Lismon Etteilla Tarot

Creator(s):  Z. Lismon
Date: 1890*, 2012
Country: France
Publisher: Blocquel*, HistoricalRetrospective
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN:   
Type: Etteilla
Reference: Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol.II, pp. 404, 405







Notes: 
The Lismon Etteilla is of type Grand Etteilla II and was -according to Dummett- the work of Simon Blocquel, a publisher at Lille, who worked in collaboration with his father-in-law Jean-Baptist Castiaux. The two of them liked using anagrammatic pseudonyms such as Blismon, Z. Lismon, Zlismon, Buqcellos, Milbons and Monblis.  A French biography of Blocquel can be found here.

The first evidence for this deck was in a book called Le Grand Etteilla, ou l'Art de tirer les cartes published 1838 by Blocquel, which served to advertise his new version of  Etteilla's cards. The authors name, Julia Orsini, maybe another pseudonym of Blocquel.

There were at least four editions of the Lismon Etteilla between 1838 and 1917, the oldest one (1838), which was mentioned in Kaplans Encyclopedia, has a misspelling of "Eteilla" on card number one, the following editions have the correct spelling "Etteilla".

Tax stamps for playing cards in France were abolished in 1790 and return in 1890, lasting until 1917. Thus the tax stamp on the Two of Swords dates a deck between 1890 and 1917.

The second edition (e.g. see  here) has a correct spelling of Etteilla, a complete upper left wreath on card #74 but no tax stamp, thus it dates before 1890.

The third edition can be seen on the British Museum page,  it has a tax stamp on the Two of Swords (thus it dates after 1890) and a complete upper left wreath on card #74.

The fourth edition has a tax stamp on the Two of Swords and a missing part in the upper left wreath of card #74, possibly because the printing block has got damaged. The reprint by HistoricalRetrospective was from the fourth edition.

 All Grand Etteilla II editions have on the Ace of Wands  Chute or "Fall" as the upright and the reversed is Naissance or "Birth" (The 1900-20 Grimaud Etteilla ''corrects" this so that Birth/Naissance is the upright and Fall/Chute is reversed).

Grand Etteilla II was engraved on wood and did not diverge greatly from the original Etteilla deck. The titles are printed on both sides of the picture frame. Some images and keywords are different from Etteilla’s original deck. The Coins have become wreaths enclosing a quatrefoil. The lower panels on the numeral cards are new. The cards 1,10,12,15 and 21 have been redesigned.

Francois de Poilly Tarot

Creator(s): Francois de Poilly
Date: 1660*, 2012
Country: France, USA
Publisher: HistoricalRetrospective
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN:   
Type: other
Reference: HistoricalRetrospective




Notes:
Francois de Poilly (1623-1693) was a French engraver. In 1660 he or someone from his family created the Poilly Tarot.

The deck is not traditional tarot, but it does contain 22 trumps, about 3/4ths of which follow the Tarot structure. The differences are similar to the 97-card Minchiate decks of Italy.

The original deck features only the Majors and courts, the pip cards were recreated by HistoricalRetrospective. Card #16 was also missing from the original, and has been recreated. The deck is  standard poker size, 2 1/2" by 3 1/2".

Daityanus Tarot

Creator(s): Ernst Kurtzahn (Daityanus)
Date: 1920, 2012
Country: Germany, USA
Publisher: Talis / Schikowski / HistoricalRetrospective
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN:   
Type: Etteilla
Reference: Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol.III, pp. 158, 161

Notes: 
Ernst Kurtzahn, who wrote under the pseudonym Daityanus was a member of various Rosicrucian and magical orders, and especially interested in Kabbalah. The cards were small (2 3/4 inches by 1 5/8 inches) and first published by Talis Verlag in Germany in 1920 in the book Der Tarot by Ernst Kurtzahn as black and white line drawings.The book was reprinted by Schikowski in 1983 and the cards were published as a deck in 2012 by HistoricalRetrospective.

Most of the designs are redrawn from Etteilla Tarot and arranged and titled in traditional tarot sequence. Two ofthe designs (VI Lovers and Xii Hanged Man) are taken from the Tarot of Marseilles.

