The original basis for the ‘Deck of Cards’? Ephemera – Broadside The Perpetual Almanack – or Gentleman Soldier’s Prayer Book, printed broadside laid to card, approx 15x10ins, slightly browned but otherwise in good order, featuring two woodcut vignettes and surrounded by a border of playing cards, with accompanying text. There is no date to this broadside but from the style of clothing in the vignettes it would probably be mid 18th c. This is an early version of the well known story of the soldier being caught in church with a deck of cards. As a result he is arrested and taken before the Mayor of his town to explain his blasphemous act. He then goes to explain that various cards have religious significance for him and taken as a whole the deck of cards has almost mystical function as a perpetual almanac – as a result of his successful plea the Mayor rewards the soldier and tells him that he is one of the cleverest men he had ever met. The story is well known and immortalised in pop and rock culture by the retelling of the story under the title ‘Deck of Cards’ by Wink Martindale which appeared in the 1950s and has been re-released several times. In this version the soldier is identified as Richard Middleton, a private in the 60th Regiment of Foot – so perhaps for the first time we now know who that soldier actually was !