Traumbogen

Traumbogen. Ca. 1780.
Woodcut.

This Austrian dream sheet was intended to guide the user in the selection of lottery numbers.  On any given day, the user could match the subject of the previous night’s dreams to a box on the sheet, which would correspond to a number between one and 90.  Appealing to a faith in psychic insight, the dreamer could then play that number in the lottery.  Maria Theresa introduced the lottery to Austria in 1751, and it enjoyed enormous popularity by the late 1770s.