In his book Kurtzahn states that his tarot is derived from Etteilla's Tarot, the Tarot de Marseilles and Oswald Wirth's Tarot. The Fool is numberd zero, The World is numbered XXII, no card is numbered XXI. The cards have Geramn titles and a Hebrew letter with its corresponding number at the bottom.

The book and scans of all cards are available online here

Sola Busca Tarot (HistoricalRetrospective)

Creator(s): Nicola di Maestro Antonio
Date: 1491, 2012
Country: Italy, USA
Publisher: HistoricalRetrospective
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN:   
Type: Ferrarese
Reference: Pinacoteca di Brera



Notes:
The Sola-Busca Tarocchi may be dated from around 1490 since the hypothetical date of 1491 was painted on one of the illuminated cards of the set (the inscription "ANNO AB URBE CONDITA MLXX" on card XIIII may be read as the date of 1,070 years after the foundation of Venice - either 421 or 453 - that should mean 1491 or, less likely, 1523).

Giordano Berti and Michael Dummett suggest that the deck might have been engraved in Ferrara and illuminated in Venice (or for the Venetian market). The art was bulino engravings printed on paper pressed and glued as cardboard, illuminated with colours and gold, painted faux porphyry on the back.

Today the painter Nicola di Maestro Antonio from Ancona is identified as the artist of the deck, and the Humanist and Hermeticist Ludovico Lazzarelli is believed to have designed the complex iconographical programme of the Sola Busca Tarot.

The coat of arms featured in the deck, which have been identified as those of the two Venetian noble families Venier (red and white coat of arms/ Bochos shield) and Sanudo (coat of arms silver with blue ribbon/Aces of coins and cups), and the presence of the monogram "M.S." on three of the Aces suggest that the owner of the deck, and the person responsible for its colouring in Venice in 1491, was Marin Sanudo the Younger, the famous Venetian Humanist with an interest in alchemy .

The complete deck, which was owned by the Sola Busca family, was photographed in 1907 for the British Museum. In 2010, the Pinacoteca di Brera museum in Milan bought the deck for 800.000 EUR. 

The Figures on the Trumps represent historical / mythical characters. The characters are identified by names printed on the cards: Mato, Panfilio, Postumio, Lenpio, Mario, Catulo, Sesto, Deo Tauro, Nerone, Falco, Venturio, Tulio, Carbone, Catone, Bocho, Metelo, Olivo, Ipeo, Lentulo, Sabino, Nenbroto, Nabuchodenasor.

But whatever name was given to the Trumps, in order to be actually "used" they still had to include traditional meanings. These could be identified  on the basis of the iconography and history of the figures depicted. Bocchus, for instance, who had betrayed his ally Juguretha embodies the figure of The Traitor (The Hanged Man), wheras Cato, who took his own life, embodies Death.

The Sola Busca is the earliest known deck to have illustrated Minors. Shortly after receipt of the black-and-white photographic images of the Sola-Busca Tarot, they were placed on exhibit at the British Museum in London. It is probable that the experience of viewing of this exhibit provided the initial stimulus for Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith to subsequently create their own tarot deck with all 78 cards illustrated. A comparision between the Sola Busca and RWS Minors can be found here.

In the suit of coins several cards show practices such as assaying, hammering and the checking of flan sizes which can be either related to minting or to the alchemical work.

 The alchemical iconography is particularly evident in the 4 of Coins (Earth as mother of the metals), the 5 of Coins (the male element as the alchemist who impregnates the earth to get the philosopher's stone, with the use of fire) and the 9 of Coins (“nigredo”, blackness as the death of the first matter, the first step of the alchemical process).

The suit of batons also features alchemical motifs, offering a parallel between alchemy and agriculture, of the sort drawn in the treatises by Pseudo-Llull.


Several reprints of the Sola Busca Taro existst: Lo Scarabeo, Italy 1995; Wolfgang Meyer edition, Germany 1998  and HistoricalRetrospective edition, USA 2012. Mine is from the first Historical Retrospective edition with bridge-sized cards.

