Other names: L'Hermite, L'Ermite, L'Ermitte, Lermite, L'Eremita, El Gobbo (hunchback), Tempo (time), Il Vecchio (old man), Vielar (old man), Rerum Edax
Oldest appearances:
- Pierpont-Morgan-Bergamo
- Charles VI
- Castle Ursino
- Rosenwald
- group printed sheets
- Cary-Sheet
- Catelin Geofroy
- Bibliotheque Paris
- Lombardy I (?)
In the card in the Visconti Sforza Tarots deck the hermit is represented by an old man who leans on a stick and holds an hourglass in his hand (figure 1). In the so-called Tarots of Charles VI the character, without a stick, looks at the hourglass that he holds high in his hand (figure 2). A stylised mountain appears in front of him: its top, very near to the sky, participates in the symbolism of the transcendence, fulcrum of the meeting between sky and earth and the end of human ascension. Regarding this, John of the Cross (1579-1585) writes in the Slope of the Carmelo Mountain: “The soul that wants to climb the mountain of perfection to talk to God has to abdicate all things and leave them below” (I, 5,6). In the Minchiate of Florence (figure 3 - Minchiate Etruria, XVIII century) and in the Tarocchino of Bologna (figure 4 - Tarocchino Al Leone, 1770) the Hermit is represented according to the iconological model of the God of Time, Saturn: an old winged man (Volat irreparabiles tempus) (Time flies irreparable) and with crutches (since he is old, he has to lean against them). In some Minchiate a deer appears as well, an animal that pulls the Wagon of Time in the Petrarca Triumphs (figure 5 - Georg Pençz, Triumph of Time, woodcutting, XVI century), while in the Bologna cards a column appears behind the old man shoulders.
Its presence is connected to the ancient tradition of the hermitage orientated towards the “stylite”. The columns were part of a pagan symbolism in which the idols were set (figure 6 - The dances around the gold calf, particularity the sheet 59v. Exodus. Historic Bible, Vienna, ca.1470. At the sight of the gold calf set above a column, Moses lifts the tables of Law high in the air in order to throw them to the ground and destroy them). They were transformed by stylites into places of elevation and Christian sanctification. Such columns were put near monasteries or villages and they were from 10 to 20 meters high. The most famous stylite was Simeon the Old (Cilicia, 390-459) who remained on a column for twenty-seven years, operating miracles and conversions, but above all meditating. Another important stylite was Simeon the Young, a native of Antioch, who lived for forty-five years on the column he had erected at the centre of the monastery he founded upon the Admirable mountain (figura 7 - Nemeh of Aleppo, St. Simeon Stylite and St. Simeon of the Admirable mountain,1699, Lebanon, Notre-Dames' Monastery de Balamand). We can see that such columns had a balcony on top, a parapet and roofing and that the food was given to hermits through pulleys.
In the Liber Chronicarum we find different illustrations in which some apostles, who in their lives were hermits and preached the gospel are represented being killed because of their faith. Behind them a whole column, or one that is breaking up, appears from which a devil falls into the emptiness. As was mentioned above, the origin of these columns was from pagan times when idols were set on top of them. For Christianity the Devil represents the idol for excellence, the adversary of God, forced to fall from his own pedestal because of the Apostle Saints who, first with their thought and subsequently with their preaching and death, offered themselves to the cause of their faith demolishing with this the false faith in idols (figure 8 - Michael Wohlgemut, Torture of Simon / figure 9 - Michael Wohlgemut, Torture of Mattia, woodcuttings, 1493)
In addition, the column also represents the “ruin” quoted by Ripa in his essay on iconology (see more later), as a consequential effect of its inexorable elapse. In fact the representations of ruins almost always include a sole erect column among the rubble.
