New to historical decks, where to begin?

Hello All,

I'm just beginning to crack into the deep roots & history of tarot after working with RWS & modern decks for many years. Aside from the wealth of info on these boards what resources can you recommend to get the foundational understanding of historical decks?

And which deck do I begin with?!

Thank you

Gallery of historical decks

a*weaver said:

Hello All,

I'm just beginning to crack into the deep roots & history of tarot after working with RWS & modern decks for many years. Aside from the wealth of info on these boards what resources can you recommend to get the foundational understanding of historical decks?

And which deck do I begin with?!

Thank you

Click to expand...

Hello a weaver,

If you are interested in historical decks, I suggest you to have a tour on my own website as to see a nice gallery of old historical Tarot of Marseilles Pattern decks.

You will note some interesting details on it and will trains your eyes by comparing old decks and how changes appeared during time.
To understand history of tarot means that you will have to look at old tarot sources such as old decks.
As not everybody can reach Museums and private collections, I posted this decks for peaple like you.

See my site: http://tarot-de-marseille-heritage.com/english/historic_tarots_gallery.html

Salutations from Marseille City

Yves LM

Yves Le Marseillais said:

As not everybody can reach Museums and private collections, I posted this decks for peaple like you.

Click to expand...

Though I already know the site, it just occured to me that I never said "thank you".

Thank you.

For research I can recommend a couple of books;

Stuart Kaplans The Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol I.

The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination, by Robert Place.

History of the Occult Tarot, Michael Dummett & Ronald Decker.

I've read these & found them worthy.

Yves Le Marseillais said:

Hello a weaver,

If you are interested in historical decks, I suggest you to have a tour on my own website as to see a nice gallery of old historical Tarot of Marseilles Pattern decks.

You will note some interesting details on it and will trains your eyes by comparing old decks and how changes appeared during time.
To understand history of tarot means that you will have to look at old tarot sources such as old decks.
As not everybody can reach Museums and private collections, I posted this decks for peaple like you.

See my site: http://tarot-de-marseille-heritage.com/english/historic_tarots_gallery.html

Salutations from Marseille City

Yves LM

Click to expand...

Wonderful site. Thanks for the link.

Yves LM, many thanks for pointing me in the direction of your gallery, this is exactly what I was looking for. What an amazing resource you've created! I'm sure I'll appreciate it even more as my knowledge grows. And I know where to go when I'm ready to buy

Inconnu, thank you for narrowing the field... off to check them out.

-Autumn

Good pointers Inconnu,

I'd had a few ones :

Inconnu said:

For research I can recommend a couple of books;
Stuart Kaplans The Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol I.

Click to expand...

Volume II is a must have too as it corrects the biggest inaccuracies of volume I.

History of the Occult Tarot, Michael Dummett & Ronald Decker.

Click to expand...

plus "A Wicked pack of Cards" by Decker/Depaulis/Dummet.

Also if you can read French, the catalogue "Tarot Jeu et Magie" will give you nearly all the historical informations you can dream of - it is full of good things and still quite up to date despite a few details that were discovered or investigated in the last ten years.

Another very interesting reading : "Le Tarot" by Gérard van Rijnberk.

But if you're into reading the cards (not the books), then practicing and actually reading the cards (not the books) should be your priority - scholar knowledge is needed to debunk myths (or to discern the interesting message they may cary).

Bertrand said:

Good pointers Inconnu,

I'd had a few ones :

Volume II is a must have too as it corrects the biggest inaccuracies of volume I.

plus "A Wicked pack of Cards" by Decker/Depaulis/Dummet.

Also if you can read French, the catalogue "Tarot Jeu et Magie" will give you nearly all the historical informations you can dream of - it is full of good things and still quite up to date despite a few details that were discovered or investigated in the last ten years.

Another very interesting reading : "Le Tarot" by Gérard van Rijnberk.

But if you're into reading the cards (not the books), then practicing and actually reading the cards (not the books) should be your priority - scholar knowledge is needed to debunk myths (or to discern the interesting message they may cary).

Click to expand...

Yeah, right about Vol II.

I didn't refer to "Wicked pack" because it's OP & rather expensive & I haven't actually read it myself. I understand it's very good though.

Bertrand said:

Good pointers Inconnu,

I'd had a few ones :

Volume II is a must have too as it corrects the biggest inaccuracies of volume I.

plus "A Wicked pack of Cards" by Decker/Depaulis/Dummet.

Also if you can read French, the catalogue "Tarot Jeu et Magie" will give you nearly all the historical informations you can dream of - it is full of good things and still quite up to date despite a few details that were discovered or investigated in the last ten years.

Another very interesting reading : "Le Tarot" by Gérard van Rijnberk.

But if you're into reading the cards (not the books), then practicing and actually reading the cards (not the books) should be your priority - scholar knowledge is needed to debunk myths (or to discern the interesting message they may cary).

Click to expand...

Does Vol. II point out those inaccuracies or do you have to already know about them?

Hello a weaver and welcome to the wonderful world of historic tarot.

You've received some good advice here to get you going. If I may, I'd like to suggest my own website, www.tarot-heritage.com for an easy-to-read illustrated overview of tarot history. In the cartomancy section there are some tips on how to select a deck for reading and lots of lessons and exercises to help you learn reading with historic decks.

Happy studying!