Francois Chosson Tarot

Creator(s): Francois Chosson
Date: 1736, 2012
Country: France
Publisher: Yves Renauld
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN:   
Type: Marseilles
Reference: Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol.II, pp. 310, 312







Notes:
This deck is a facsimile of the Chosson Tarot in the Historical Museum Blumenstein in Solothurn. It is a limited edition of 3000, mine is number 104.

The original Tarot Chosson is uncertain in dating. On the 2 of Deniers appears as date 1672. A proofed date is April 21, 1736, when Francois Chosson deposited two copies of the sheet of packaging (also reproduced with the present facsimile), one to the trade association of the traders and cardmakers, the other in the Clerk's Office of the Police of Marseilles.

The initials of the engraver on the Chariot and the Two of Cups are "G.S." There are not  many known cardmakers with the initials GS in the right dates, but there is a "Guilhen Sallonetz" mentioned together with his father or brother Jacques Sallonetz in Marseille in 1662. Further in the list, there are others - Guillaume Sellon (1676-1715), Jacques Sellon (1676-1708), along with Jean-François Sellon (1676-1688) Antoine Sellon (1713-1715), and Claude-François Sellon (1730) - all in Marseille.

The names Sallonetz and Sellon are probably two forms of the same name, one in Provençal, and one in French. "Guilhen" is a Provençal form of "Guillaume" . So there seems to be a family business that is attested from 1662-1730. Perhaps Chosson bought it after the final Sellon retired.

Another point about the 2 of Deniers is that the name Chosson has smaller and thicker letters than name François. Also, the name "Chosson" does not curve properly in relation to the curve of the banner, unlike the elegant and properly-fitted "François."

Maybe that the name "François" is the original 1672 name, and that "Chosson" was added later (old name cut out, new name glued in). The old name then must have been "Sellon". Two of the Sellon family have the middle name "François" - Jean-François and Claude-François. Since a tradition among French families is to give the son(s) the middle name of the father,it is possible that "François Sellon" was the founder of the house and his presumed son Guillaume is the engraver (a detailed discussion on the dating of the Chosson Tarot can be found here ).

Oswald Wirth Tarot (McLean Edition)

Creator(s): Oswald Wirth, Adam McLean
Date: 2013
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Adam McLean
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN:   
Type: Papus-Wirth
Reference: Adam McLean

Notes:
The Oswald Wirth Tarot was created in1889 as a majors only deck. It has a Marseilles foundation, with some changes based on the ideas of Eliphas Levi. These cards were used to illustrate Le Tarot des Bohemiens by Papus.

The deck was printed as line engravings then coloured by hand, as was usual with playing cards at that time when colour printing had not fully developed. The colouring of the cards was often messy, with the colour overflowing the lines and often not entirely filling the areas, because the colour was applied using stencils and relatively unskilled labour. Adam McLean has cleaned up the images, sensitively correcting these flaws, to produce a deck that reflected Wirth's original conception.

Peace Tarot (Japanese Tarot Deck)

Creator(s): Misuzu Itateyama
Date: 2007, 2012
Country: Japan
Publisher: self-published
Number of Cards: 22+2
ISBN: 978-4-87035-473-9
Type: other
Reference: artist's page

Notes:
Misuzu Itateyama is an illustrator based in Fukuoka City. She was inspired by ancient Japanese culture, Buddhist art and Ukiyo-e. The deck on her website has a copyright 2007, my printed edition is from 2012.

The art is watercolor with elegant black lines of Chinese ink.

The deck came in a cardboard box with a Japanese only LWB and two extra cards. The English title on the box says "Japanese Tarot Deck", but it was sold on ebay as "Peace Tarot".

Tarocchi di Bacchus

Creator(s): Luigi+Giulia Scapini, Giordano Berti
Date: 2005
Country: Italy
Publisher: Dal Negro
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN:
Type: other
Reference: aeclectic






Notes:
The  Major Arcana narrate the birth of Bacchus and his adventures on earth. Each court card represents one of the top winemaking countries in the world. The Numeral Cards refer to the agricultural, business and recreational activities linked to wine.