The deer is there because of the belief that ancient people had in its longevity, even if Aristotle in his work Historia Animalium denies it: “About the duration of the life of the deer, some say it is long-lived but there is nothing definite that can confirm this legend” (578b). In the Physiologus by Pseudo-Epiphany, an exegetic text about nature according to the canons of the Christian faith, the deer itself and its three ages assume value of moral teaching for men: «Its horns are characterised by three ramifications and because during its life it renews them three times. Really it lives fifty years and it runs fast in the depths of the woods, the precipices of mountains, smelling the dens of snakes». In this description, “depth of the woods” is allegorical in relation to the darkness of sin that forces man into a state of obscurity, to be overtaken suddenly “like a fast runner”, while the precipices of the mountains represent not the easy, but the difficult run to discover the traps of Evil (the dens of the snake). Pseudo-Epiphany adds: “You, reasonable man, have three renewals. The first is the one you get through the baptism, that is incorruptibility, the second one is the grace of the adoption and the third one, that of penitence. If you succeed in surprising the snake, that is the sin, in the recess of your heart, you immediately resort to the sources of water, that is to the springing of the Writings (according to the interpretations of the prophecies) and draw in the water of life in the saint gift. Communicating the penitence, through that you will renew yourself and your sin will come completely extinct” (Chap. V).
We should remember that the images of the Ancient Gods in the medieval and Renaissance epochs were not assimilated according to the concepts of ancient people but used and interpreted according to Christian thought, assuming moral and doctrinal meanings (see, for instance, the description in the essay about the Temperance in reference to the Alexander Sforza Tarots deck).
The image of Saturn is expressed according to the usual iconographical typology of the so-called Mantegna Tarots, in the Planets and the Universe Stars series (figure 10). In the famous Liber de imaginibus deorum attributed to Albricus (Alexander Neckam,1157-1217), the God is described in this way: “Saturn was seen by the ancients as an old bearded and long haired man, patient and melancholic, pale and with his head covered. He holds a sickle in his right hand with a snake that bites its tail and on the left is a child that approaches his mouth, almost as if he is going to eat him. Next to him there are his children Jupiter, Neptune, Iuno and Pluto”.
In order to avoid the prophecy coming true according to which he would be dethroned by one of his children, Saturn devoured them one by one. But Rea, his bride, succeeded in giving birth secretly to his last child, Jupiter, who defeated his father inheriting his kingdom. Originally Saturn was a divinity linked to agriculture who over time assumed the role of the God of Time. The Greek word “chronos”, which means time, is in fact similar to Kronos, the mythical god that devoured his children, the Latin Saturn. As God of agriculture Kronos-Saturn is represented with a sickle in his hand, which gathered the harvests and became, following the identification of the two Gods as just one, a tool that cuts off man’s life. Saturn therefore passed from devouring children to devouring everything, since (Time) destroys all beginning with its children “seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years”. The arrow that strikes the hourglass as represented in the Florentine Minchiata (figure 3) has this value.
In the Middle Ages, thanks to the illustrations of De universo by Rabano Mauro, of De Civitate Dei by Saint Augustine, of the Ovide Moralisé and of Fulgentius metaforalis, the God was gradually identified with Wisdom and reached its highest expression of the thought in the Florentine Neo-Platonism and in the alchemic Renaissance tradition.
Ripa in his Iconology offers us different descriptions in which Time (a word that derives from the medieval Latin temps whose root means “to cut”) contains elements linked to Saturn: “An old suit of various colours, holding a coiled serpent in his right hand, it will go slowly and with delay... The Snake, like this, means the year, according to ancient people, and is measured and characterised by time, & is immediately united with itself” and again “ a winged old Man, who holds a circle in his hand: & is in the middle of a ruin, has his mouth open, showing his teeth, and they are the same colour as iron. The circle signifies that time always turns, and it has neither beginning, nor end, but it is the start and end only of terrestrial things, & and its elements are spherical. The ruin and the open mouth, & the iron teeth, show that time melts, spoils, consumes, & makes everything that is not expensive & doesn’t require effort fall to the ground” (page 620, 1 edition 669).
