CARTOMANCY - PLAYING CARDS Wood-engraved (or perhaps engraved, in the style of woodengraving) images for playing cards, cut about 1500. The symbolism is now lost, but it appears to portray a king and servant of a foreign land - to judge from the elephant, perhaps from some domain of Africa. They are unlikely to be 'Indians' of the newly discovered Americas, because of their early date. Reproduced by Samuel Weller Singer, Researches into the History of Playing Cards, 1816.