Front Cover
CATLIN'S
Historic Origin
OF THE
Playing Cards.
Their Original Design and Subsequent Use.
Full and Complete. Reliable and Authentic.
—— AND ——
CATLIN'S
New, Original and Scientific Game of
GUEST,
The native genius inherent in man has ever beeninspired and brought into use by Divine Providence,seemingly, to gratify and encourage man's ambitionsto excel and progress in all of the many avenuesopened in nature, in art and in science for the developmentof the same. This genius, guided by the"Law of Progress," knows "no such word as fail;"and it is only a question of time when success willreward the effort.
Man was born with a native love for amusementsand pastime recreations, and hence the adage, "Allwork and no play made Jack a dull boy." All greatand durable enterprises have had their beginning withthe ordinary ignorance of the ordinary man. Andwhen the right time should come, Providence hasalways transferred "nature's gift" to the more advancedand better educated man to accomplish andmake perfect the work of genius. It is a truth infact that "necessity is the mother of invention," andthat "ignorance is the mother of genius;" and to bothman may recognize his "birth-right"—so to speak—tothe honors due, for the most, if not all, of themany enterprises which have rewarded his labors inmany of the past centuries of the Christian era.
The "playing cards" are the production of an ingenioushuman device, derived from the divine originof time; the history of which but little has heretoforebeen known and understood by the world of cardplayers and the public in general. So far as theauthor is informed, no like historic record has everbeen published, and card players have, seemingly,taken little or no interest to learn and know the historicorigin of the greatest enterprise known to thesixteenth century, the period of their advent, so valuableand important to the present generation. Athorough and studied perusal of this work is recommended,and will convey much desirable informationworth knowing, and will advance its present popularityand aid its future general publication.