Hi friends,
I am looking for some books on the history of playing cards.
I loved the final of Art of Card Manipulations when Jeff McBride makes that analogy with the origin of the Tarot Cards.
But I couldn't find much thing about the history and philosophy od playing cards.
Any tips???

thanks

Although it's not a book, this DVD by the History Channel is enjoyable:

http://www.amazon.com/Decoding-Past-Secr......ng+cards






David

For a long time there was a lot of guessing and speculation instead of hard research on playing card history.

The Game of Tarot by Michael Dummett, published in 1980, has superb research on the history/origin of playing cards.

I expect there's been more done since then, building on Dummett's work.

Anyone really interested in playing card history should consider joining the International Playing Card Society

http://i-p-c-s.org/ https://www.facebook.com/ipcs.org

When you join you get access to the complete backlog of journals through the Ask Alexander portal. You also get access to all the 52+ Joker publications and more! You also get access to a private forum and exclusive meet-ups and trading sessions.

You can find many old books on playing cards history on sites like Internet Archives, Scribd and others for free.
Such as:
Chatto - Facts and Speculations on the Origin and history of playing cards - 1848
Rensselaer- The Devil's picture book - 1899
Taylor - The History of Playing Cards - 1865

Recently I enjoyed reading Detlef Hoffmann: The Playing Card: An Illustrated History 1973. Lots of nice illustrations.

You can find reprints of Catherine Perry Hardrive: A History of Playing Cards and a Bibliography of Cards and Gaming 1966
it is considered the classic text on playing cards history.

As for Tarot cards, you should read: Helen Farley - Cultural History of Tarot 2009
It's history, not mythical speculations to support esotecic interpretations of the tarot.