INTIRE NEW OR IMPROVED PLAYING CARDS, TO BE NAMED BRILLIANT NEW- INVENTED KNIGHT'S CARDS
Year: 1799

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
EDWARD LUDLOW, of Walworth, in the County of Surry, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twentieth day of December, in the fortieth year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said Edmund Edward Ludlow, together
with ANN WILCOX, of the City of London, His especial licence, that we, the
said Edmund Edward Ludlow and Ann Wilcox, during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of
"INTIRE NEW OR IMPROVED PLAYING CARDS, TO BE NAMED BRILLIANT NEW-
INVENTED KNIGHT'S CARDS;'" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso obliging us, the said Edmund Edward Ludlow and Ann Wilcox,
or one of us, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us, to cause a particular description of the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edmund Edward Ludlow, do hereby declare that the said Invention is
described in manner following (that is to say):-

page_text: The utility of which Invention is, all but aces and court cards, not requiring
to be turned, by having entire new pips to render cach suit perfectly distinct, to
remove any mistake in the turn of dealing, and to prevent the misplacing of any
card in playing without any immediate discovery. The particulars of the cards
are intended to be as near as possible as follows:-Spades, hearts, and clubs
to be as much reversed as conveniently can be done, so as to appear as much as
possible the same both ways; and if upon tryal it should be found expedient, the
court cards shall be done in the same manner, or the whole pack placed in the
manner now in use, entirely at the Patentee's pleasure. The pips of spades to
have a line of black round the edge, then one of white, and filled up with
black; the hearts to have a line of red, then white, and filled with red;
the diamonds to be red outside and white inside; the clubs to be black out-
side, white inside; ace of spades to be zigzag lines, black or white, surrounded
with garter, motto, and date, of the Order of the Thistle, with suitable ornaments,
all black, and to be the stamped card; ace of clubs to have long lines, black on
white, surrounded with garter, &c., &c., of the Order of Saint Patrick, &c., and
a united collar of garter, thistle, and Saint Patrick, all black; acc of diamonds
to be crost lines, red on white, surrounded with garter, &c., &c., of the Order of
the Bath, &c., all red; the ace of hearts to have long lines, red on white, sur-
rounded with garter, &c., &c., of the Order of the Garter, &c., with the lyon
and unicorn, and an under motto of the cards, &c., all red. The court cards it is
utterly impossible to describe minutely, but the kings are intended to have
sceptres, stars, and garters; the queens their respective crowns, knotts, and
ribbons, to which is to hang their badge; the knaves, belts and broad swords,
the emblems of their orders, agreeable to the aces of their suits, all of them at
top their proper pip, and at the bottom another the very reverse, viz', spades,
black outside, white inside; hearts, red outside, white inside; diamonds, a
line of red outside the edge, then one of white, and filled up with red; clubs, a
line of black round the edge, then one of white and filled up with black. The
edges of the packs to be either white, sky blue, green, red, garter blue, black,
silvered, or gilt, all with or without a W at one end, which may be used in
four different directions. The packs singly to be put in patent wrappers, with
stamps, duty, penalty, &c., on them; when in half dozens or dozens, &c.,
then in Moguls and Harrys, with the addition of the King's Arms on them.
That since the above was wrote, the Patentees have found that the ace of
spades must be had from the Stamp Office in the usual way, in consequence of
which, they are under the necessity of making the following alterations in the
foregoing Specification, viz:-Ace of hearts to have long lines, red on white,
surrounded with garter, motto, and date, of the Order of St. Patrick, with

page_text: suitable ornaments, and a united collar of garter, thistle, and Saint Patrick,
all red; ace of clubs to have long lines, black on white, surrounded with
garder, motto, and date, of the Order of the Thistle, with suitable ornaments;
and the lyon and unicorn may be put with an under motto of the cards, &c.,
all black. The court cards of spades must now be the Order of the Garter,
the hearts of St. Patrick, and the clubs of the Thistle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Edward Ludlow, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred.