[Le Jeu des fortifications].

£1,250 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books · No longer available

Lovely set of uncommon military playing cards. The cards were drawn by Gilles de La Boissière (as shown on the later Daumont issue). Each card depicts a different form of fortification, with mathematical measurements appearing alongside the drawbridges, fortified chateaux, bastions, ravelins and ramparts. Given that the jeu de l'oie was very much in favour at the turn of the century, a new type of game appeared, mixing the latter with conventional playing cards. The jeu des fortifcations (like the similar jeu de la guerre, also invented by La Boissiere) is a prime example: originally issued on a broadsheet, it could be played either as a jeu de l'oie, with dice, or as a card game, in which each square could be cut out to form a deck of cards (as here). The original owner laid down the cut-out cards to form this lovely volume, leaving aside the title, the rules of the game and the table alphabétique that complete the broadsheet. It is rare to find the game in this condition, as once the cards were cut out they were only very occasionally kept in a volume. Originally published in 1668 by Mariette, 'an eminent French engraver and print-seller' (Bryan), the game proved popular; many reissues with small variations, sometimes in other languages, were printed over the course of the next century. Like the copy in the British Museum, the dedication is here signed by the original publisher, Mariette, but addressed to the students of the prestigious College de Louis le Grand, formerly C

• Binding: Hardcover

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