Early pasteboard

This is a message in response to Barbara Gordon's inquiry concerning
15th century board and its relation to playing cards.  You can find
a vast amount of information on this subject (especially all the
European literature) in Melbert B. Cary, Jr.'s  article,

   "A stencil sheet of playing cards of the late 15th century with
    two related uncut sheets of cards"
    The Print Collector's Quarterly
    v. 26, n. 4, Dec. 1939:393-422.

This article goes far beyond the subject of its title adding a
history of the manufacture of playing cards, their trade and
diffusion, their discovery inside book boards by book conservators
and etc.  A more detailed study of the diversity of cards and their
manufacture and use is by W. Gurney Renham, Playing Cards, Spring
Books, London, n.d., which contains several dozen beautiful color
and B&W reproductions of playing cards of the past 700 years.

Niccolo Caldararo
Director and Chief Conservator
Conservation Art Service


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:52
                  Distributed: Friday, April 21, 2000
                       Message Id: cdl-13-52-003
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