Re: Origin of the Grand Etteilla II lower panels...

21
It is clear that Huxley read Herodotus, or at least about him. The leap is to a fortune-teller. Well, Egypt, via India, etc., was the fake origin of all that (well known at the time to be fake, at least to people like Huxley and Eliot). But Huxley could also have had a good laugh at the titles on the Princess tarot. Thanks for posting the card, John.

When I hear the name "Sosostris" with her "wicked pack of cards", what comes to my mind is the similar sounding "Sorastro" of the Magic Flute, the vaguely Egyptian king/high priest; there what drives the plot is that we, and the protagonists, aren't sure whether he's a fraud or not. Likewise there is Yeats, perfectly respectable, with the Golden Dawn. Another vaguely exotic semi-cognate is "Cagliostro".

Re: Origin of the Grand Etteilla II lower panels...

22
Now that I have de La Salette's Dictionnaire Synonomique du Livre de Thot, I can say a few things about it, even if I can't yet upload a page.

First, the lists in this 1791 work are very close to the same as those in the 1838 "Julia Orsini", much closer than those in D'Odoucet, close enough that it is clear that the 1791 is the source for the 1838. Even the keywords are closer. In particular, one of the defining features of the Grand Etteilla II and III is that CHUTE (Fall) is the upright keyword for the Ace of Batons, and NAISSANCE (Birth) is the reversed keyword. In the Grand Eteilla I, starting with Etteilla's original deck, it is the other way around. It is also that way (Fall as upright) in the 1838 lists of synonyms. That much I knew already. But it is also that way in de La Salette, p. 37, back in 1791 when Etteilla was still alive, in a book put out by the Interpretes under Etteilla's auspices. D'Odoucet and the later Grimaud have it the same way as Etteilla originally (for D'Odoucet, 1806 see p. 80 at https://archive.org/details/b22018529_0 ... 0/mode/2up).

The Jeu de Princesse went both ways on this point. In the 1843, "naissance" is the reversed meaning, even though in general the cards are closer to the Grand Etteilla I. (https://archive.org/details/b28750640/page/94/mode/2up). In 1864, "naissance" is the upright meaning. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k ... /f103.item

Another difference is that in the Etteilla II and III, the reversed keyword for card 15, with the Devil on it, is FORCE MINEUR. It is the same in the 1791 book. "Force Mineur", (p. 27). "Minor Force" is consistent with the synonyms in both D'Odoucet, de La Salette, "légèreté, foiblesse, petitesse, défaillance" i.e. lightness (in weight), feebleness, smallness, failure. D'Odoucet, like Etteilla himself, has "FORCE MAJEUR" as both the upright and reversed keywords. He adds in the 3rd Cahier that when the card is appears upside down, the force is less. (I am quoting from my translation at http://thirdcahier.blogspot.com/).

For a few other cases, however, the Grand Etteilla II, Etteilla III and "Julia Orsini" have new reversed keywords not in either de La Salette or D'Odoucet. For card 21, with a chariot or carriage on it, the original Etteilla and D'Odoucet have DISSENSION for both upright and reversed, while the Grand Etteilla II and III and "Julia Orsini" have ARROGANCE for the reversed. But we can say at least that the Grand Eteilla II and III, as distinct from the I, have de La Salette as the beginning point of the differentiation from the first cards, in the direction of the Grand Etteilla II and III.

The de La Salette was a book that Etteilla would have seen before publication, since it was published by his organization, the Interpretes, in the year he died. (D'Odoucet's was in 1806, independently) So we cannot conclude that D'Odoucet and the Grand Etteilla I are a "true" reflection of Etteilla's intentions, just because they are faithful to his 1789 keywords. Etteilla, for all his insistence from the beginning that he had the true Egyptian goods, changed his mind a lot. He said in the Third Cahier, 1783, that the Ace of Batons' reversed meaning was "distrust the first victory"; it became "chute" (fall) only in 1785, in the Supplement to the 4th Cahier, p. 148. So he may well have approved of de La Salette's changes. Of course the Grand Etteilla II went considerably beyond de La Salette: e.g. an elephant and reins on the Temperance card (changed to a mirror and reins in III), plus the introduction of card titles for the trumps, which Etteilla never had and which often do not even use Etteilla's words. "Julia Orsini" also removes the second number on five of the cards (as Grimaud will do eventually), the astrological sign, the day of creation, and element number. which both de La Salette and d'Odoucet were careful to preserve.

In this regard D'Odoucet and the Grand Etteilla I, until France Cartes' new keywords in 1977, are more faithful to Etteilla's 1789 cards than the Grand Etteilla II and III. But D'Odoucet did make a couple of departures from Etteilla 1789 in his cards. One is the relatively trivial one of changing "questionant" to "consultante", which the Etteilla I card producers changed back, at least on the card (as opposed to the LWB). Another change is more important, in my opinion, namely the sunburst on D'Odoucet's card 1. The original design had only a faintly red sky in the center, and lighter clouds closer to that center, but nothing resembling the rays emanating from the center that we see on D'Odoucet's exemplar, which the the Grand Etteilla I turns into a yellow sun and its rays. The Grand Etteilla II in this respect was truer to the 1789 Etteilla card, even if they did change Etteilla's light red to light blue. These colors are of some significance: red is the sky at dawn, before the sun rises, so that it is only by its reflected and refracted light that we know its presence. That is what corresponds to the "Chaos", the "tohu and bohu", the "void" and "without form" of Genesis, after which the first day begins with card 2 and the "let there be light".

