An Etteilla Timeline

PLEASE NOTE THAT I NOW HAVE A FULLER TIMELINE, WITH MANY LINKS, AT https://etteillatimelineiii.blogspot.com.

Here is the beginning of my attempt at an Etteilla-specific timeline, giving sources. For entries before 1760, we are dependent upon Etteilla himself. After that, his activities are well documented. I am using three sources. One is the French text of the Little White Book (LWB) accompanying the current B.P. Grimaud Petit Etteilla, published by France Cartes. The booklet is entitled LE NOUVEL ETTEILLA ou MOYEN INFAILLIBLE DE TIRER LES CARTES et de lire dans l’Avenir. No date is given, but the wording in the part I am quoting corresponds to that of a booklet that Decker et al date to 1791, when the Petit Etteilla itself came out. There is a forward signed by Etteilla himself, they say, his last writing, dated 7 August 1791 (Decker et al p. 96).

W. H. Wilshire, in A descriptive catalogue of playing and other cards in the British Museum, 1876, p. 166, also describes a booklet in terms exactly fitting the current booklet, from its beginning note “au beau sexe,” to the fair sex, down to the inclusion of a dream-interpretation manual at the end. Moreover, his account of Etteilla uses many of the same words and phrases. He dates the booklet to “the first half of the 19th century.” (For Wilshire, see http://books.google.com/books?id=cR8...teilla&f=false).

The France Cartes version includes an English translation, but it is not always accurate and frequently leaves out important information. So I am giving my own translation, checked against the others (the LWB's, plus portions in Willshire and Decker et al). For those who prefer their French straight, at the end of this post I give links to my scans of the booklet itself.

My other sources are Decker, Dummett, and Depaulis, A Wicked Pack of Cards, 1996, hereafter abbreviated to “DDD,” and Kaplan, Encyclopedia of Tarot vol. 2, 1986.

So here is the timeline.

1738. Jean-Baptiste Alliette born (per burial certificate), by his account on 1 March in Paris (DDD p. 76), son of a caterer (“maitre rotisseur,” DDD p. 77) by the same name.

1748. [Deleted, thanks to Corodil, for catching my error. See entry for 1840.]

1751-1753. From the LWB to the Petit Etteilla. What follows is my fairly literal translation.

Quote:

In 1750, the art of drawing cards was unknown in France; but in 1751, 1752, and 1753, three elderly people worked at drawing them. They were right, although having shuffled and cut a deck of 32 cards, they read the cards one by one; and when the Enquirer had drawn a sword, that (these old people alleged) announced sorrow; likewise hearts foretold happiness, diamonds the country [la campagne, mistranslated as “campaigns” in English translation] and clubs money. Fanaticism cried sacrilege, and in order to save these alleged sorcerers from the devouts, they were locked up, without being listened to, in Bicetre or the Salpetriere.

Greer’s timeline (http://www.tarotpassages.com/mkgtimeline.htm) quotes Willshire, p. 160, to much the same effect; his source was the same booklet that I am using (similar wording, and on p. 166 he describes the very booklet). As DDD note, the characterization of the suits is the same as de Mellet’s, 1781. The Bicetre is one of the places where the Marquis de Sade later was sent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bic%C3%AAtre_Hospital). The Salpetriere was a prison for prostitutes, the mentally disabled, the criminally insane, and the poor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piti%C3...%A8re_Hospital).

1753. Again, the LWB:

Quote:

Our savant renovated cartomancy by throwing out the art of drawing the cards one by one and replacing it with reading the cards on the table as a whole. Giving the way of reading the significance of the cards, our author wrote up not only the false meanings given each in their own way by the three elderly people but also granted the legitimate meanings, taking that of victory for the 9 of hearts, which was wrongly allocated to the 9 of diamonds by one of the three people, etc. The art of drawing cards, according to Etteilla, could not be as modern as an invention as French cards. With the backing of ancient manuscript, he thought it came from the 33 sticks of a Greek, who used them in Gaul to pronounce oracles and had taken or naturally had the name Alpha.

So in 1753 comes Atteilla’s first publication, his synopsis of the Art of Drawing the cards [son abrege de l’Art de tirer les cartes]. But it did not meet with success.

Quote:

Since 1753, ignorance has provided to its [cartomancy’s] proselytes the appearance of several manners of drawing them; but they were rejected, because not following the principles of Egyptian Cartomancy, they did not command the attention of the curious. No truth could be drawn from them.

DDD find no documentation of this alleged work independently of statements derived from Etteilla himself. There is Etteilla’s own statement in the 1785 Philosophie des Hautes Sciences p. 116, where he speaks of 1753 as the date of his first writings (DDD p. 78). For “Alpha” there is the frontispiece to his 1770 book, which is entitled Alpha and shows a man seated in front of cards spread out on a table. The 1773 edition also has a short foreword alluding to this method of divination, calling it “illusion of the ancient Gauls.” There is also a little book that came out in 1797; its editor says that he is simply “transcribing verbatim a short work of some folios which appeared at the end of the year 1771, under the title of Le Petit Etteilla.” DDD say (p. 98):

Quote:

Etteilla allowed him [the editor] to reprint this ‘petit amusement’, since he had ‘given this method of reading the cards when he was 15 or 16 years old, and having verified it just at 33.’ Researches have failed to discover such a book, and we must note that Etteilla himself never mentions any work printed in 1771 or 1772. But 22 years is exactly Etteilla’s age in 1771, who actually ‘was 15 or 16 years old’ in 1753.

