Tarot History

It’s almost here!

I’ve spoken with the Flornoys, and am pleased to share that the printing has been a great success and we are now in the final stages of completion before the new Jean Dodal 78-Card version by Jean-Claude Flornoy is available!

I’m terribly excited about this.

As some of you know, I was to be asked to help design the box for the deck, and Roxanne Flornoy told me today that she is sending me a sheet of the unfolded box, along with some uncut sheets from the deck, so I’ll finally get to see the cards all of their glory. :-bd

I’m not positive, but it feels like they’ve been working on it since just after they finished the Noblet, so that’s almost two years now? I’m sure everyone who owns one of their decks can confirm that one of the hallmarks of their work is the painstaking attention to detail and their authenticity, and I know that the time has been well spent making sure that this restoration of the Jean Dodal sets the standard at the highest level.

Here’s a sneak peek at the box, although the colours will have been perfected at the time of press, so enjoy… with caution.

I’m sending out an all points bulletin in hopes that someone might have some images of the François Heri Tarot de Besançon as shown here in Kaplan’s Encyclopedia of Tarot:

This is the closest relative the to the Jean Noblet tarot, they are obviously related, possibly one a copy of the other or more likely based on a similar source.  There are details on the Heri deck that I find fascinating, but all I have to work with is this poor quality scan. If anyone can help me out with better versions of the François Heri, I would be very grateful!