Visconti-Sforza US Games Editions

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 26 Mar 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

northsea	26 Mar 2004
I have a US Games Visconti-Sforza deck with what appears to be the Dal Negro extra cards. The cards aren't laminated. The box and wrapper sticker says it is published by Grafica Gutenberg in Italy. Are there two US Games editions, the other having extras painted by Luigi Scapini?

Cerulean	26 Mar 2004
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20172&perpage=10&highlight=visconti&pagenumber=5 I'm going to add a note to both this thread and Visconti Reproductions. There is ONE U.S. Games version if you find it that I would recommend as good as the Dal Negro reproduction that I posted about in this thread: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthrea...i+reproductions My raving about the silver and gold inks and excellent quality is slightly altered if you can find two 1975 printings of the Pierpont Morgan Tarocchi, one by U.S. Games, one by the Monumenta Longbardica in Bergamo. I have found two Visconti Tarocchi reproductions on abebooks.com and one through E-Bay. My bid for about $20.00 on Ebay gave me the Dal Negro color large size reproduction with the Italian language commentary by Gabrielle Mandel at the Monumenta Longbardia. The Dal Negro version is an excellent reprint of the Italian 1974 or 1975 printing by the Monumental Longbardica. Gabrielle Mandel cites Tarocchi di Stuart Kaplan for the source of the Devil and Tower of the Dal Negro deck.. The source of the Devil and Tower was a 1975 printing of the Visconti Tarocchi with about released by U.S. Games under the direction of Stuart Kaplan when U.S. Games was in New York, in partnership with the Grafica Gutenberg in Bergamo. The artist is not named for the Devil and Tower. I just received today through abebooks.com a 1975 printing of the U.S. Games Pierpont Morgan with the number 10 for the printing edition. The instructions are in English on unlaminated crisp paper stock and the Devil and Tower are the same as the Dal Negro edition. I paid $35.00 for a hardly used edition. I compared the Dal Negro and 1975 U.S. Games version and the U.S. Games version comes out slightly ahead in terms of being unlaminated, easier to see some of the silvery accents and carved letters in cards such as the Wheel. The only other version that seems slightly better is the Monumental Longbardica version printed in 1975 in the leatherette slipcase and has the original Gabrielle Mandel instructions in a paper-covered booklet. But I paid $160 for it to a German bookseller before I knew the others would be available to me. For cards alone, available if you use the Alidastore.com or Tarotgarden.com ordering, I recommend the Dal Negro version...best wishes, Hope this helps. Mari H.

The Visconti-Sforza US Games Editions thread was originally posted on 26 Mar 2004 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.