RENAISSANCE TAROT BOOK & DECK SET includes the full seventy–eight–card deck in its own small box, the large–format book, A Renaissance Tarot, and a spread sheet for card readings.
The original artwork for the Trumps of Renaissance Tarot, matted hand–pulled etchings in burnt siena ink on fine Arches paper, will be available for purchase in the near future. Check back to this page for more information.
RENAISSANCE TAROT DECK, seventy eight lavishly designed cards embellished with gold, is printed in Switzerland for US Games Systems, Inc., of Stamford, Connecticut.
A RENAISSANCE TAROT comprehensively explores the symbolism and imagery of the ancient tarot cards, as well as revealing the iconography of the author's own Renaissance Tarot deck. Hundreds of new, original illustrations — from medieval woodcuts, Renaissance frescoes, classical sculpture — cast light on the carefully researched, readable text. A handsomely designed volume of two hundred pages, A Renaissance Tarot is published by U.S. Games Systems. First published in 1987, the Renaissance Tarot deck has become a perennial best seller. Begun by Brian while an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, Renaissance Tarot is published by US Games Systems, and distributed world–wide. The deck has been sighted in store windows in the Rue Mont Ste. Genevieve in Paris, in the main square of the old center of Prague, at several shops in Venice, including one in the San Polo district called the Temple of Isis (Il Tempio di Iside) — in other words, wherever fine fortune–telling cards are sold. In many ways a traditional tarot deck, it is also entirely original. The seventy–eight cards recall the timeless images of Italian Renaissance art. Indeed, the twenty–two Major Arcana or Trumps, the most important cards in the series, were created as detailed hand–colored etchings, a medium that encourages rich and elaborate detail. In more than one hundred and fifty human figures and fifty images of animals of all kinds, Renaissance Tarot sets out a pageant of compelling characters and striking scenes. Mythological imagery lends depth to each card. All the gods and goddesses of Olympus accompany one or another of the Trumps: wild Dionysus (or Bacchus to the Romans) lends his furor and inspiration to the Fool, for example, as sage Hermes (fleet–footed Mercury) accompanies the adroit Magician or Bagatto. Four great myth cycles of antiquity inform the numbered cards of Cups, Coins, Staves and Swords: Eros (Cupid) and Psyche for the watery Cups; Persephone (Proserpine) and Hades for the earthy Coins; Herakles (Hercules) for the Staves or Wands; and Achilles and the Trojan War for fractious Swords. A four–fold scheme continues in the Court cards of King, Queen, Knight and Page. The seven planets known to antiquity and the earth are divided among the four Kings. All twelve signs of the Zodiac are accorded to the remaining twelve cards of Queen, Knight, and Page. The Queens also take to themselves symbols of the four seasons. The Knights are guarded by the four archangels, while the Pages are overseen by the four winds and directions. The four courts are associated each with one of the four great cities of Renaissance Italy: watery Venice for the Cups; eternal Rome for the Coins; innovative Florence for the Staves; and bellicose Milan for the Swords. A Renaissance Tarot explores much more than simply the symbolism of the deck of the same name. The book explains the mysterious symbolism of the tarot in general — especially the iconography of the oldest and most arcane cards. To cast new light on the Tarot, the author brings in, as illustrations, hundreds of images from disparate times and cultures.
There is something here for almost everyone, including almost 400 line drawings that gracefully illustrate his meticulous elucidations of myths and legends embodied within the imagery of the Tarot. Overall, this is an essential book for owners or users of the Renaissance Tarot deck, and recommended for anyone wanting to know more about the classical background and mythological context of Tarot in general. In time, I suspect that A Renaissance Tarot will become one of the core books in the field. Ed Buryn, TAROT Newsletter, 1995 |
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