Mantegna & Scapini decks & some books

Make new friends
Keep the old
One is silver and the other is gold...

Some slightly scholarly, but nice decks

Silver Mantegna--(restored; Lo Scarabeo)
Romeo and Juliet (Del Negro; Luigi Scapini)
Cary Yale (U.S. Games; Scapini) --Faded gold

Some slightly involved history reads that may be good pals:

Art of Memory (Francis A. Yates)
Magical World of Tarot:4 Fold Mirror (Gareth Knight)
Art of Tarot (Christina Oleson)

The Art of Memory goes well with Silver Mantegna because I begin to understand a bit about the perceived universe of the medievalists. They chortled and applauded Dante Algheri because they saw obvious parallels between his poetry and their own world. Me, my modern filters dimly glimpse the dark mirror; it gets clearer as I look and browse the Art of Memory. Lots of pictures include alchemy, a few Mantegna and many historical sources.

It was because of the Romeo and Juliet Tarot that I ordered the Art of Memory by Francis Yates. Luigi Scalpini's art and booklet fascinated me. I like how he painted the major and minors in this deck because it mixes his best work in the Medieval Scapini with his humorous writing and insights into Shakesphere.

The Magical World of the Tarot by Gareth Knight and Romeo and Juliet Tarot by Luigi Scapini both seem to perceive tarot in an interesting way. The old Italian and Marseilles decks are looked at with filters that remind me of theatrical and visual imagination and meditative eyes. To be honest, the Romeo and Juliet Tarot in the small size version is remarkable to me---it has the old style Visconti and Marseilles feel with stylish English and Italian archetypes.

And the Cary Yale, with 86 extremely large cards--many faded and at least 19 noticeably restored, and a good write-up by Stuart Kaplan. It replaced painted cards by Scapini so you get a more than full deck...I use it as a companion with the pocket gold-covered gift book by Christina Oleson.

If I were to recommend budget picks, Christina Oleson's book is available in the U.S. and Del Negro's
Romeo and Juliet deck is available through Alidastore.com. I would recommend the Silver Mantegna with the Art of Memory for a mind-stretching read. The Cary-Yale deck and Gareth Knight's book is valuable to collecting and historical fans.

Truly wishing I had bought the Mantegna now. Maybe next month?

Thanks for your perspectives on various historical decks here and there on this forum. Since it (kinda) comes up in your post, I wonder what your view of "recreated" versus "reproduction" decks is. (Or anyone elses for that matter? )

(Thinking aloud) At the moment I've e.g. gone for the Lo Scarabeo (Gold) Visconti (recreated) as opposed to the Cary Yale (reproduction) <shrug> I suppose the Medieval Scalpini is also rather a modern "synthesis" of styles. Personally I find such things perfectly acceptable - or indeed Preferable? Maybe I'm just easily pleased? LOL! - A bit of gold here a bit of silver there? But It's fair to say overall these decks are indeed truly glorious...

Macavity

And everywhere the Glint of Gold: "I see wonderful things!" said Carter...

Visconti Gold with book by Lo Scarabeo is an excellent choice. I like the kit edition the best and reviewed it for TarotPassages.com. It's not the only recommendation for tarot history, but it is a very nice European--more Italian, I believe--- view of the tarot trumps and the minors.

The Cary Yale or the Visconti by U.S. Games is one of those collector picks, but they are large. They have excellent booklets..
I am a history fan and taking a three year night course program in Western Humanities/Civ...the teacher is a fan of Florentine history and Italian Renaissance personalities, so my bias and delight in Italian things up to the 1500 is noteable. Anything that encourages such interest and comes in bright and shiny packages says YIPPIE to me.

I found that Francis Yate's other book of The Occult Philosophy of the Elizabethan Age to be a better as a broad perspective view and summary of names and ideas...Indeed, I think Scapini's Romeo and Juliet tarot by Del Negro, small version with great booklet, seems to be designed to enjoy with Francis Yate's books.

Some people love the Medieval Scapini...I prefer his Romeo and Juliet and notice that Scapini does comment on his Medieval Scapini designs a bit in the Romeo and Juliet booklet. He wants to explain why his Romeo and Juliet minors are different, even though one or two reviewers thought that if you have the Medieval, it is like having the same deck as R&J. Some of the Medieval paintings are a bit misshapen to me, one card being a man and a woman supposedly romantically embracing...but the womanly head looks like a pinhead to me, compared to a similar scene in Romeo and Juliet.

My opinion,

Mari H.