The Geographer's Library

The Geographer’ s Library
forget any of this ever happened. Make up a believable story about your nose,
and please accept my apologies. Now go, go now, and don’t you dare glance
back at this door.”
Voskresenyov looked at the cards arrayed on the table—a ten of swords,
an eight of cups, a knave of stars, an ace of stars, and a ten of cups—and
peeked at his two hole cards. Hewley did the same. “This game loses something
without any betting,” Voskresenyov muttered. “Mr. Hewley,” he said
clearly and loudly, “are you ready to turn?”
“I am.”
Item 7: A playing card, approximately 2.4 centimeters longer and 1.2
centimeters narrower than the contemporary standard English or American
playing card. One side—the back—is dark vermilion with gold trim. Inside
the trim, written in interlocking fanciful letters, beginning at the top left corner
and continuing clockwise around the card, it reads “Sutcliffe Sanderson
& Trout, Expert Craftsmen in All Manner of Etchery, with Particular Skill in
the Crafting of Cartes des Jeux and in Small Ornate Writing, by Appointment
of His Majesty Duke Mulebollocks of Fiddle-Dee-Dee, Printed with
Permission of Nobody but Ourselves, London or Someplace Other.”
On the other side is a queen of spades, possessing the blocky geometric
form and generic courtliness common to English playing cards of the late
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