Beschreibung:

Collection of 9 Czech Cartomancy decks: -- circa 1870, Prague, maker unknown, 31 of 32 cards, wood block printed and stencil colored, king has identification wPraze (in Prague), captions in German and Czech, backs plaid red and blue, heavily worn. -- circa 1900, Prague-Karlin, Filip Fischi, 32 of 32 cards, color lithography on coarse cardboard, name of card maker on Message card, captions in Czech, German, Hungarian, Polish, Italian, French and English, backs plaid brown and tan. -- circa 1915, maker unknown, 32 of 32 cards, color lithography in black and red on coarse cardboard, innovative designs of old fortunes, soldier wears uniform of World War I, captions in Czech, Slovak, German, Polish, Russian and Hungarian, backs geometric pattern of spiked disks against light blue background. -- circa 1925, Prague, Ferd. Piatnika Synove, 32 of 32 cards, color lithography, captions in Czech, Hungarian, German, Croatian and Italian, backs black maze over red comets. -- circa 1930, Ferd. Piatnika Synove, 36 of 36 cards, color lithography, designs in Art Deco style, one index, card number 2 printed on slightly darker cardboard, caption in Czech, backs double-ended floral pattern inside panel in blue with name PIATNIK. -- circa 1935, maker unknown, 36 of 36 cards plus two extra cards, color lithography, one extra card bears title of deck, MLLE LENORMAND and displays a severe-looking, green-eyed woman with a kerchief and an enigmatic head band, the other extra card shows a six-pointed star, the deck is drawn in billboard-style art and loud colors, one index, no captions, includes sheet of instructions identifying each card in Czech, backs overall pattern of blossoms against green background, extra cards somewhat worn. -- 1967, Prague, Mlada Fronta, 32 of 32 cards plus one extra card, offset printing, designed by Zdenek Mezi, a staff artist for the Prague newspaper Mlada Fronta and intended as a New Year's present in 1968, the humorous illustrations partly relate to newspaper life with printing presses, secretary, cleaning lady, editor, artist, bosses, proof readers, a Janus-faced Redaktor (editor), and The Joly Joker, tuck box reads POUR FELICITER, backs read P.F. 1968 M.F. within panel in brown, box flat. -- circa 1969, Prague, Obchodni Tiskarny, 36 of 36 cards, offset printing, designed by Jiri Behounek, artistic and imaginative designs including full length figures immaculately clothed, a woman emerging from a trumpet, a stork carrying a baby in a womb, a letter being delivered by a balloon messenger, a dancing woman with butterfly wings, and a spider crawling towards a old-fashioned crank-driven telephone, one index, Arabic numerals, captions in Czech, 32-page instruction booklet and tuck box, backs decorative panel in black on bright green background, box flat. -- circa 1970, Prague, Obchodni Tiskarny, 36 of 36 cards, offset printing, designed by Vladimir Tesar, modern and colorful designs with imaginative interpretations, one index, captions in Czech, German, French and English, 21-page instruction booklet in four languages, and tuck box, backs are various symbols in black against red background, box flat.