A rare pack of astronomical playing cards

An unusual educational card game, rarely found complete. According to the booklet it was 'intended at once to introduce the young to the sublime Science of Astronomy, and to afford to all a most agreeable pastime in an hour or relaxation'. The deck is made up of four suits of the Seasons, identified by coloured drapery: Spring is blue, Summer red, Autumn yellow and Winter white. Each suit is led by a card with three signs of the zodiac, followed by a 'luminary': Spring has Aries, Taurus & Gemini, with Luna; Summer has Cancer, Leo & Virgo, with The Sun; Autumn has Libra, Scorpio & Sagittarius, with 'The Comet of 1680' (the first to be discovered by telescope); Winter has Capricorn, Aquarius & Pisces, with the Orbits of the planets. Following these unique cards each suit is composed of cards featuring the bodies of the solar system: Jupiter, Saturn, Herschel, Tellus, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Pallas, Juno, Ceres & Vesta. The accompanying booklet includes an introduction to astronomy, an explanation of the celestial cards with a list, and rules for two games that can be played with them, 'Conjunction' and 'Combination'. The box was originally illustrated with a portrait of the Muse Urania surrounded by scientific instruments, beneath the title 'Astronomia', Unfortunately the image is worn away. The designer of the cards, Henry Corbould (1787-1844) was a successful artist and book illustrator. He also spent about thirty years recording the ancient marbles in the British Museum. The publisher, Frances Graham Moon (1796-1871), is best known for issuing the David Roberts lithographs and the Holy Land and Egypt (1842-49). The only complete set we could trace in an institution is in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale.