The game theory of warfare

The Maker

For a decription of Pieter Mortier, please see item 3.

The Cards

The art of war and military strategies are explained in this educational deck of cards. Each card displays and describes a different aspect of warfare, with a highly detailed illustration on the upper half of the card, and French text on the lower half, in which financial, foreign and military laws are addressed. In the upper right-hand corner the cards are numbered from one to 52, and the value of the card is contained within the suit mark in the upper left-hand corner. The court cards are designated with “R[oi]” for the King cards, “D[ame]” for the Queen, “C[hevalier]” for the Knight and “P[rince]” for the Jack.

The designs for the Jeu de la Guerre were created by French draftsman Gilles de la Boissiere in the seventeenth century and engraved by Pierre le Pautre. Both the illustrations and the text on Boissiere’s original cards are identical to those found in the present deck, with the exception that the present cards have been re-ordered with the numbers changed. Both Pieter Mortier and another Dutch publisher, Peter Schenck, published their own editions of the Jeu de la Guerre around 1700.

SCHENCK, Pieter

Festung Baues Spiel.

Publication [Netherlands, Pieter Schenck, c1700].

Description

52 engraved playing cards with text, printed in sepia, versos blank, housed within orange paper slipcase, decorated in blind.

Dimensions 80 by 52mm (3.25 by 2 inches).

References Van Den Bergh p.51; Yale 779/HOLsheet265.