Curse of Scotland excluded, making the 7, later called the "beer card", a "stop") but there is no direct relation with the 9. Gomme's book goes on to claim "At the game of Pope Joan, the nine of diamonds is Pope; therefore the nine of diamonds is the curse of Scotland". "The Spectator" review considered the claim "more cogent in form than in matter". A letter written in response to "The Spectator's" book review pointed out that the saying was established well before Culloden, and preferred the Pope Joan theory to other explanations. Other explanations given in the letter were: An 1864 book
Transformation playing card cards had become fixed in most of Europe and America. French cards used hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs. German cards used acorns, leaves, hearts and bells. It was at this time that designers in Germany, France and England began to draw small figures around the pips. The first transformation playing cards were created by D.W. Soltan and D. Berger in 1801 as illustrations for a German edition of Hudibras. The cards illustrated were the 2 of hearts, 3 of hearts, 5 of hearts and 8 of hearts. In 1803, John Nixon published the first complete set (52 cards) of transformed