HISTORY
According to the Dutch Fortune Teller itself, it originated with the Turks. A sixteenth century C.E. Turkish Ambassador to the Netherlands brought it with him when he took up his ambassadorial duties, then left it behind when he returned home. A German noblewoman tracked down a German man who understood the Turkish language and commissioned him to translate the former Turkish ambassador’s original copy from the Turkish language into the German language. At some point, it crossed the English Channel and ended up in the hands of John Booker, an English printer. The earliest date the bibliographic information at Internet Archive identified for this work is 1646 C.E., which is consistent with the print quality and style.
The introduction further said ‘the Turks (say they) had it of the Egyptians, and other ‘antient (sic) Heathen Philosophers…’ Pendulum said that wasn’t the case, the ‘Dutch’ Fortune Teller did originate with the Turks, and some unknown Turkish occultist created it. The pendulum further confirmed it’s between six hundred and seven hundred years old and was partly inspired by the Wheel of Pythagoras, which is at least three hundred years older. It did come to the Dutch by way of the Turkish ambassador, and by the time Booker got ahold of it, the Dutch Fortune Teller was already around two hundred years old. So really, it ought to be called the Turkish Fortune Teller, but I’m going with crediting it to the Dutch.
The Dutch Fortune Teller appears to have been reprinted two or three more times in the seventeenth century, then reissued a couple more times in the eighteenth century, but that’s about it. In the early nineteenth century, Napoleon’s Book of Fate came into popular use, and the Dutch Fortune Teller was largely forgotten.