The large-size cards came in a bright-red box with an instruction booklet in English and Italian. The illustrations are soft rather than sharp with almost a watercolor effect. 


Some cards are signed "Guilia Scapini", some signed "Luigi Scapini", some signed "Luigi Scapini Guilia Scapini", some signed "GL Scapini", and some signed "LG Scapini".

Looking at the ones with the first two signatures the differences in their artistic styles becomes apparent: Luigi has the rich colours, strong lines and  bony figures. Guilia's cards have less muscular figures, paler colours and a lot of white left in the backgrounds of some of her images. In the cards signed with both their names or both their initials the partner whose initial comes first is dominant.

Tarocchi di Dario Fo

Creator(s): Dario Fo, Dominique Gobbo
Date: 1999
Country: Italy
Publisher: Dal Negro
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN:
Type: other
Reference: aeclectic







Notes:
This tarot deck is conceived by Dario Fo, the 1997 Nobel Laureate in Literature. The pictures were jointly created by Dario Fo and Dominique Gobbo, an Italian graphic designer.

The inspiration behind this deck was to create a series of cards with the Holy Year as its theme. The Tarot scenes are inspired by Renaissance art, and are framed inside the card.

The cards are large (3 3/8" x 6") and came in a slip-case box which includes a 96-page paperback in Italian and English.

Tarot Lukumi

Creator(s): Luigi Scapini, Emanuele Coltro
Date: 2003
Country: Italy
Publisher: Dal Negro
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN:
Type: other
Reference: tarotpassages

  





Notes:
Anthropoligist and writer Tata Emanuele Coltro Guidi conceptualized this deck, seeking to link the deities, faith, spirituality, and practices of Cuban Santeria (Regla de Ocha or Regla Lukumi) into the framework of occult tarot. The illustrations were rendered by Luigi Scapini.

Each card is dedicated to an Orisha, an Elder in the religion, or a certain Pataki. A Pataki is a tale that explains the life of an Orisha, or a situation in the Orishas life that teaches a moral lesson. For example the Enamorados, "The Lovers" depicts the tale of Chango, Ochun and Obba; how Ochun tricked Obba into slicing her ear and placing it into Chango's food.

The Majors have Spanish titles over which the symbols and the name of the Afro-Cuban Orisha are superimposed . The four suits are: Bastos for Wands, Copas for Cups, Espadas for Swords and Oros for Coins. The court cards are: Rey, the King; Reina, the Queen; Caballo, the Knight and Sota for the Page.

The reversible backs show the believed Ancestors Santero and Santera, Negro Fransisco and Negra Thomasa, separated by Cowrie Shells on a red background.

Efflorescent Tarot (Color Deck)

Creator(s): Katie Rose Pipkin
Date: 2012
Country: USA
Publisher: self-published
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN:
Type: RWS
Reference: artist's page

Notes:
Produced over a period of 2 years, between 2009 and 2011, The Efflorescent (adj; bursting into flower) Tarot is a fully functional deck illustrated in the Rider-Waite tradition. The deck is available as a colored version or in black and white.

Cards are 3.5x5 inches, on heavy matte paperstock, and have a black and white floral back design. They come in a white cardstock box with a random card cover.

Tarot of the Old Path

Creator(s): Howard Rodway, Sylvia Gainsford
Date: 1990
Country: Germany
Publisher: AGM
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN: 978-3-905021-40-0
Type: RWS
Reference: Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol.IV, pp. 444, 446

 

Notes:  
Tarot for the Old Path is a Wiccan Tarot designed with 8 well-known leaders in the Craft (Margot Adler, Janet and Stewart Farrar, Lois Bourne, Patricia Crowther, Aislinn Lester, Pauline Newberry, and Kim Tracey) acting as consultants, providing “card descriptions, meanings, and symbolism”.

The Major Arcana is renamed  to reflect the Wiccan overlay:
 0 The Fool, I The Magician, II The High Priestess, III The Empress, IV The Emperor, V The High Priest, VI The Lovers, VII Mastery, VIII Strength, IX The Wise One, XI The Wheel of Fortune, XII The Lone Man, XIII The Close, XIV The Guide, XV Temptation, XVI The Tower, XVII The Star, XVIII Illusion, XIX The Sun, XX Karma, XXI The World.

