Cartomancy Postcards by Fred C. Lounsbury
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- Patreon Release Date: August 28th, 2021
- Public Release Date: August 28th, 2022.
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In 1907 Fred C. Lounsbury of the Crescent Embossing Company of Paterson, New Jersey, was fully engaged in the postcard craze that had overtaken America and the rest of the world. Known primarily for his patriotic and holiday chromlithographic cards, he branched out into several notably magical and divinatory sets of cards, including a set on Good Luck curios, a set on Tea Leaf Reading (on display at my Mystic Tea Room website), a set on Palmistry, one on readings made with Dominoes and Dice, and a set called "Good Fortunes as told by Cards." Due to the size of his press, every Lounsbury set was issued in a group of eight cards, or multiples thereof.
Lounsbury's cartomancy set was officially marked as Crescent series 2037, 1 through 8, and the cards are sequentially numbered as such on their faces. The word "Crescent" -- the name of the company -- was stylized as a waning crescent moon that formed the letter "C."
In keeping with the name and original purpose of the Crescent Embossing Company, all of Fred C. Lounsbury's cards were embossed, and most were gilded as well. While the level of perfection achieved by German chromolithography was not within his reach, his cards, along with those of E. Nash, are considered some of the most artistic examples of postcard art produced in America. They are not common, in part due to the flooding of the market with so many beautiful German cards, and collecting full 0cards sets of any Lounsbury topic can take several years.
Although Fred C. Lounsbury's name and copyright notice appear on the front of virtually all of his cards, and many card series seem to have been drawn and lettered by the same artist, it was well known at the time that Lounsbury was a highly aesthetic printer, but he did not draw or letter all of the cards he produced and printed. Today we would think of him as a graphic designer, press foreman, editor, and publisher. We do know, however, that all of the Lounsbury fortune telling and good luck cards were the work of one artist -- they are remarkably similar in their approach to design and lettering.
Notice that these postcards are titled "Good Fortunes as told by Cards." By now you will have noticed that there are no "Bad Fortunes" in the set. For instance, with the exception of its obligatory inclusion in the "Four Tens" card, the suit of Spades, traditionally associated with pain, loss, warfare, and separation, is absent from the series. The reason for this should be obvious: The cards were meant to be sent as a form of happy prediction to a friend, relative, sweetheart, or fellow postcard enthusiast. Like Chinese fortune cookies, these cards bring good tidings only.
In addition to the playing cards which give the fortune on each postcard, we see examples of beautiful Sho-Card, lettering both embossed and gilded. The style is late Victorian, as are the beaux-arts designs for the border scrolls. Given their Edwardian era publication date of 1907, this leads me to think that the artist was in middle age at the time of designing the cards.
In the upper left of each card we see a woman dressed in a fine and expensive Victorian formal gown, a jeweled pendant resting on her bosom. She is looking at a layout of cards, perhaps telling her own fortunes. Beside her stands a man in a formal suit, either helping her to interpret the cards or assisting her in the creation of the layout. These upper-crust card readers seem to indicate that, for them, cartomancy is an amusement. However, lest you think that all of the Lounsbury fortune telling cards depict the pampered rich playing at divination, take a look at the Dice set, with its shabby Yukon miner; or the Palmistry set, with its old Bohemian witch; or the Tea Leaf set, in which an elderly lady tosses a cup for a much younger woman. The artist is showing us social and character stereotypes and linking them to the various forms of fortune telling.
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Regardless of their accuracy according to conventional systems of card reading, "Good Fortunes as told by Cards" performed as sortilege cards. After all, some psychic impulse on the part of your friend, relative, sweetheart, or fellow card collector led to the selection of just one card out of the eight -- and it was mailed to you. The Universe has spoken! One way or the other, in luck, love, health, wealth, or business, you WILL have Good Fortune. Fred C. Lounsbury has decreed it so!