DDD speculate that what follows, the “short work of some folios” is in fact the “Synopsis of Cartomancie” of 1753. The style resembles Etteilla's. In this work

Quote:

The writer claims to have been inspired by a ‘very old manuscript’ he owns and that ‘card reading does not derive from cards, but from the game of 33 sticks of Alpha(*), name of a Greek refugee in Spain who predicted the future’. The footnote adds: ‘Attributed to the goddess of the forests’.

Fortunately or unfortunately, DDD do not give more of the content of this work allegedly from 1753.

1757. Etteilla publishes again, according to the LWB for the Petit Etteilla:

Quote:

In the synopsis of 1757, our author does not fail to emphasize again that drawing the cards one by one, so as to explicate them one by one, was an ignorance imitating the manner of finding oracles in the Odyssey of Homer, the verses of Virgil, and the abuse of drawing [?—French “sorte’] from the Saints.

I think the writer means the practice of opening such books at random, putting one’s finger on a line without looking, and finding there the answer to one’s question. DDD do not seem to notice this alleged publication. The booklet continues:

Quote:

In 1757, finally, our learned professor of cartomancy, instructed by a Piedmontese that the book of the first Egyptians, a book named THOT or TOUT [French for “all], engraved in hieroglyphics and known under the name and the game Tarots, or better THAROH, summarized all the ancient knowledge, and was a serious study; and, in spite of being prevented by royal censors, of the administration of the Book Office [“Librarie”], and of the police in 1782, he brought to the light of day, in 1783, his work on the THAROTH or [/i]Tarots[/i], which he had devoted more than ten consecutive years of study and reflection.

It appears here that his writing of 1757 was simply a restatement of 1753, and that it was only after this publication that he met the Piedmontese, who not only led him to the Tarot but told him that it originated in Egypt. But he wasn’t ready to publish on this subject until 1782

The LWB says also that the oppression that had locked up the three elderly cartomancers in 1753 ended in 1770,

Quote:

This tyranny lasted until 1770, when Etteilla, who had reflected, studied, and finally recognized that the false art of drawing cards came from the most useful and sublime of all sciences, opposed himself, with as much force as reasoning and skill, to the ignorance of fanaticism.

Other than this reference to 1770 (about which the booklet does not say more), the LWB leaves out a big chunk of time, from 1757 to 1782. Fortunately, DDD have information that fills in some blanks. They find no hard data before 1760. However they do report some hearsay about the 1757 meeting with the elderly Piemontese. An 1859 biography by Millet-Saint-Pierre says that Etteilla met him in Lamballe, Brittany, and his name was Alexis. Even that is suspect, DDD say (p. 272, note 16), because "Alexis Piemontois" was the French pseudonym of a 16th century Italian author, who might have been confused with Atteilla's Piedmontese .

From here on, what is reported has more evidence than Etteilla's own testimony.

1760. First mention of Etteilla in the archives: Jean-Baptiste Alliette owes 600 livres to one Jean Langlois. (DDD p. 77)

1763. Jean-Baptiste Alliette and Jeanne Vattier are sued for a job certificate delivered to a young apprentice. They are said to be seed merchants (“Marchands grainiers”). Other documents from the same source confirm that Etteilla sold seeds at least until 1769. Jeanne Vattier is Etteilla’s wife. (DDD p. 77)

1763-1767.Etteilla has at least one child, Louis-Jean-Baptiste, the only child mentioned in his 1791 death certificate (DDD p. 76). The son is called a “merchant grocer” there.

1767. Etteilla separates from his wife, according to DDD (p. 77, but no documentation). They surmise that he may have begun his card-reading activities then. They observe later that in Philosophie des hautes sciences of 1785, Etteilla discusses whether “one must have a wife, children, or civil life embarrassments in order to advance the high sciences.” Etteilla says:

Quote:

It is in the company of my Xanthippe, in household embarrassments, among my children, in the distress of business, and other different mortifications that I have endured, that I conceived the hautes Sciences. (p. 140, quoted in DDD p. 79)

So it would appear that Etteilla worked out the main part of his method while married, etc. Xanthippe was the wife of Socrates, who in Xenophon's Symposium was characterized as "the hardest to get along with of all the women there are" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthippe). For more details on the separation, see DDD.

From 1768-69. Alliette engages in print selling, mentioned as such in a 1797 bibliography of current French literature, ‘Alliette, by anagram Etteilla, Print seller in Paris”. In 1768, three thieves steal some books and prints. Alliette's shop was inspected on 11 March 1769 and found to have some of the stolen prints. Alliette was proved innocent of wrongdoing (DDD p. 80).

1770. Etteilla publishes Etteilla, ou maniere de se récréer avec un jeu de cartes par M*** (Etteilla, or a Way to Entertain Oneself with a Pack of Cards by Mr***). It includes both upright and reversed meanings for a deck of 32 cards, as well as engravings of several spreads. There is also a 33rd card, blank, called “Etteilla” At the end he mentions ”les Taraux” in a list of methods of fortune-telling (DDD, p. 83). The book is reviewed in a couple of established journals.

1772.. Giuseppi Balsamo, an adventurer who probably later took the name Count Allesandro Cagliostro, arrives in Paris (McCalman, The Last Alchemist, p. 32:

Quote:

With creditors pressing, the couple hastily caught a boat to Calais on 15 September 1772.

