Wiener Tarock (Hoffman, Vienna, c. 1800)
Suits
5
Cards
54
Publisher
Norbert Hoffman
Place
Vienna
Year
c. 1800
Pattern
Tarock, 54 cards
License
Public domain
A Viennese tarock of fifty-four cards, printed by Norbert Hoffman in Vienna around 1800 — his address is on the Jacks of Clubs and Hearts. It is a game pack, not a divinatory one: the four French suits are stripped to eight cards each, the red suits keeping the low pips and the black the high, and the twenty-one numbered trumps carry chinoiserie scenes above sea-monsters rather than any tarot subject at all. The Sküs, unnumbered, is not a fool standing outside the game but the highest card in it. The BnF calls the pattern "Lemberg". Scans from the Bibliothèque nationale de France via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