Below are 8 images. On the first line, I start with the Minchiate Francese card 1, c. 1730; then Gallica's low-resolution image of the 1788 watercolor on engraving; then the Wellcome Library's higher resolution image of another copy, which preserved the color better but also suffered some damage due to folding (you can tell the pink color is not from the paper aging, because you can see bits of uncolored paper), and finally Depaulis's 1789 card as printed in the 1996 book.
Image

Then below I have two Etteilla II cards, D'Odoucet's book illustration, and finally the c. 1890 Grimaud version.
Image

Re: Blocquel pseudonyms

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Tarot John wrote, some time ago, (viewtopic.php?p=21504#p21504), in reply to something I wrote:
Lorambert might be a real name. It could also be another pseudonym like you suggest.

I'm currently investigating a theory of mine that Julia Orsini, Johannès Trismégiste (aka Lorambert), Mlle Lemarchand/Lemarchant, Antonio Magus, and Esmael are all pseudonyms used by Castiaux/Blocquel/Delarue and their successors.
About the first two, something escaped my notice, hiding in plain sight, in something I posted 3 years ago in this thread, viewtopic.php?p=21461#p21461.

Recently I have been comparing the 1853 "Julia Orsini" with the 1838 (in my xerox from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, of which I posted the relevant pages at the latter link above) to see what the differences were.

The 1853 is at https://archive.org/details/1850legrand ... 8/mode/1up.
The 1838 page, which I posted in 2020, is at https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KW4pN-98QMc/ ... ge_005.jpg

In the 1838, I now notice something that had not registered with me before - or if it did, I quickly forgot it. It is so obvious that I hope I am not repeating what someone has already said. The Introductions in the two versions are the same until after the paragraph ending (p. 6 of 1853, p. 7 of 1838): "a [in original: en] la maniere des Egyptiens."

The paragraph after that line in the 1838 is changed to something totally different (about Etteila) in the 1853. Here is my translation of the 1838 paragraph:
Since then, a man who has devoted all his life to the study of the occult sciences, M. Scluqbole, the celebrated author of the new translation of hermetic philosophy, who has simplified the usage of the tarot and rendered the explication of it more methodical and easy, so that which otherwise took several years of sustained application can now be learned in some days: it suffices to read, two or three times very attentively, the work that we publish under the patronage and with the authorization of its astonishing author.
There follows a short introduction to the long, slightly embellished passage from de Gebelin, then the passage itself, and finally (p. 9, https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wMzx2CULdGk/ ... ge_007.jpg)
The view expressed by M. Court de Gebelin has been extended, as we are going to prove, in producing the scientific and conscientious work of the celebrated Etteilla, put within the reach of every intelligence by M. Scluqbote his continuator.
Or something like that. "Scluqbole" is of course an obvious anagram for "Blocquel." Besides the "Orsini" he is credited with at least one work in "hermetic philosophy," for which "Johannès Trismégiste" is an appropriate pseudonym.

Full list of Blocquel pseudonyms

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Thanks Mike!

Great find! I never noticed that name before in my previous read-throughs of the Orsini book. I've added it to my list of Simon-François Blocquel's known pseudonyms. Here's the full list for those who are interested:

Aaron (L'helléniste)
Albano
Ana-Gramme Blismon
Aymans
B***
B. Q. S.
Blismon
Blismon de Douai
Blocquel, Simon
Blocquel-Castiaux
Blosmin
Buqcellos
C. B... amateur
C. M. ***
Cryptonyme Blismon
Cuisin P.
Cuisin-Blismon-Daurelle
D'Aban Pierre
D***
De Rinmon
Frinellan
Gilles Divertissant
Le Sage Aremi
Luc de Bloréquale
M. D***
M. D. L.
M. DE L. ***
M. L. P. ***
M. Scluqbole
M.me Bl.***
Melle Marianne
Milbons
Momblis
Monblis
Milord l'Arsouille
Orsini, Julia
(likely a reference to Giulia Orsini, the mistress of Pope Alexander VI)
---------------------> read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulia_Farnese
Rinmon, François
S. B***
S. F. B. L. de Douai
Un moderne cabaliste
Usinci
Z. Lismon
***



Also, here are a few more pseudonyms that were used by Blocquel's business partners (and later family) Delarue and Castiaux. Not sure if Blocquel had anything to do with coining these names, but they certainly fit his style.