The visit goes unnoticed except in court records. But the following is relevant to Etteilla. McCalman, p. 32, notes that in exchange for allowing a French nobleman access to his wife,

Quote:

...Giuseppe was funded to set up a laboratory where he happily tried out the experiments from a sixteenth century book he’d acquired. It was Alesso Piemontese’s Secretes admirables, one of the most comprehensive occult manuals ever written, setting out detailed prescriptions for making paints, inks, medicines, cosmetics, and magical spells.

This author is the same as the Alexis Piemontese that Etteilla’s Alexis had claimed as grandfather. McCalman unfortunately does not cite his source, unless it is Photiedes, Les Vies de Cagliostro, p. 101f, his only reference for this period.

1772. Etteilla publishes Le zodiac mysterieux, ou les oracles d’Etteilla (The mysterious zodiac, or Etteilla’s oracles). It is a collection of astrological predictions. But according to a study by Halbronn in 1993, it was not real astrology (DDD p. 79).

1773. New edition of Etteilla's 1770 book, indicating that he had attained some success. There are two other publications that year suggesting the same. Here is DDD:

Quote:

Etteilla is alluded to in a small light-hearted pamphlet written by Claude-Nicolas Bricaire de La Dixmerie much about the same time. The writer says in a footnote that ‘the famous card-reader in China [here an amusing metaphor for France] prints his judgements as the author of l’Almanach des Muses prints his’, and adds this ironical comment: ‘The whole of China is divided between these two inspired men.” Another little book, which we may suspect to have been written at Etteilla’s request, Lettre sur l’oracle du jour (1772), gives, under the signature of one ‘Duchesse de ***, a flattering portrait of the fortune-teller. (DDD p. 79)

1775. A print auction catalogue in Paris lists Alliette many times as a buyer (DDD p. 80).[/b]

1776. Alliette’s shop advertises in a directory. It states that he has traveled widely in the Provinces. (DDD p. 81)

1777-c.1780. Etteilla in Strasbourg starting 1777, settling as a “print-seller and bachelor, from Paris, legitimate son of Jean-Baptiste Alliette, burgess and caterer from there, and of Marie-Anne nee Bautray,” according to citizenship records there (he became a citizen of the city). He joins the guild there for printers, print sellers, cardmakers, and book-binders. The guild record for 1781 lists him in “guild members no longer resident.” Etteilla himself verifies his stay in Strasbourg in a 1785 book, where he says that “when in Strasbourg, I was pleased to fix M. Cerbere’s youngest son’s birth chart” (DDD p. 82). He also says that the best tarot cards are made there. But he objects to the cardmaker Jean-Baptiste Benoits’ removal of the “butterfly” on the “hieroglyph called the Star.” (Indeed, if we look at the reproduction of “Benois’” Star card in Kaplan vol. 2, we will see that there is no winged creature. It is one of those decks that have replaced the Pope and Popess with Jupiter and Juno; in it, the 2 of Coins gives Benois’ name, and the place as Strasbourg. Kaplan lists Benois as producing in Strasbourg starting in 1780.)

1779-1780. 1779: Cagliostro introduces his “Egyptian Rite” in Mitau (in what is now Latvia), from material gathered in London (an alleged manuscript by "Cofton," possibly, per McCalman p. 41, a "minor Oxford scholar of eastern religion named George Costard'), Leipzig (from Dom Pernety), etc. Then does the same in St. Petersburg, Warsaw, and elsewhere, healing the sick and conducting seances. Sept. 1780, Cagliostro arrives in Strasbourg, to much publicity, continuing to heal and gain adherents.. His popularity could have influenced Etteilla, especially in Strasbourg. (Source: Roberto Gervaso, Cagliostro, pp. 69, 82, 92; confirmed in McCalman.) Pernety is referred to by Etteilla in his 2nd Cahier of 1785.

1781. Publication of vol. 8 of Le Monde Primitif by Court de Gébelin, claiming an Egyptian origin for Tarot. He clams that the images reflect Egyptian ideas and allegories, and so constitute an “Egyptian Book,” just as Etteilla will two years later. The volume also includes an essay by le Comte de M*** [de Mellet], who goes so far as to call the tarot cards “The Book of Thoth,” just as Etteilla will, consisting of hieroglyphs and describing Thoth’s teachings on cosmogony, i.e. those on the origins of the universe. For de Mellet the cards start with the 21st card and proceed downwards. Etteilla will similarly start his sequence with four of the last five trumps, in his case identifying them with four of the first six days of creation in Genesis. (For de Gebelin and de Mellet, see http://www.donaldtyson.com/gebelin.html. For Etteilla, see previous posts in this thread.)

1782. 1782. Etteilla applies to the royal censor to publish his new work on the tarot.)(DDD, p. 83).) Of Etteilla’s application, DDD write (p. 83):

Quote:

The Book Office (‘Librarie’) archives have kept the mention of his original titleCartonomanie [sic] the censor’s misspelling of “cartonomancie”] Egiptienne, ou interprétation de 78 hierogliphes qui sont sur les cartes nommées Tarots (Egyptian Cartonomania, or Interpretation of the 78 hieroglyphs which are on the cards called Tarots. But the manuscript was denied publication. In the right-hand column, someone has written “rayé du 20 novembre 1782’ (canceled 20 November 1782).

This corresponds well to what Etteilla said in his 1787 Lecons theoriques et pratiques du livre de Thot, that

Quote:

In 1782, upon the report of a rigid censor, we were forbidden to print them [the arguments of the Book of Thoth]; they were printed in 1783, under a vague title, a title which got us a more tolerant censor...

The title that won him acceptance was Maniere de se recreer avec le Jeu de Cartes nommees Tarots. And despite Etteilla’s protests, his word “cartonomancy” was soon replaced by its derivative, the equally new word “cartomancy,” first proposed by one of his students in 1789 (DDD p. 99).

1783. Etteilla has three publications: Maniere de se recreer avec le jeu de cartes nommees tarots: pour servir de troisieme cahier a cet ouvrage (A way to entertain oneself with the pack of cards called tarots: serving as the third book of this work); the “premier cahier,” or first book (or perhaps "notebook"), of the work; and lastly a “Supplement” to the “premier cahier” (DDD p. 84). It is not clear whether it was the “first cahier,” the “third cahier,” or both, that he had submitted in 1782. The 3rd Cahier has an engraving of Prudence as its frontispiece, which will later become Etteilla’s Prudence card. The 1st Cahier has Temperance as its frontispiece, later to become the Temperance card.

I will continue this timeline later.

I have been trying to verify Mary Greer’s timeline entries for Cagliostro in the period before 1783, in particular her claim that he was in Paris in 1771 “with his Egyptian Masonic Rite.” I have so far come up with nothing suggesting he was in Paris prior to 1785, or that he had an Egyptian rite in 1771. [Added Aug. 6: I have since found that he probably was in Paris 1772, in as much as Giuseppi Balsamo is listed in Paris court records for that year. I added a timeline entry accordingly. Also, most sources say that Cagliostro introduced his Egyptian rite in Mitau, 1779; so I have an entry for that year.]

Here are the relevant pages of the LWB to the Petit Etteilla, the title page and 7-17.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L8lolt5mrL...titTitley7.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aCLVuyuGnl...0/petit8y9.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PkicQqBTuS...Petit11y12.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZL0bXfKTCA...Petit12y13.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_uGBqoyPYW...Petit14y15.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jSphEctMZ0...Petit16y17.jpg

1784. May 19. Etteilla publishes the Supplement au troisieme cahier (Supplement to the 3rd Cahier). (DDD p. 84)

1785, 30 Jan. Cagliostro installed in Paris, promoting his “Egyptian Rite” and conducting healings and seances, to great popular acclaim. 23 Aug, he is arrested and imprisoned in the Bastille because the con artist Jeanne de Saint-Remy of being part of the "diamond necklace" swindle. 30 May 1786, he is judged innocent but is banished from France by the King and his seized goods not returned. He goes to London, Basle, and Rome, where the Inquisition condemns him to death for heresy. The Pope changes this to life imprisonment; Cagliostro dies in prison 1795. (Dates in Gervaso's Cagliostro p. 122, 147, 239.)

1785. Etteilla publishes mumerous books: Fragment sur les hautes sciences, suivi d’une note sur les trois sortes de medicines donnees aux hommes (Fragment on High Sciences, followed by a note on the three kinds of medicines given to men). 4th Cahier (with Fortitude as frontispiece). Supplement to the 4th Cahier. 2nd Cahier (with Justice as frontispiece). Supplement to the 2nd Cahier. Philosophie des hautes sciences, ou la clef donnee aux enfans de l’art, de la science & de la sagesse (Philosophy of the high sciences, or the key given to children of art, science and wisdom). (DDD p. 84). In the 2nd Cahier (see my translations in this thread), he talks about the cards as the Book of Thot, put together under the supervision of Hermes Trismegistus. The 2nd through 8th cards represent the days of creation. He also gives complete correspondences between the Marseille tarot trumps and his “Egyptian” ones and describes some of the trumps in detail. The 4th Cahier is where he sets up correspondences between the 12 signs of the zodiac, in order starting with Aries, and the first 12 of his trumps. He also has the 10 Coin pip cards correspond to the 7 planets plus the head and tail of the dragon and the part of fortune. He attributes these assignments to the Egyptians (DDD p. 87).

1786. Supplement au deuxieme cahier, ou mieux cinquieme livre des tarots (Supplement to the 2nd cahier, or better 5th book of the tarots). (DDD p. 84)

c. 1786. A treatise on alchemy: Les sept nuances de l’oeuvre philosophique-hermetique, suivies d’un traite sur la perfection des metaux (The seven grades of the philosophical-Hermetic work, followed by a treatise on the perfection of metals). “Historians of alchemy regard Etteilla’s book as the last alchemical treatise of the classical period” (DDD p. 88; they cite the 20th century writer Conseliet).

1787. Two books unrelated to tarot. The title of one may be translated as The art of knowing men by inspecting the forehead, or elements of metposcopy according to the ancients. The other is The art of reading in the lines and charaacters that are in the palms, or elements of chiromancy. (DDD p. 88)

1787. Invited to speak to the “Philelethes,” which had been founded in 1775 and was a Masonic-like secret society. Etteilla in his Treatise on the Perfection of Metals had said he had the highest regard for “true Masonry,” but “All the little denominations of lodges and grades announce folly more than wisdom.” (DDD p. 89)

1788. Organizes the “Societe des Interpretes du Livre de Thot,” in order to gather together all those who were interested in the ‘interpretation of the Book of Thot,” with Etteilla as “correspondent general.” Etteilla designs his 78 card deck, raises funds, has the engravings made. (DDD p. 90)

1789. Etteilla applies for a “general” patent to print his deck on 19 Jan. 1789, granted 5 Feb. 1789, registered on 13 March (DDD p. 92). A 4 page pamphlet entitled “Livre de Thoth” dated 1789 says, “See the Book of Thoth, which I am permitted to publish today, with the King’s appointment.” Also establishing Etteilla’s involvement with this deck are copies, made by their author, of letters written in Lyons by De Bonrecuille, one of the “interpretes.” On 27 November he writes to Alliette: ‘I am very glad to hear that we will soon have the Tarot cards you have restored.’ Then on 14 March 1789: “We very satisfactorily have received the Tarot cards which you sent us...” (DDD p. 91) The keywords for the suits derive in part from Etteilla’s 1770 book. Cards 2-5 each have the name and number of one of the 4 elements, not in sequence; cards 2-8 say which of the 7 days of creation relates to the card, not in sequence. DDD say that these cards are precisely like the reprints issued by Grimaud later except for the sunburst in card 1 and the clothing on the small figures in card 14. Also the keywords are in many cases different from the current Grimaud. Later they mention extra numbers on cards 13-17: a 14 on card 13, a 15 on card 14, a 16 on card 15, a 17 on card 16, and a 13 on card 17 (DDD p. 93). These numbers are also not on reprints done in the later 19th century onwards. What are these extra numbers for? DDD say that according to the Dictionnaire Synonymique of 1790, they are "signs of death." Reading the 2nd Cahier Supplement of 1786, I see that Etteilla says of the double numbering on 13-17, that it indicates "the chain from birth to death" (p. 162: "la chaîne de la naissance à la mort"). For more details see my post at http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.p...&postcount=131.

1789, May. National Assembly declared, inaugurating the French Revolution. Bastille prison stormed 14 July.

1789. Hugand, one of the “Interpretes,” publishes in Lyons a leaflet called Faites mieux, j’y consens, ou les instructions d’Isis divulguees par un electeur de la Commune de Lyon, en l’annee 1789 (Do better, I agree, or Isis’ instructions divulged by a voter of the City of Lyons, in the year 1789). (DDD p. 100f)

1790. M. D’Odoucet, another member of the “Interpretes,” publishes a booklet entitled “French Revolution, the events that have caused it, accompanied it and those which will follow it, prognosticated through Mr. M. Nostradamus’s prophetical ‘centuries’, which has a final footnote that “expresses negative feelings for two magi living in France, one in Paris and the other in Lyons.” DDD say that one is Etteilla, and the other a follower named Hugand. D’Odoucet calls the one a “half-savant” of “real ignorance, concealed with much art.” The other is less skilled. (DDD pp. 103f). D’Odoucet also puts his name to a leaflet promoting a forthcoming journal; the leaflet ends “AMOUR POUR LE ROI,” i.e. Love for the King.

1790. 1 July. Etteilla founds, with his son’s participation, the “Nouvelle Ecole de Magie” (New School of Magic), on “le premier juillet de la seconde annee de la liberte francaise,” as a July 19 leaflet for a lecture announced: the first July of the second year of French liberty. The Ecole publishes Cours theorique et pratique du livre de Thot (In full: Theoretical and practical course in the book of Thot, so as to understand correctly the art, science, and wisdom of giving oracles). 6 lessons are planned, but all the copies have only 4 (DDD p. 95). Another book is “The Game of Tharaoth, following one of the ways of the first Egyptians.” Another is a leaflet Appercu sur la lnouvelle ecole de magie..., in which Etteilla refers to D’Odoucet as “Dodo” and writes mockingly of him. (DDD pp. 95, 104)

1791. The Ecole publishes a 4 page pamphlet every week from 1 Jan. To 27 March, then 4 more. Issue one is devoted to a plan for old-age insurance. Others are on admnistration, social insurance, and against the death penalty. No. 14 calls for the abolishing of taxes on playing cards, or at least divinatory ones, e.g. “the Book of Thoth, renewed from the Egyptian, and the Etteila, composed of 33 cards.” This last is what became known as the “Petit Etteilla”; the French card images are in the middle of each card and the keywords from Etteilla’s 1770 book above and below. Etteilla also reissues his 1783 L’homme a projets, “proudly stating in its forward,” DDD report, “that he had foreseen the 1789 events some six years ago.” Another publication is Etteilla, ou l’art de lire dans les cartes/ (DDD p. 95f) (I cited pp. 7-17 in my previous post; it also contains a summary of ways of reading the cards. This publication is reprinted with France Carte’s current reprint of the “Petit Etteilla.”)

1791, 22 June. King and Queen of France arrested following their flight from the Tulleries Palace, returned under guard.

1791, 30 Sept. In Vienna, premier of Mozart’s Magic Flute, an opera using Egyptian-style Masonic initiations. Hundreds of performances in the 1790s. It had been preceded by the collaboratively written Philosophe’s Stone of 1790.

1791, Lyons. Hugand publishes Cartomancie, our l’art de developper la chaine des evenements de la vie: recreations astrologiques par le livre de Thot. (DDD p. 101)

1791. Dictionnaire synonymique du livre de Thot published anonymously but probably written by Joubert de La Salette, an army officer then stationed in Grenoble. His name is mentioned as author of such a work by another student, de Bonrecueille. The author himself says he “lives in a village” and is “joined to considerable details related to the troops of whom I am in command.” In its “Preliminary discourse,” the author says that he was preceded “in the same undertaking” by another member, M. Jejalel (Hugand’s “Cabalistic” name). He also mentions that another member, M. de B., is occupied with the same task. The core of the book, DDD write (p. 110), is its ‘Table-des-synonymes de livre de Thot,’ pp. 19-57, following Etteilla’s order of the cards and their keywords.