As a God of melancholic temperament it was painted dressed as St. Jerome and as other hermit saints and was thus subsequently represented in the tarot cards. Such transformation is also due to an assimilation of the hourglass with the lantern (figure 11 - Tarocco al Soldato, Milan, XVIII century), a typical object used by pilgrims, as we can see in a woodcutting of 1510 by H. Steiner where St. Christopher appears and ferries Baby Jesus (figure 12) and in a chisel by Grechetto representing Diogenes alone searching for himself (figure 13). The hermit's image, together with the internal search, is also results relate to Fortune.
Claudia Cieri Via writes: “To it (Fortune), considered the fate and vanity of terrestrial things, intellectual research is counter posed and therefore those values that contrast with the frailty of life and its purely material connotation, thus calling into question the eschatological existence of medieval culture and the intellectual - scientific one of Italian humanism” (Cards of Court. Tarots. History and Magic at the Court of the Estensi, 1987, page. 172).
A XVII century incision by Giovan Baptist Bonacina represents Saturn, as a Time-Hermit with scythe and hourglass, while he is gambling the fate of the world with Fortune. The latter appears with hair covering her face according to the motto “Fortune must be caught by her hair" (figure 14). And if this is true, men cannot do anything with regards to Time since “Pulvis est et in pulvere reverterit” (Man is dust and to dust he will return). A Memento Mori that in medieval thought indicated the way of meditation, which constituted the second step of the divine lectio: after the lectio, before the oratio (conversation) and of contemplatio, the latter was defined by St. Teresa of Avila as “an intimate relation of friendship, a one to one party with the One we know we are loved by” (Autobiography 8, 5).
Extract WWPCM, special Tarot motifs with related deck
Visconti Tarocchi
Deck * I Tarocchi dei Visconti Sforza - Italy, Dal Negro (reprint of original from after 1450)
Deck * I Tarocchi dei Visconti - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (remake of 1995)
Deck * Italy Tarot - Ukraine, unknown (2003) (no small arcana, additional great arcana)
Incomplete Visconti Tarocchi
Deck * Pierpont Morgan, Visconti Sforza - Switzerland, AGM (1975, reprint of ca. 1450)
Tarot de Marseille
Deck * VSS, Germany (2001, reprint of 1930/1748)
Deck * Grimaud, Tarot of Marseilles - France (1963, reprint of 1761 of Nicolas Convert)
Deck * Fournier, Tarot of Marseilles - Spain (1984, reprint of 18th century)
Deck * Tarot de Marseille, reprint AGMüller, Switzerland (1870)
Deck * Fournier, Le Tarot de Marseille - France (1992)
Incomplete versions of Tarot de Marseille
Deck * 1743, by Jean Payen, Tarot de Marseille / 1760 complete version of Nicolaus Conver, reprint of 1860
Deck * G.Drago, Tarot of Marseilles - Italy (ca. 1790)
Deck * Gorizia, Tarot of Marseilles (18th c.)
Deck * Berti, Tarot of Marseilles (18th c.)