"Louise Amron" (an anagram of Lenormand)
"Mlle. L. Norma" (another anagram of Lenormand)
"Mlle Lemarchant" (sometimes spelled Lemarchand)



The first two names--Louise Amron and Mlle. L. Norma--appeared in association with the book La véritable cartomancie expliquée par la célèbre sibylle française, published by Delarue in several different editions. The earliest date of publication I could find for this work that I've been able to confirm was 1865. However, the title page mentions that this is a new illustrated edition, which sort of implies that there was an earlier unillustrated edition... Ultimately, the book was plagiarized from an 1840 Belgian book on fortune-telling with cards, which itself was heavily influenced by Etteilla's Piquet cartomancy.

The third pseudonym, Mlle Lemarchant or Lemarchand, was used for Les Récréations de la cartomancie, first published by Delarue in 1856 and sold alongside the Grand Etteilla III (aka Grand Jeu de l'Oracle des Dames) deck. According to some information I acquired from descendants of the Delarue family, the man behind this project was Aimé-Oscar Delarue (Marie-François Delarue's son and Blocquel's nephew).



As for the mysterious "Johannès Trismégiste", I've got some new discoveries that I've been meaning to post here, but I still need to write everything up in a cohesive manner. Nothing concrete, but some interesting coincidences that might point us in the right direction. Stay tuned... =)

Re: Origin of the Grand Etteilla II lower panels...

26
Wonderful, John.

Tarot John wrote,
The first two names--Louise Amron and Mlle. L. Norma--appeared in association with the book La véritable cartomancie expliquée par la célèbre sibylle française, published by Delarue in several different editions. The earliest date of publication I could find for this work that I've been able to confirm was 1865.
The book is advertised in the 1850-1853 edition of the "Orsini" that you uploaded to archive.org, p. 11. Added: It is not advertised in the 1838 edition.

In your list, I especially liked "Ana-Gramme Blismon." So "Blismon" is a not very difficult anagram for "Simon Bl".

It might be helpful to date when these pseudonyms first appeared, as they could help to date the works they appeared in, including ads. For example, the 1853 "Orsini" uses the term "Z. Lismon." Unless it is all too nebulous.

Re: Origin of the Grand Etteilla II lower panels...

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Nice find, Mike!

I never noticed that advertisement in Orsini before! It makes sense that La véritable cartomancie wasn't mentioned in the 1838 edition, because the Belgian cartomancy book that it was plagiarized from wasn't published until 1840. Haha! Crosschecking it with the list of Blocquel's other publications, it looks like La véritable cartomancie was first published in 1851, give or take a couple years. I have two original copies of it, plus a few modern facsimiles. None of the original books are dated though. Interestingly enough, La véritable cartomancie served as the basis for the first American book to ever mention the Tarot: the extremely rare Fortune-Telling by Cards, or Cartomancy Made Easy (1872).


Here's the list of Blocquel pseudonyms with the earliest known dates of their appearance. I copied these dates from Bernard Musa's biography of Blocquel. Musa evidently gathered this information from surviving Blocquel/Castiaux/Delarue catalogues stored in various libraries in Lille. Keep in mind that these are only ballpark estimates and some of the names may have appeared earlier. Still, it's a pretty good start. =)


Aaron (L'helléniste) (1843)
Albano (1848)
Ana-Gramme Blismon (1855)
Aymans (?)
B*** (1850)
B. Q. S. (1826)
Blismon (1839)
Blismon de Douai (1837)
Blocquel, Simon (used throughout the 19th century)
Blocquel-Castiaux (used throughout the 19th century)
Blosmin (?)
Buqcellos (1826)
C. B... amateur (?)
C. M. *** (1843)
Cryptonyme Blismon (1858)
Cuisin P. (1842)
Cuisin-Blismon-Daurelle (1842)
D'Aban Pierre (?)
D*** (1837)
De Rinmon (1841)
Frinellan (1847)
Gilles Divertissant (1855)
Le Sage Aremi (1840)
Luc de Bloréquale (?)
M. D*** (1813)
M. D. L. (1837)
M. DE L. *** (1837)
M. L. P. *** (1813)
M. Scluqbole (?)
M.me Bl.*** (1813)
Melle Marianne (1841)
Milbons (1841)
Momblis (?)
Monblis (1848)
Milord l'Arsouille (1837)
Orsini, Julia (1838)
Rinmon, François (?)
S. B*** (1848)
S. F. B. L. de Douai (1814)
Un moderne cabaliste (1840)
Usinci (1843)
Z. Lismon (probably 1838, but definitely by the 1850s)
*** (?)



And the other Blocquel/Castiaux/Delarue pseudonyms:

Louise Amron (1851)
Mlle. L. Norma (1851)
Mlle Lemarchant/Lemarchand (1856)

Re: Origin of the Grand Etteilla II lower panels...

28
Thanks. I didn't see Z. Lismon mentioned in the 1838 Orsini, just in the 1853. It seems to me that if Blocquel was using it then, he would have mentioned it, given that it was who to purchase the cards from. In fact, there is no mention of where to get the cards in 1838. Were people supposed to cut out the pages and mount and color them?

It would be nice to know just when the book that Veritable Cartomancie plagiarized was first published. If after 1850, then of course that puts the "ca. 1850" Orsini after then, most probably 1853, as given by Papus in his bibliography to Tarot des Bohemiens.