1791. 13 December. Etteilla dies, age 53, leaving his son, his widow, and his companion of his later years Elizabeth. He also leaves, as he said in the forward to L’homme a projets, 500 students, of whom 150 became professional cartomancers, but only two were really good; “all the others are charlatans”. One is Hisler, who lived in Berlin. The other is Hugand, in Lyons. But the one taking over, at least in the short term, and acting as publisher, is D’Odoucet, as letters by other followers make clear. (DDD p. 100)

1792. August, King and Queen of France imprisoned. September, monarchy declared abolished.

1793. German translation of Cours theorique et pratique du livre de Thot, in Leipzig. (DDD p. 100). Also in 1793, per DDD’s dating (p. 113), an Etteilla deck with German keywords, elements, and days of creation, in script at top and bottom. Hand colored. The bottom keywords on the first 12 cards are printed right-side up. Card One has “Etteilla” and “Forschung” (Search) as keywords. Otherwise the cards are identical to the original 1789 deck, including the astrological signs and the extra numbers on cards 13-17. (Kaplan, vol. 2 p. 401, says erroneously that the designs are like the Lismon decks and that they are mid-19th century. Pictures of the cards are on his p. 402.) These cards are issued again in 1857 (DDD p. 114).

1793. January 20, King Louis XVI executed. Committee of Public Safety takes power, instituting “Reign of Terror.” October, Queen Marie Antoinette executed.

March 1494. Hugand’s Art of Life, or Complete Lesson for reading the Book of Thoth advertised for sale in Paris, probably a reissue of his Lyons booklet. Also publishes with his real name a booklet {i]Les decans francais: meditations politiques, morales, pour chaque jouir de l’anneee (French decans: political and moral meditations for each day of the year. After 1494 there is no trace of Hugand. (DDD pp. 102f)

1794, July. Robespierre and other members of the Committee of Public Safety executed.

1797-1808. D’Odoucet imprisoned several times and under surveillance often, for anti-government printing activities. (DDD p. 104ff)

1799. Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt, which includes artists and scientists. Upon his November return, he becomes First Consul of France in a coup. Proclaimed Emperor in 1804.

1804. D’Odoucet publishes vol. 1 of Sciences des signes, ou medecine de l’esprit; it is similar to Etteilla’s Cours theorique et pratique. (DDD p. 106)

1805. Dec. 2. Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon’s greatest military victory, defeating a combined Austrian-Russian army.

1806 or 1807. D’Odoucet publishes Vol. 2 of Science des signes. DDD say (p. 107)

Quote:

The second volume...is more concerned with the Tarot and is clearly inspired by the Dictionnaire synonimique (1791) of which it is a kind of summary. But it also offers seventy-eight Tarot woodcuts in the texts with due comments. It only shows some minor divergences, e.g. when the Dictionnaire says “Questionnant”, D’Odoucet uses ‘Consultant.’

Since D’Odoucet uses woodcuts, he must not have had access to the original copper plates.

1807. Vol. 3 of Science des Signes. The full title, or most of it, translates as follows: Science of signs, or mind medicine, containing 1st, The understanding of numerical and astral sciences of the first Egyptians. 2nd The art of knowing the heart of man through his external signs; 3rd, An interesting survey of the diversity of minds and characters; 4th, The true origin of Freemasonry and initiation to the different ranks, third and last part, illustrated and engraved by M. D’Odoucet, one of the interpreters of the book of Thot, possessor of the collection [fonds] of Etteilla, his collaborator and continuator of his works. The book has a copper engraving showing a Masonic allegory with two pillars and bearing D’Odoucet’s name ('D’Odoucet invenit’) together with the signature of the engraver: “De Bonrecuille Scripts.” De Bonrecuille, another long-time disciple, was a known Mason. (DDD p. 107f)

1807. “Petit Oracle des Dames” deck, by the veuve (widow) Gueffier, of 42 cards. The designs are partly from a 66 card fortune-telling pack of about 1790 and partly from Etteilla’s tarot pack (DDD p. 143). It had an 82 p. book of instructions, per Kaplan (vol 1 p. 157). Kaplan dates it to 1815 and has pictures. Some of Etteilla’s designs for trumps are here associated with suit cards, small images of which are put in the left bottom corners.

1808. Imperial decree now requires the licensing of printers. D’Odoucet is not among those granted a license and there is no further trace of him.

1810. “Nouvel Etteilla” or “Petit Necromancien” deck produced by publisher Robert in Paris, 36 cards, with a one-word title on top. Uses 8 of Etteilla’s figures. (DDD p. 144)

1814. Napoleon exiled to Elba, Louis XVII installed as King of France. Napoleon escapes in 1815, defeated at Waterloo, exiled to island of St. Helena, where he dies in 1821.

1814. First book by Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand, to be followed by many more over the next 20 years (this book is in Google Books at http://books.google.com/books?id=0ds...page&q&f=false.) These books recount clairvoyancy rather than a method of card-reading, but they did much to popularize fortune-telling, including the use of cards. The Etteilla School did not hesitate to associate themselves with her; the author of the c. 1838-1840 book listed below, for example, is called “the Sibylle du faubourg Saint-Germain,” which is what Lenormand was called (DDD p. 147).

