Oswald Wirth Deck - Eye Colorings.

[Elven]

Excuse my ignorance if this has already been discussed, but ...

I was looking over my Oswald Wirth Deck (for the hundredth time) - when I cam across l'Ermite and thought "My God - you were 'born' blind".

Now firstly I related this to myself - as a type of personal recognition - and saw the stick as a walking stick that one uses when they are physically blind. I saw eyes that were lit by the lantern, and although l'Ermite steps forward, he is following his own light. Although I added alot more to this interpretation, what stood out for me was l'Ermites eyes. So I looked at the rest of the 'eyes' in the deck, and noticed some similarities - but I thought I might be making assumptions and conclusions which are not 'correct'.

Is there a correspondence? or am I just 'blind' to it right now.

White Eyes:
VIII ~ l'Ermite (the Man),
VII ~ le Chariot (Man),
la Lune XVIII (the crayfish)

A Skintone color (no color present):
XII ~ le Pendu (the Man),
XIII (the skeleton)

Closed eyes:
XI ~ la Force (the Woman),
XVII ~ les Etoiles (the Woman)

Red Eyes:
XV ~ le Diable (The Devil)
XXI ~ le Monde (the Lion)
XVIII ~ la Lune (black hound)

Light Blue Eyes:
XVIII ~ la Lune (the Moon)

Blue Eyes:
le fou (the Man & his cat)
III ~ l'Imperatrice (the Woman)
IIII ~ l'Empereur (the Man)
XX ~ le Jugemwnt (The Angel)
XIIII ~ la Temperance (The Angel)
XVIIII ~ le Soleil (The sunface)
V ~ le Pope (The Man)
VIII ~ la Justice (The Man)
I ~ le Bateleur (the Man)
X ~ la Rone de Fortune (The horned/fish creature)

Indistinguishable (color) Eyes:
VI ~ l'Amoureux (all forms)
II ~ la Papesse (the Papesse)
XVI ~ la Maison Dien (1 Man)


Maybe there is some significance or maybe not - Im not sure of other decks and eye coloring for Marseilles decks. Has anyone else have thoughts on this?
Just curious.

Blessings
Elven x

 

[Rusty Neon]

Elven,

Which version/edition of the Oswald Wirth deck are you using?

 

[Elven]

Im not sure which version - I know I have a LWB somewhere, but I cant put my hands on it now.

It has a back which is a rich yellow in color, and has a red diamond leaf thin graphic pattern forming flowers.
The picture side - has an antique gold background to the illustrations and the rest is coloured.
Frame - black lined thick outside - Thinner lined frame holds the picture.
Hebrew letters in gold - card name in black.


After all that found the LWPoP (Little White Piece of Paper) LOL!!
US games 1976.
Commentary by Stewart Kaplan.

Just reading through the LWPoP it says

Thus each of the 22 Major Arcana cards in the Oswald Wirth tarot pack contains the corresponding letter of the Hebrew alphabet in the lower righthand corner, except for the Death card which is both unnumbered and untitled.

My la Mort card is untitled but not unnumbered (XIII on the top) ????

I also didnt realize that with the corresponding letters/numbers of the Hebrew symbolism - that le fou (shin), being unnumbered, sits between cards XX and XXI.


Blessings
Elven x

 

[Rusty Neon]

I have two editions of the Wirth deck.

The Éditions de l'Aigle edition is a photoreproduction of Wirth's 1927 Art Deco borders version of the majors. All the people with eyes open appear to have black or dark eyes. (Earlier editons didn't have the Art Deco borders.)

There is a deck of Wirth majors, sans Art Deco borders, that comes with the 1990 reprint French edition of Wirth's book "Le Tarot des imagers du Moyen Âge" published by Tchou. My guess is that artwork is similar to the artwork in the US Games edition (and I'm guessing that that artwork is post 1927). I haven't had a chance to check against your list carefully but it seems to match in many respects.

 

[Fulgour]

Mine eyes do see...

1966 Tchou Productions, Paris

Reprinted (with permission) by
Samuel Weiser Inc. New York

Also released by USGames

*

Éditions de l'Aigle~ ce n'est pas...

 

[Fulgour]

The Éditions de l'Aigle edition is a photoreproduction of Wirth's 1927 Art Deco borders version of the majors. All the people with eyes open appear to have black or dark eyes. (Earlier editons didn't have the Art Deco borders.)

The "art deco" borders were added by Wirth in 1927,
not as decorations~ they contain Phoenician letters.

There is a deck of Wirth majors, sans Art Deco borders, that comes with the 1990 reprint French edition of Wirth's book "Le Tarot des imagers du Moyen Âge" published by Tchou.

I have this deck and it is printed on tannish cardstock,
undecorated backs (22 Majors) with dark or blue eyes,
and it has the Wirth addition of the Phoenician designs.

Edited to add: My cards as descibed above (re: Tchou)
and tannish and were sent to me by a friend in Germany.
See my post further down in reference to Tchou images.

 

[Elven]

Hi Rusty Thanks for the reply!

Just going to the LWPoP again:

The opening line says:

For the first time the complete Oswald Wirth tarot deck is available to collectors. ..

...The designs by Wirth for the 22 major Arcana cards first appeared in 1889 in a hand-colored edition limited to one hundred copies and entitled Le livre deThot. Les 22 arcanes du Tarot dessines a l'usage des Inities sur les indications de Stanislas de Guaita. In the same year, Papus included small reproductions of the 22 designs in Le Tarot des Bohemiens, a complex work dealing with the tarot keys and their symbolism.

... The 78 Oswald Wirth tarot deck which accompanies this booklet includes the original 22 Major Arcana cards as designed by Wirth plus 56 newly created Minor Arcana cards in the style and design as Wirth might have envisioned them. The complete Wirth pack was printed by AGMuller & Cie, Switzerland in stunning metallic colors. The designs are under exclusive license from Tchou Editeur of Paris.

The book suggests (to me) that maybe the cards contain the original colors that Wirth chose - that is what it is seemingly supposing when it says ...... The 78 Oswald Wirth tarot deck which accompanies this booklet includes the original 22 Major Arcana cards as designed by Wirth ...

Im not sure

Any help would be appreciated.

Blessings
Elven x

Blessings
Elven x

 

[Elven]

Plastic Toy Version: USGames

Do I have the plastic toy version (LOL!!) - or where USGames just the distributors

 

[Fulgour]

Hi Elven! You quoted me as I was editing...
my feelings towards USGames aren't the best,
but I respect the value we give to our decks.

The asertion that the USGames (Tchou) deck
is The True Original is mainly marketing jargon,
but Marketing isn't necessarily a 'bad' thing...

I have 2 editions of USGames and the first
has two blank cards and a window box.

Like with songs, different versions are O'kay,
so enjoy the music... and keep on dancing!

 

[Rusty Neon]

To add to the study, here are scans (Magician and Chariot) and the box from an Wirth tarot deck published in 1889. (From an ebay that closed on March 27th)

In my next post, I'll attach the scan of two other cards.