Tarot History
The Most Beautiful Deck in the World?
Friday, June 20th, 2008Oh, how I love the Mitelli Tarocchini.
I think it really might be the most beautiful deck in the world. Ever time I look through it I’m simply astonished by its delicacy and grace. I also love the mix of simplicity in presentation and incredible detail.
I can understand why this deck isn’t more popular. […]
Tarot History Forum
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008TarotHistory.com is happy to announce that we have added a forum to the site.
My very good friend “jmd” joins me in welcoming interested visitors to take a look around the forum and to consider joining if it appeals to you.
We’ve used a “club” metaphor because the idea of a plush place where those interested in […]
An Interesting Tarot Mold from the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
Sunday, March 16th, 2008I was looking through images on the Bibliothèque nationale de France site, and came across a very interesting TdM mold. This type of woodblock mold was used to print the black lines of tarot cards onto sheets of paper, then the sheets were stenciled one color at a time. Unfortunately, the image was not […]
Update: Vieville Crowns
Thursday, March 6th, 2008Earlier I mentioned the Crown on the King of Cups, and asked for help in a thread on Aeclectic Tarot to find examples of the crown in the Vieville deck. I was pleased to see some very interesting responses. One of the contributors pointed out that not only does the King of Cups have an […]
Essays of Andrea Vitali
Sunday, March 2nd, 2008Andrea Vitali is an Italian Tarot historian who has made many contributions to the study of Tarot History. He’s been instrumental in bringing attention and investigation into the role of Bologna in the development of the Tarot. His book iL Tarocchino di Bologna is worth getting for the pictures alone, even if you can’t read […]
The Mysterious Cary Sheet
Sunday, March 2nd, 2008Housed in the Cary Collection at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, is a rare find… an uncut sheet of Tarot cards; probably produced in Milan, dating probably as far back as the year 1500. This sheet has come to be known as the “Cary Sheet”, or […]
The Crown on the King of Cups
Sunday, March 2nd, 2008
For a long time I’ve wondered about the crown on the King of Cups in many of the old decks, particularly the Vieville.
How odd it is, with the “wings” coming out the side. Yet, I wonder if it is based on an actual crown? It is extremely detailed for an old woodcut image, including […]
The Jacques Vieville Tarot
Saturday, March 1st, 2008The Tarot of Jacques Vieville is a unique and intriguing deck. It was created in the same time and place as the Jean Noblet Tarot, (Paris, around 1650); but is clearly from a different tradition. As far as I know, there is no other deck like it, yet it has similarities to a wide range […]
The Best Tarot History Summary on the Web
Saturday, March 1st, 2008TarotHistory.com is a founding member of Tarotpedia, the Online Encyclopedia of Tarot. When we first launched the site in 2006, we asked Michael Hurst (of Carte da Trionfi) to write the summary for the Tarot History page. It remains, in my opinion, the very best summary of tarot history on the web.
Tarotpedia’s Tarot History page