1826. Pierre Mongie l’aine (the elder) publishes Etteilla’s deck from the original copper plates, altered to erase the astrological symbols in the corners. To most of the trumps, court cards and Aces, it adds new titles in cursive script, inside the picture frame, of a Masonic or Biblical flavor, such as “Hiram’s Masonry” for card 2 or “Solomon” for card 8. On card 1, instead of “Etteilla” and “Questionnant” it has “L’Homme qui consulte” both top and bottom (Kaplan vol. 2 p. 400f). There is also a book, The art of reading cards and tarots or French, Egyptian, Italian and German Cartomancy. The author, given as “Aldegonde Perenna, Polish sibyl,” is actually Gabrielle de Paban, cousin of editor and collaborator Collin de Plancy. In an introductory essay, de Plancy says that the 1200 pages of Etteilla’s two large volumes contain nothing but astrological fantasies; the present work, by contrast, is at least clear. Its section on “Egyptian tarots” was reprinted numerous times by Grimaud to accompany its reprints of Etteilla’s deck (DDD pp. 144-147). Its 1969 deck, which showed keywords in both English and French, offered an English translation of this booklet, 118 pp.

1830, July Revolution in Paris establishes constitutional monarchy, with election of Louis-Philippe as king.

1838 or possibly earlier [this is a change, added Dec. 2, 2015, from my original "1838-1840", thanks to Kwaw at http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4521809&postcount=274). Simon Blocquel publishes a new version of Etteilla’s deck, with the title “Grand livre de Thot.” In the current classification of Etteilla decks, this style is the “Grand Etteilla II.” Titles are printed on both sides of the picture frame. Some images and keywords are different from Etteilla’s original deck. The Ace of Batons puts Etteilla’s reversed keyword on top and vice versa. There is also a 212 page book, Le Grand Etteilla. Art de tirer les cartes et de dire la bonne aventure, attributed to one “Julia Orsini,” with illustrations of all the cards. Place of publication is “chez Delarue, Libraire, Quai des Augustins, 11” in Paris, and “chez Blocquel-Castiaux, editeur” in Lille. A Delarue at some point became Blocquel’s son-in law. Blocquel and Castiaux habitually used "anagrammatic synonyms such as Blismon, Z. Lismon, Zlismon, Buccellos, Milbons and Monblis" (DDD p. 147). “Julia Orsini” is  a pseudonym, too (of Blocquel, Kwaw points out at above link). The name probably derives from Pope Alexander VI’s mistress, of that name. DDD (p. 147) say the "Orsini's" date of publication is “1838 or a trifle earlier.” Booksellers at the Abe Books website give c. 1840. That date is consistent with one of the works in the book’s bibliography, estimated on Worldcat to have been published c. 1840 (details in a previous post in this thread). But Kwaw gives an 1838 source listing the book, as well as another, from 1843-1857, giving the publication date of the book as 1838. The book (an original is at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas) contains explications of all the cards, four ways of doing readings, a list of typical questions that the cards will answer, an account of the game of tarot (not a reprint of the 1659 rules, but something even harder to follow), and a long section of “synonyms and alternative meanings,” presumably derived from de La Sallette or D’Odoucet. It uses the term “Questionnant” rather than “Consultante.”

1840. Baptiste-Jean Grimaud arrives in Paris at age 23 (Corodil at http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread...93#post2110993, drawing on an article in the review "As de Trèfle"). In 1848, Grimaud buys the workshop of cartier Arnould (http://www.france-cartes.fr/). In 1851 he forms the société Grimaud & Cie. with two partners, and in 1858 signs a contract with inventor Firmin Chappellier so as to print cards industrially, making cards with rounded metallic corners (see Corodil). This firm will be one known for its reprints of Etteilla decks and booklets. Grimaud is still allowed to say the firm started in 1748 (and does so on numerous Marseille-style 2 of Coins), but there aren't really any cards bearing the Grimaud name before 1851, or machine-made Grimaud cards before 1858. (Kaplan, vol. 2 p. 203 and 211, is to that extent wrong when he says "...B. P. Grimaud, begun in 1748" (my thanks to Corodil for spotting the error in my original timeline entry, which had him starting in 1748).) The "1748" date is important because after 1817, government regulations in France greatly limited firms' access to the market, in effect creating a closed market (marché fermé), a situation which lasted until 1945 (http://www.france-cartes.fr/).

1843. “Jeu de la Princesse” deck appears as book illustrations; it is an Etteilla style deck in which some of the designs are more Egyptian looking than his. The titles are at the bottom of the cards, as in the Marseille. Some titles are taken from the 1826 deck. The book is reprinted in 1850. A deck appears in 1864, with many titles changed. The accompanying book says that Princess Tarot was a great prophetess of Thebes and Memphis. Starting in 1876 (Tarotpedia, http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/Jeu_d...serre_edition)), the deck is put out by Charles Watilliaux, active until 1908 (DDD p. 150). Besides Dusserre’s 1983 reprint, there is one called Cartomanzia Italiana put out by Edizioni del Solleone in 1983 (http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/Cartomanzia_Italiana) and one by Lo Scarabeo (http://www.learntarot.com/eadesc.htm).

1848. 2nd Republic established in France, electing Louis Napoleon as President. 2md Republic becomes 2nd Empire in an 1852 coup, with Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon I, as Emperor Napoleon III.

