THE INCREDIBLY RARE REDMAYNE playing card, one of the most desirable of the early playing cards done of the English counties. There is only one recorded complete set of cards by William Redmayne’s known to survive. They were published just three months after those of Robert Morden and advertised in the Trinity Term catalogue as being for sale by ‘Redmayne at the Crown on Addle Hill; Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix, Robert Turner at the Star, in St. Paul’s Church-yard; H. Cox in Holborn; and B. Billingsley at the Printing Press in Cornhill’. Redmayne was a printer active between 1674 and 1719. In 1719 he was imprisoned for printing libel on the government and died in April in Newgate Prison of a fever. The maps on the Redmayne cards are smaller than those on the rival by Morden and are reminiscent of those thumb-nail maps by Matthew Simmons in 1635.

Each map is accompanied by surrounding descriptive text on their respective commodities and points of interest. The Spade suit mark bears no numeration indicating it is the Ace in the suit. Provenance: collection of F. B. Swain, sold at Phillips, Norwich, 2 June 1993 lot 257; Burden Collection. Beresiner (2010) p. 18; not in Chubb; Hodson (1984-97) I no. 146; King (2003) p. 141; Kingsley (1982) no. 16; Mann and Kingsley (1972) pp. 3-4, 18-19, App. II no. 4, App. III no. 3. pl. xii (listing all the cards); Skelton (1970) 96.