42-Cards Fortune Telling Deck: Le Petit Oracle des Dames

Case : 626

The only one example of 42-cards standard is Le Petit Oracle des Dames, foreshortened pack of mostly double-sided cards that encapsulates 74'tableaux' into 42 cards, which appeared during c. 1800 by Ducessois in Paris according some researches. Jacques Grasset de Saint-Sauveur is considered to have been the producer of this one. Some researcher believe this pack is from the Etteilla lineage, though it is an 'oracle game' pack rather than a strict Tarot. The artwork makes Hermetic references, but the contemporary scenes evoke pre-revolutionary France. it basically has 10 entirely upright cards and then 32 double-ended ones (allow for reversed meanings) thus could be consider a 32-cards deck with 10 extra cards. Some of the cards are almost tarot in an Etteilla way and the rest are almost "Sibilla“ cards. It really seems like a combination of two systems; a type of parlor oracle mixed with a reduced Etteilla deck.