Skip to content

Jan 7

The Happiest Tarot Decks

I want start 2024 by showing off the happiest tarot decks in my collection. Let’s face it, some of the people in our pre-20th century decks can be rather grumpy, if not downright mean looking. I must have at least 100 facsimiles of historic decks (I haven’t actually counted them), but I could only find a handful of decks where the figures had consistently pleasant faces. The characters in the decks discussed below look friendly and optimistic, and seem to actually enjoy life. I wouldn’t hesitate to start up a conversation with any of them.

If you have a historic facsimile with happy faces, please share it in the comment section below.

My five choices are all 18th-century decks, from five different countries, made by four contemporary card makers. I’ve listed them in the order they were originally published.

Read more

Oct 28

2 Comments

Celebrating the Tarot de Marseille Type I

Tarot de Marseille Type I is having its moment in the sun, thanks to several card makers who are recreating these rare decks from museum originals. As far as I know, there are only nine complete, or nearly complete, Type I decks in existence. All but two have been meticulously recreated by artisans in limited editions and are available to purchase. Find contact information for these card makers at the bottom of this article.

Read more

Oct 24

2 Comments

Journey Through the Trump Cards

Announcing the completion of “Journey Through the Trumps,” a section of this website that traces the 600-year history of each trump card. During this three-year adventure with my co-author Iolon, we looked at how the imagery of each card evolved through the centuries, and how these changes influenced the card’s interpretation.

Read more

Mar 7

3 Comments

Tarocco Bolognese Dalla Tore with Rivoltini

For over four centuries, every Italian playing card was handcrafted with rivoltini borders. These are created by gluing backing paper onto the card, folding the four sides over to the front, then gluing the borders down. Now, for the first time in over a century, we can obtain a tarot deck made with this labor-intensive, traditional method.

For this production, Marco Benedetti has reprinted his Dalla Torre Tarocco Bolognese, which was published in 2020. He added hand-crafted rivoltini borders, and packaged the deck in his signature custom-made wooden box. This deck is a partially restored facsimile of a nearly complete 17th-century Tarocchini in the Bibliothèque Nationale Française.

Read more

Aug 1

7 Comments

Gerard Bodet Tarot Restored by Sullivan Hismans

Devil card Gerard Bodet Tarot

The Gerard Bodet Tarot restored by Sullivan Hismans (Tarot Sheet Revival) may be the oldest complete Rouen-Brussels deck we have. Around the year 1500, tarot migrated from Italy to France and entered a new phase of development. Milanese tarot swept across Europe, becoming the standard gaming deck and evolving into the Tarot de Marseille pattern. An alternate style migrated from Florence and Ferrara, then lurked underground until surfacing in Paris in the mid-seventeenth century as the Jacques Vieville deck, a hybrid of the Tarot de Marseille and Rouen-Brussels patterns. Let’s look at what’s distinctive about this style and where Bodet’s deck fits in with its development. (All cards in this article are Gerard Bodet unless stated otherwise.)

Read more

Jun 16

3 Comments

Reading Minchiate Cards with Brian Williams

This is turning out to be Minchiate Month! Marco Benedetti just published a restored and recolored Fiorentine Minchiate which I reviewed here last week. A few recent videos feature this deck. Links to everything are at the bottom.

What if you want to read with this expanded tarot deck? What resources will help with card interpretations, especially those unfamiliar cards like Charity, Prudence, or the Eastern Emperor? Two books by the late art historian Brian Williams are indispensable for studying the iconography of both Tarot and Minchiate.

Read more

Jun 7

8 Comments

A Fiorentine Minchiate Restored by Marco Benedetti

Announcing a Fiorentine Minchiate deck produced by Marco Cesare Benedetti of Rome, Italy. The strong lines, rich colors and expressive faces make this limited edition deck very readable. Before I get into specifics of Benedetti’s deck, let’s get clear on what a Minchiate deck is and how it differs from tarot.

Read more

Apr 12

2 Comments

Tarot and Divination Cards: A Visual Archive by Laetitia Barbier

Turning the pages of this book is like wandering the corridors of an enchanted castle where the walls are lined with over-sized images of tarot and fortune-telling cards, art from previous centuries, and the occasional surprise from contemporary popular culture. Barbier’s infectious joy and delight in all things cartomantic shines on every page of this wondrous book with the same energy and creativity she brings to her tarot classes on the Morbid Anatomy platform.

Read more

Apr 7

3 Comments

Gold Foil Visconti-Sforza Deck by Lo Scarabeo

Lo Scarabeo Visconti-Sforza deck box

One of my favorite Visconti-Sforza decks has just been re-issued — seventy-eight cards in sparkling gold foil published by Lo Scarabeo. Unfortunately the gold doesn’t scan well; but trust me, it’s dazzling. I had to photograph the box at an odd angle to see the light reflecting off the gold. This deck is one of the first historic reproductions I ever purchased nearly twenty years ago. I read with it often, so I’m very happy to have a back-up deck in case I lose a card.  But there is one very big let-down that would otherwise be a deal killer for me. Here’s a comparison of the two editions.

Read more

Nov 14

Marco Benedetti’s Personal Visconti

Box Cover Benedetti Personal Visconti

The Visconti-Sforza deck is a hybrid mash-up of sixty-eight original cards painted by Bonifacio Bembo about 1450, six cards that were created by a different artist around 1475, and four cards that are still missing and have to be recreated by a contemporary artist whenever the deck is republished. Marco Benedetti has never been happy with the ten replacement cards, and dreamt for years of creating his own version of these cards that would enhance the deck rather than detract from it. This deck brings his personal vision into fruition. By drawing on other works by Bembo for most of the replacement cards, he has revived the deck’s original spirit.

Read more
← Older Entries
Newer Entries →