712.
This limited facsimile edition of 500 packs was published in 1982 by Vito Arienti of Edizioni del Solleone. It is a reproduction of a French pack created by François Silvestre and first produced in Paris in 1712 by J. Mariette, intended to teach heraldry and originally titled “Carte méthodique pour apprendre aisement le blazon en jouant”. Solleone first reproduced this pack in 1974 in a limited edition of 120 packs, and appears to have reprinted it again in 1982 in a run of a further 500 packs.
There are 52 cards plus an extra card showing “the proofs of 8 quarters of Mr le Comte d'Aghien, son of Marshal de Noailles” and a dedication to the Duc de Bourgogne. All cards are in black and white on slightly yellowish tan unfinished stock with plain white backs. The descriptions on the cards are in French. For a biography of the engraver and translation of the dedication see here►
Above: facsimile of “Carte Méthodique” created by François Silvestre and produced in Paris in 1712 by J. Mariette re-published in 1982 by Vito Arienti of Edizioni del Solleone.
A later edition of these heraldic cards published by Jean-François Daumont and dedicated to the Comte d’Artois in c.1775 can be viewed at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France here: Carte méthodique►
By Peter Burnett
United Kingdom • Member since July 27, 2022
I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.
Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.
Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.
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