1850-1890 [Added Dec. 2, 2015]. According to the BnF, a "Grand Etteilla" deck they have is dated in this range, published by Delorme. It is a stenciled woodcut version of the "Grand Etteilla II" deck. 

c. 1853. Second edition of L’art de tirer les cartes by “Julia Orsini.” (This date appears in the bibliography of Tarot of the Bohemians as translated by A.E. Waite., 2nd and 3rd editions). The “explications” section of this book serves as the Little White Book to the current Editions Dusserre Tarot Egyptien: Grand Jeu du Oracle des Dames deck, even though that deck’s pictures often do not fit the descriptions in the book. That deck is a “Grand Etteilla III,” and the book was written for a “Grand Etteilla II.” Editions Dusserre provides an English translation on facing pages; its total number of pages, including both English and French, is 112.

c. 1851-1890. [This part revised Dec. 2, 2015, based on observations by Köy Deli in "Comments" at bottom of this web-page] At some point someone starts reprinting Etteilla’s original deck, except that they add a sunburst on card 1 and clothing on the small figures of card 14. Unlike modern Grimaud (at least from 1969) these retain the two numbers on cards 13-17. It is not known whether the changes (sunburst and clothing) started then or earlier. One example ub the BnF database is a "Grimaud et Chartier", estimated by them at 1890; I see no tax stamp on the 2 of Swords. Another example is from the publisher Pussey and is dated by the BnF as 1880-1890. In that the body of water on card 3 is green rather than Grimaud's blue, it is much like a deck dated by Associazione Le Tarot as "beginning of the 19th century" http://www.associazioneletarot.it/page.aspx?id=233#; but this dating is not secure.

1856 or earlier [this entry revised Dec. 12, 2015 based on Köy Deli in "Comments" below]. Delarue puts out Tarot Egyptien: Grand Jeu du Oracle des Dames deck, per DDD p. 149 designed by G. Regamey, originally printed by chromo-lithography by Hangard-Mauge. DDD guve 1867 as the date, but my Commentor points out that the BnF gives their copy a date of 1856 and shows it advertised in the July 5, 1856, issue of ""Feuilleton du Journal de la Librairie" This style of card is generally referred to as “Grand Etteilla III.” Many of the trump figures are derived from the 15th century Nuremburg Chronicle. The booklet, online in Google Books as "Les Récréations de la cartomancie", is a radical revision of the “Julia Orsini” explications; the descriptions of the cards fit the new pictures. Google Books dates the booklet to 1850. However at the end there is an advertisement for a book showing how to address petitions to His Majesty the Emperor. This would be Napoleon III, who assumed that title in Dec. of 1852. These advertisements also show that the cards themselves were published with the booklet, using the relatively new (invented 1837, per Wikipedia) technology of chromo-lithography..

1870, July. Napoleon III deposed after French defeat in Franco-Prussian War. 3rd Republic established, which lasts until 1939. Replaced by 4th Republic in 1946, and the Fifth Republic in 1958.

1890-1917. The tax stamp that was abolished in 1790 for playing cards returns in 1890, lasting until 1917 (Kaplan vol. 2). Examples of Etteilla decks with this stamp are at http://sumada.multiply.com/: a Grimaud Etteilla I, a crudely machine-colored Etteilla II by Lismon, and two lithographed Etteilla IIIs from Delarue. Lismon was originally a trade name of Blocquel’s according to DDD; de la Rue is Bloquel’s son in law. Whether these particular decks were actually done by these companies (Lismon/Delarue) or some other is unknown. The Lismon of this vintage included an abridged version of “Julia Orsini’s” c. 1838 explications. In my xerox, there are 78 numbered pp. and about 26 unnumbered ones. The Grimaud had the “Egyptian” part of the 1826 book, 168 pp.

c. 1906. (Date is per http://www.lulu.com/product/paperbac...artas/11605580.) Book in Spanish by “Dr. Moorne,” El supremo arte de echar las cartas, to accompany a Spanish version of the Grand Etteilla III, in which the pictures are on the right, and on the left a Hebrew letter and other symbols. The deck probably existed in the 19th century, and had Italian as well as Spanish examples (DDD p. 114f). The book’s expositions are in part derivative from the earlier French booklets. An odd feature is that Etteilla’s “days of creation” are applied to the cards in sequence, card 1 for the first day, card 2 for the second, and so on for the 7 days of creation (at least in the version at http://www.scribd.com/doc/51537364/E...har-las-Cartas). The result is that what is pictured on the card usually has little to do with the day of creation as Etteilla characterized it.

1909. Papus publishes Le Tarot Divinatoire, which includes the Etteilla lists of synonyms and alternative meanings, but keeps the Marseille order of the trumps. He says that his lists come from Etteilla and D’Odoucet. (Papus’s book also has other interpretations, Paul Christian’s and his own.)

1910. A. E. Waite draws extensively from the Etteilla School’s word lists in his Pictorial Key to the Tarot, less systematically than Papus, but still around 30-50% of the time, and without giving Etteilla credit (see http://www.villarevak.org/td/td_1.htm). Judging by certain choices of words, Waite’s source would appear to be the c. 1853 “Julia Orsini,” the one in the bibliography he provided for Papus’s Tarot of the Bohemians; but I have not given this idea a thorough test.

Waite and Papus became immensely influential over the course of the 20th century. Dr. Moorne continued to be popular in Spanish-speaking countries. In this way Etteilla’s divinatory meanings, if not his deck, are now more influential than ever in the world of cartomancy.