Le Fanu
erm.. no pictures as yet...
Thought I'd first tell the story of what happened to me this weekend and then post pics below.
I have a very nice Russian odd-job man. A six foot tall hulk of a man who does bits & bobs around the house, repairs, cleaning and painting jobs etc. Once I read the cards for him and he seemed so visibly moved by the experience. As if he had never seen tarot cards before.
Anyway, last week, he told me that he had been called in to do a job for a neighbour, clearing out an abandoned house, redecorating & rewiring it. He said that the foreman had told them to clear out all the rubbish and toss it in the dumpster outside.
However, he said he had seen some cards "like those ones you have.. you know, for telling the future..." scattered across the floor and on shelves. He had gathered all the cards up that he could see and put them in his rucksack.
He doesn't speak English and only a little Portuguese (communicating is not always easy), so as he was telling me last week, I was thinking "yeah.. right.. maybe playing cards or Doreen Virtue if I'm lucky..." But the mention of astrology and my ears pricked up. Then last night in the freezing cold he traipsed round here and set down the box in the living room.
There were five complete decks in it. It was the completeness that amazed me as he said he just picked up all the cards he could find.
Ok.. most of them I can identify;
A wonderfully vintage and gently aged Rider & Co RWS (The one that has Colman spelt "Coleman" on the box, from the Fitzroy Square address) with that lovely feel which vintage cards have from being lovingly, gently shuffled. It feels so nice in the hand that I am going to swap it for the stiffer one - with much paler colours - I have in my desk drawer at work in a baba RWS bag.
Also, a copy of El Tarot Egipcio by the Spanish publisher Libsa, a kind of cheap & cheerful, brightly coloured version of the Kier Egyptian Tarot.
There was also a large, Majors only edition of Burdel's Tarot de Marseilles published by LoS in conjunction with Fabbri/Orbis. Again, nicely worn in and lovingly shuffled. I cannot find any trace of this online but I shall post pics.
Then there is a very strange Majors only (Spanish) deck. No idea what this is. I shall post pics.
Also, a rather weird Oracle deck which features birds only. Again, no idea about this one.
Oh and also - all the decks were stored in a box which has a board for astrology (no idea how it is used) and a chart with the I-Ching hexagrams, plus an unopened set of ceramic runes. but it's the cards that intrigue me the most. Obviously belonged to someone very interested in all aspects of divining.
What is wonderful - and I told him this jokingly - is that these cards came so near to being tossed in the rubbish (indeed, he had orders to scrape all this stuff up and throw it in the rubbish) and, although they aren't worth much, they have ended up being saved for posterity in le Fanu's most distinguished tarot collection.
From being abandoned, unloved & rejected, in crumbling, echoing house, to falling into Le Fanu's lap, quite by chance, henceforth ensconced in glory, beautiful bags, silken spread cloths and living happily ever after with all manner of other tarot decks!
These decks were meant to come to me!
Thought I'd first tell the story of what happened to me this weekend and then post pics below.
I have a very nice Russian odd-job man. A six foot tall hulk of a man who does bits & bobs around the house, repairs, cleaning and painting jobs etc. Once I read the cards for him and he seemed so visibly moved by the experience. As if he had never seen tarot cards before.
Anyway, last week, he told me that he had been called in to do a job for a neighbour, clearing out an abandoned house, redecorating & rewiring it. He said that the foreman had told them to clear out all the rubbish and toss it in the dumpster outside.
However, he said he had seen some cards "like those ones you have.. you know, for telling the future..." scattered across the floor and on shelves. He had gathered all the cards up that he could see and put them in his rucksack.
He doesn't speak English and only a little Portuguese (communicating is not always easy), so as he was telling me last week, I was thinking "yeah.. right.. maybe playing cards or Doreen Virtue if I'm lucky..." But the mention of astrology and my ears pricked up. Then last night in the freezing cold he traipsed round here and set down the box in the living room.
There were five complete decks in it. It was the completeness that amazed me as he said he just picked up all the cards he could find.
Ok.. most of them I can identify;
A wonderfully vintage and gently aged Rider & Co RWS (The one that has Colman spelt "Coleman" on the box, from the Fitzroy Square address) with that lovely feel which vintage cards have from being lovingly, gently shuffled. It feels so nice in the hand that I am going to swap it for the stiffer one - with much paler colours - I have in my desk drawer at work in a baba RWS bag.
Also, a copy of El Tarot Egipcio by the Spanish publisher Libsa, a kind of cheap & cheerful, brightly coloured version of the Kier Egyptian Tarot.
There was also a large, Majors only edition of Burdel's Tarot de Marseilles published by LoS in conjunction with Fabbri/Orbis. Again, nicely worn in and lovingly shuffled. I cannot find any trace of this online but I shall post pics.
Then there is a very strange Majors only (Spanish) deck. No idea what this is. I shall post pics.
Also, a rather weird Oracle deck which features birds only. Again, no idea about this one.
Oh and also - all the decks were stored in a box which has a board for astrology (no idea how it is used) and a chart with the I-Ching hexagrams, plus an unopened set of ceramic runes. but it's the cards that intrigue me the most. Obviously belonged to someone very interested in all aspects of divining.
What is wonderful - and I told him this jokingly - is that these cards came so near to being tossed in the rubbish (indeed, he had orders to scrape all this stuff up and throw it in the rubbish) and, although they aren't worth much, they have ended up being saved for posterity in le Fanu's most distinguished tarot collection.
From being abandoned, unloved & rejected, in crumbling, echoing house, to falling into Le Fanu's lap, quite by chance, henceforth ensconced in glory, beautiful bags, silken spread cloths and living happily ever after with all manner of other tarot decks!
These decks were meant to come to me!
