Beschreibung:

Lenthall (John, publisher). A set of 49 (of 52) playing card maps and two explanation cards, circa 1717, uncoloured engraved playing cards in the first state, minor staining and handling marks, each approximately 95 x 60 mm, contained in a modern purpose-made book box in panelled calf with a chemise and recess for the cards Kathleen Wowk. Playing Cards of the World p.96. Sylvia Mann Collecting Playing Cards. p.136. Sylvia Mann, All Cards on the Table, p.132. A very scarce item of English cartographic history with very few collections in existence. This John Lenthall edition is a re-issue of Robert Morden's playing card maps but without the normal foliate borders which identify a Lenthall issue. Extant examples are rare with the Bodleian Library holding eighteen cards, The Beineke Library at Yale has seventeen cards, and the British Library and Cambridge University Library have none. Although advertised for over thirty years very few copies are recorded in existence today. We cannot find any record of a near-complete pack in this first state and must conclude that it is probably unique.