Wilmer & Rogers Lenormand
The Wilmer and Rogers Lenormand is a rare set of fortune telling cards first published in New York in 1870.
While Lenormand cards are named for Marie Anne LeNormand, a famous fortune teller and author in 19th century France, they appeared after her death and have little to do with her. Instead, Lenormand cards are part of a rich history of fortune telling decks that originated in Germany and quickly spread to France and the United States.
This deck is a variation of the Kunst-Comptoir decks published in Germany in 1854, who’s beautiful illustrations were the standard for Lenormand decks well into the 20th century. While most of the illustrations come directly from the Kunst-Comptoir, the Wilmer & Rogers has some interesting changes:
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The Ship appears to be a British Man o’War, instead of the Brigantine seen on most Lenormand. It’s interesting that both are warships popular with pirates.
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There are no suit symbols on the court card inserts. There is a lot of variation in card inserts on Lenormand decks – often the Queens have no suit signs, but the King and Knave do. In this deck there are no Knaves at all; in place of the card insert there’s an additional illustration. This appears to be unique to this deck.
The paper is very thin. There are no titles, but in my copy someone has written them in pencil on each card, in German. Very hard to read.
The printing is very crisp with none of the blurriness we so often see after a card has been in production for a few years and the plates are becoming worn. The cards are delicately colored.
The instructions come from the famous Philippe Sheet, the original Lenormand instructions written in 1848.