Deck * Tarot of Marseilles - Italy, unknown (ca. 1830)
Deck * Gassmann, Tarot of Marseilles - Switzerland (1840 - 1860)
Tarot Besancon
Deck * 1920, probably older woodblocks from J.Jerger, "Renault", Tarot de Besancon
Incomplete versions of Tarot Besancon
Deck * 1748, reprint from ca. 1889 by "Grimaud" France, called "Ancient Tarot de Marseille" edition by Arnoult
Deck * Besancon Tarot, ca 1760, Goebl (Bavaria)
Tarocco Piemontese
Deck * Fabbrica di Vergnano, Tarocco Piedmontese, Italy ca. 1850
Deck * 1884, A. Viassione (Torino, Italy) Tarocco Piemontese
Deck * Dal Negro (Italy), Tarocchi Piemontese
Tarot Belgique
Deck * Tarot Flamand - Swiss, AGM (reprint from 1780, Vandenboerre deck)
Deck * 1831/1974, reproduction AGMüller (Suisse), Tarot
Deck * ca. 1870 "J.Gaudais" (Paris, France), deck "Tarot", (!!!) with Juno + Jupiter - pair
Egypt Tarot and variations
Deck * AGMuller, Switzerland) for USGS, USA, "Egipcios Kier Tarot"
Deck * Ibis Tarot (Egypt Tarot) - Russia, by Josef Machynka (modern)
Deck * Union Chernobil, "Egypt Tarot", Russia 2006
Rider-Waite-Smith and variations
Deck * Novosibirsk, Tarot of A.Waite - Russsia (1909/2001)
Deck * Universal Waite Tarot, AGMüller, Switzerland
Deck * The Golden Rider Tarot, AGMüller, Switzerland
Deck * De tarot in de Herstelde Orde - Holland, Servire (1995)(changed numbers)
Deck * since 2002, "Carta Mundi" (Belgium), publisher "Lo Scarabeo" (Italy), deck "Universal Tarot"
Deck * Tarot of the New Vision - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2003)
Older decks with traditional number-row:
Deck * I Tarocchini - Italy, Dal Negro (reprint of 1665 Mitelli-deck)
Deck * Classical Tarot - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2000, engravings from 1835)
Deck * Papus Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1989, original from 1889, small arcana from 1981)
Deck * Tarot of the Master (2002), remake of a deck of 1893, Lo Scarabeo
Deck * Cartomanzia Italiana, Solleone, Italy (19th/1983)
Deck * 1910 - 1912, Guglielmo Murari, deck "I Tarocchi"
Deck * 1922, Fratelli Armanino (Rome), Tarocchi
Deck * Crowley Tarot, AGMüller, Switzerland (1938-1944 / 1978)
Deck * Fournier, Spanish Tarot - Spain(1992)
Incomplete older decks with traditional number row
Deck * Tarot de Paris, 17th century, unknown reprint
Deck * Gumppenberg, Historical Tarock, Italy (1812)
Deck * ca. 1870, "Grimaud" (France) deck "Tarot"
Deck * 1885, Edoardo Dotti, Milan, Dellarocca Tarot
Deck * Venezian Tarock - Italy, Modiano (1964)
New Periode decks:
Deck * Aquarian Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1970)
Deck * Morgan-Greer Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1999 ?, first published 1979)
Deck * Hermetic Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1980)
Deck * I Tarocchi di Enzo Viviani, 1980/81, limited edition (no small arcana)
Deck * Hanson-Roberts Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1984)
Deck * Tarot Cat People - USA, USGS (since 1985)
Deck * Deva Tarot - Austria, Piatnik (1986)
Deck * Eclectic Tarot - Austria, Piatnik (1986)
Deck * Barbara Walker Tarot, 1986
Deck * Arcus Arcanum Tarot - Switzerland, AGMüller (1986)
Deck * Capital - I Tarocchi del Manager, artist Giorgio Ghidoli, 1986
Deck * Mythic Tarot, 1986 (1997 Chinese edition)
Deck * Mithological Tarot, KSP+, Russia (1986/1999)