The suit cards are Rods, Cauldrons, Swords, and Pentacles. The court cards are named Page, Knight, Queen and King. Each suit has a predominate colour (orange for Rods, blue for cauldrons, yellow for Swords, and green for Pentacles). Most cards feature flowers and birds that correspond to the card meanings, as well as astrological and elemental symbols appropriate to the card.

Gli Arcani dell’Albero

Creator(s): Ernesto Solari
Date: 1999
Country: Italy
Publisher: Aisthesis & Magazine
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN: 
Type: Other
Reference: pasteboard masquerade




Notes: 
Ernesto Solari is an Italian art professor who uses modern art to illustrate Qabalistic principals.  The images for this deck were inspired by a large Byzantine mosaic found within an ancient Italian basilica in Otranta. The paintings were presented in 1997 as part of a larger exhibition.

The guidebook to this exhibition is an overview of several cultural tree archetypes: Yggdrasil of Norse mythology, the tree of Brahma in the second Upanishad, the Navaho Indian World Axis, the Celtic tree alphabet of Ogham, the tree of Christ’s cross, Egypt’s Pillar of Osiris, the Bodhi Tree of the Buddha, the alchemist’s Tree of Philosophy, and the Cabalist’s Tree of the Sephiroth. But the deck focuses primarily on Biblical and Kabbalistic mythology.

The full name of this deck is Gli Arcani dell’Albero della Vita e della Conoscenza or The Arcana of the Tree of Life and of Knowledge.

Margarete Petersen Tarot

Creator(s): Margarete Petersen
Date: 2001, 2004
Country: Germany
Publisher: Königsfurt Urania
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN: 978-3-898756273 
Type: Mixed
Reference: Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol.III, pp. 421, 425




Notes:
Margarete Petersen is a Berlin based painter who began painting Tarot cards in 1979. It took her about twenty years to complete the deck.

There are feminine undertones in Margarete Petersen's imagery but there is no apparent fundamentalist feminism.

Some of the Major Arcana have been renamed: The Magician/Magic, The Chariot/Chariotess, The Hermit/The Crone, The Hanged Man/Trial, Temperance/Mediatrix, and Judgment/Renewal. The Court Cards are Mother, Father, Daughter, and Son. The suits are Flames, Cups, Feathers, and Coins.

The cards are large (3 3/4" by 5 1/2"). The reversible backs have an orange pattern. The deck and accompanying LWB come as a set in a box with a lift-off top.

Dali Tarot

Creator(s): Salvador Dali
Date: 1984, 2004
Country: Germany
Publisher: Königsfurt Urania
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN: 978-3-898756433    

Type: Mixed
Reference: Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol.III, pp 578, 580-581

Notes:
This deck was first published by Distribucions d’Art Surrealista and Comos Naipes of Spain in 1984. It consists of collage compositions which incorporate the works of other artists. Amanda Lear claimed to have assisted Dali in the completition of the collages.

Dali adds his own touch to each design by using washes of color and semi-abstract shapes and adding his abstract signature onto the cards, incorporating them into each design.

The Major Arcana bear German titles on top and Spanish titles below and are numbered I through XXI from the Magician to the World. Justice is numbered VIII and Strength is XI.

Hebrew letters are assigned to the cards starting with Aleph at the Magician through Resh at Judgment, and Tau is assigned to The World. The Fool is unnumbered and has the Hebrew letter Shin.  Planetary and Zodiacal associations are somewhat different from those usually found.

The four suit emblems are painted into the designs. Wands are painted as green staves with small leafs,  Swords are depicted as blue double-edged broadswords, Cups are painted as yellow lotus-patterned chalices and Coins are illustrated as flat disks of yellow with  pentagrams.

The Court Cards are titled in Spanish. The Suits Bastos, Copas, Espadas and Oros refer to Staffs, Cups, Swords and Discs, respectively. And the Court Cards Sota, Caballero, Reina and Rey are Page, Knight, Queen and King.