English cards are about a third larger than the French. The
double-headed cards are an English invention, and they are being
adopted by the French. Their advantage is obvious, in securing
the secrecy of the hand, for by observing a party in arranging
his cards after the deal, the act of turning up a card plainly
shows that it must be at least a face card, and the oftener this
is done the stronger the hand, in general. In Germany, a fourth
face-card is sometimes added to the pack, called the Knight, or
Chevalier. The Italians have also in use long cards, called
tarots, which, however, must not be confounded with the French
cards called tarotees, with odd figures on them, and used by
fortune-tellers.
The method of making playing-cards seems to have given the first
hint to the invention of printing, as appears from the first
specimens of printing at Haerlem, and those in the Bodleian
Library.
'The manufacture of playing-cards comprises many interesting
processes. The cardboard employed for this purpose is formed of
several thicknesses of paper pasted together; there are usually
four such thicknesses; and the paper is so selected as to take
paste, paint, and polish equally well.
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