Deck * Herbal Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1988)
Deck * 1988/1998 "Llewellyn Publications" (USA), deck "Gypsy Fortune Telling Tarot"
Deck * Gypsy Tarot, Russia 2005, reprint "Gypsy Fortune Telling Tarot" (1988/98)
Deck * Ansata Tarot - Switzerland, AGMuller (ca. 1988 ?) (no small Arcana)
Deck * Tarot of the Ages - Swiss, AGM (1988)
Deck * Art Nouveaux Tarot, Carta Mundi, Belgium (1989)
Deck * Enchanted Tarot - USA, St.M.Press (1990)
Deck * Haindl Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1990)
Deck * Tarot of the Origins, Lo Scarabeo, Italy (1991/2000)
Deck * Tarot of the Imagination, Lo Scarabeo, Italy (1991, 2000)(small Arcana incomplete)
Deck Lo Scarabeo, Tarocchi dei Celti, Italy 1991
Deck * Tarot of the Gold Dawn, Fair-Press, Russia (1991, 2001)
Deck * Tarot, Unisam, Russia (1992) (no small arcana)
Deck * Russian Tarot of St. Petersburg - Swiss, AGM (1992)
Deck * Egorov Tarot - Austria, Piatnik (1992)
Deck * Tarot of lovers, KSP+, Russia (1992/2000)
Deck * Tarot-93 - Russia, Mozaisk (1993)
Deck * Medieval Scapini Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1994)
Deck * Tarot of Ceremonial Magick - USA, USGS (since 1994)
Deck * Piatnik, Tarot, Austria (1995)
Deck * I Tarocchi Dell'Alba Dorata (Tarots of the Golden Dawn) - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (1995)
Deck * Tarot of the Gnomes - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (1995)
Deck * Illuminating Ancient Tarots - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (1995, based on Sola Busca from 1491)
Deck * Hudes Tarot, 1995, USA
Deck * 1995, "Carta Mundi" (Belgium) for "USGS" (USA), deck "Unicorn Tarot", Artist Liz Hilton
Deck * 1996, "AGMuller" (Switzerland), for "USGS" (USA), deck No.12.468 "Tarot of Gemstones and Crystals"
Deck * Rock Art Tarot, 1996
Deck * Old English Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1996)
Deck * Kalevala Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1996)
Deck * Kazanlar Tarot, AGMüller, Switzerland (1996)
Deck * Cosmic Tarot, AGMüller, Switzerland (1997)
Deck * RenaissanceTarot - Swiss, AGM (1997)
Deck * Diamond Tarot - Switzerland, AGMuller (1997)
Deck * "USGS" (USA), printed in China, deck "The Zerner&Farber Tarot", 1997
Deck * "Lo Scarabeo" (Italy), deck "The Fairy Tarots", 1998, publisher "Fair-press" (Russia), designed by Antonio Lupatelli
Deck * Tarot: Oracle of the Tsar Solomon - Lithuania, Calendar (1998) (additional great arcana)
Deck * Tarot of the Sephiroth Swiss, AGM (1998)
Deck * The Renaissance Tarot - USA, Fireside (1998)
Deck * Art Nouveau Tarot - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (1998)
Deck * The Goddess Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1998)
Deck * Tavaglione Tarot (Stairs of Gold Tarot) - Russia (1998 ?)
Deck * The Secret Tarots, Lo Scarabeo, Italy (1998)
Deck * Shapeshifter / Tarot of Transformations, Nirwana, Russia (1998/2001)
Deck * Baphomet, Tarot of the Underworld, Urania, Switzerland (1999) (no small arcana)
Deck * Fantastical Tarot - Swiss, AGM (1999)
Deck * The Celtic Dragon Tarot - USA, Llewellyn (1999)
Deck * Nefertari's Tarots - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (1999)
Deck * Workman Publishing, "Baseball Tarot", USA 1999
Deck * Transcendential Tarot "Key of Hermes", Russia, A.Zaraev (1999)
Deck * Tarot of Spiritual Evolution "Key of Hermes" Russia, A.Zaraev (1999)
Deck * One World Tarot, 1999
Deck * Votre Tarot, France 2000
Deck * Celtic Tarot - Belgium, Carta Mundi (2000)
Deck * Magic Tarot - Russia, KSP+ (2000)
Deck * Vedic Tarot - Russia, KSP+ (2000)
Deck * The Cosmic Tribe Tarot - Russia, KSP+
Deck * Ppus Tarot - Ukraine, Siromjatnikoff (2000)
Deck * Duerer Tarot - TarotClub(2000) (no small arcana)
Deck * Tarot of Casanova - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2000)
Deck * The Crystal Tarot - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2000)
Deck * The Vampire Tarot - USA, USGS (since 2000)
Deck * Animal Tarot - USA, Paula Gibby (ca. 2000)
Deck * The Blue Rose Tarot - USA, Paula Gibby (ca. 2000)
Deck * Union Chernobil, Cards of Tarot - Russia (2001)
Deck * Mirror of fate - Russia, unknown (2001)
Deck * Gregori Tarot, Russia, unknown (2001)
Deck * Secret Tarot - Belgium, Carta Mundi (2001)
Deck * Tarot of Third Millenium (Röhrig Tarot) - Russia, Tarot Academy (2001)
Deck * 2000, "Carta Mundi" (Belgium), for "USGS" (USA), deck "Whimsical Tarot", Artist Mary Hanson-Roberts
Deck * Tarot of the Sphinx, 2001, Lo Scarabeo
Deck * Decameron Tarot - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2002)
Deck * Etruscan Tarot - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2002)
Deck * Zinatne, "Latvian Tarot", Latvia 2002
Deck * Tarot of Nostradamus's dreams - Russia, Starcklight (2002)
Deck * Gold Tarot of doctor Paracelsus - Russia, KSP+ (2002)
Deck * Tarot of ancient wisdom (Old Path) - Russia (2002)
Deck * Universal Tarot (Connolly Tarot)- Russia, unknown (2002)
Deck * Tarot of Fortune - Russia, CPP (2002)
Deck * Round tarot of Woman Authority (Mother Peace 2) - Russia, North Scoop (2002)
Deck * Tarot Major Arcana - Russia (2002) (no small arcana)
Deck * Olympus Tarot, Lo Scarabeo, Italy (2002)
Deck * The Golden Tarot of the Tsar, Lo Scarabeo, Italy (2002)
Deck * Tarot of the Journey to the Orient (Marco Polo), 2002, Lo Scarabeo
Deck * Celtic Tarot, Russia 2003
Deck * Rocambol Tarot, Russia 2003
Deck * New Century Tarot, 2003, USA
Deck * Leonardo da Vinci Tarot, 2003 (Lo Scarabeo)
Deck * Cabbalistic Tarot G.O.M. - Switzerland, Aenigma (2003)
Deck * Manara Tarot - Russia, Avvalon (2003)
Deck * Osho Zen Tarot - Russia, unknown (2003)
Deck * Casanova Tarot - Ukraine, unknown (2003) (no small arcana, additional great arcana)
Deck * Russian Love Tarot - Ukraine, unknown (2003) (no small arcana, additional great arcana)
Deck * India Tarot - Ukraine, unknown (2003) (no small arcana, additional great arcana)
Deck * Tarot of Prague - Czech, A.Ukolov (ca. 2003)
Deck * Love Tarot 2 - Ukraine, unknown, (2003) (no small arcana, additional great arcana)
Deck * Tarot of Mermaids - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (2003)
Deck * The Matrix reloaded - Ukraine, unknown, (2003)
Deck * Magic Tarot, unknown (2003) (no small arcana, additional great arcana)
Deck * 2003, unknown (Ukraine), Tarot
Deck * 2004, unknown (Russia), Tarot
Deck * 2004, "Lo Scarabeo" (Italy), deck "Dragons Tarot", designed by Manfredi Toraldo & Severino Baraldi
Deck * 2004, "Lo Scarabeo" (Italy), deck "Tarot of Druids", designed by Bepi Vigna, Severino Baraldi, Antonio Lupatelli
Deck * 2004, "Lo Scarabeo" (Italy), deck "Fey Tarot", Artist Mara Aghem
Deck * Arkaim, Apollo Tarot, Russia 2004
Deck * Arkaim, Shakespeare Tarot, Russia 2004
Deck * Arkaim, Tales Tarot, by V. Trosinenko, Russia 2004
Deck * Arkaim, Bible Tarot by M. Parhetova, Russia 2004
Deck * Labyrinth Tarot, Spain 2005, by Luis Royo
Deck * 'Book World', Da Vinci Tarot, Russia 2006, reprint of "The Da Vinci Enigma Tarot", 2005
Deck * 2005 "Avvallon " (Russia) deck "Tarot of the 78 doors", reprint of "Lo Scarabeo" (Italy) edition designed by Pietro Alligo & Antonella Platano
Deck * Tarot Love, 2005, Russia
Deck * Union Chernobil, Silver Age Tarot, Russia 2006
Deck * Roberto Meiattini, Tarocco erotico dei giardini di priapo, designed by Amerigo Folchi
Deck * The Tarot of Durer - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (modern)
Deck * Russian Tarot - Russia, unknown (Victor Bakhtin ?)(modern)
Deck * Tarot of Magic Raven - Russia, unknown (modern)
Deck * Palladini Tarot - unknown (modern)
Deck * Mysterious Tarot of Egypt - Russia, Novosibirsk (modern)
Deck * Holy Tarot of Tot, Russia, Sofia (modern)
Deck * CPP, Tarot - Russia (modern)
Deck * Tarot of Aquarius's era - Russia, CPP (modern)
Deck * The New Orleans VooDoo Tarot - USA, Destiny Books (modern)
Deck * I Tarocchi - Italy, unknown (production time unknown) (no small arcana)
Deck * Tarot Floral (modern), Lo Scarabeo
Animal Tarot, complete
Deck * ca. 1790 Claude Rochais Animal Tarock
Deck * Daveluy, Animal Tarot - Belgium (19th/20th c. ?)
Deck * Animal Tarot, Geuens Seaux, Belgium
Deck * Adler Cego Tarot - Germany, ASS (1976), since 1931 (?)
Animal Tarot, incomplete
Deck * A. Göbl, Bavarian Animal Tarot - Germany (1750)
Deck * ca. 1780, Guilleaume Mann, Colmar (Germany), Bavarian Animal Tarot
Deck * 1790, J. M. Backofen, Bavarian Animal Tarot
Deck * 1795, J. de Porre (Belgium), Animal Tarot
Deck * J.G.Backofen, Animal Tarock, Germany (1800)
Deck * ca. 1800, unknown, (Luebeck, Germany), Baltic Tarot
Deck * Industrie-Comptoir, Animal Tarot - Germany (1810)
Deck * ca. 1815, Jacob Wokaun (Czechia), Upper Austrian animal Tarot
Deck * Sewera, Animal Tarock - Czechia (1849)
Deck * Uffenheimer - Animal Tarock (1837)
Deck * C.T.Sutor, Animal Tarock (19th c. ?)
Deck * CPP, Tarock with Animals - Russia (1920)
Military Tarot, complete
Deck * Piatnik, Soldaten Tarock - Austria (1918)
Military Tarot, incomplete
Deck * ca. 1785, Martin Boehme (?), Dresden Germany, Military Tarot
Deck * F.Eurich, Tarock - Austria (1816)
Deck * Glanz, Franz Josef, Military Tarock - Austria (1854)
Deck * Glanz, Franz Josef, Military Tarock - Austria (1858)
Deck * Glanz, Franz Josef Military Tarock - Austria (1865 or 63)
Deck * Glanz, Franz Josef, Military Tarock - Austria (1885)
Tarock with buildings, complete
Deck * Franz Xaver Milchram, Grazer Tarock, Austria 1825, reprinted by Piatnik 1995
Deck * Pittner, Graz Tarock - Austria (1870)
Deck * Piatnik, Tarot - Austria (1974, reprint of 19th)
Deck * S.Salomon&Co, Holmblads Spillekort Forretning - Denmark (ca. 1910)
Deck * Frommann&Morian, Ansichtentarock, Germany 1929
Incomplete Tarock with buildings
Deck * "J.G.Uffenheimer" Tarock (?), Germany c.1830
Deck * "J.G.Uffenheimer" Tarock, Austria (?) c.1830
Other decks (mainly Tarock for playing) - usually trumps and courts
Deck * Mythology Tarock, 1820, Hungary
Deck * Industrie-Comptoir, Tarock, Germany 1839
Deck * Piatnik, Industrie und Gluck Tarock - Austria (since 1843)
Deck * "Il Meneghello", deck "Tarocco Maria Stuarda", Italy 2004, reprint of c.1845 edition of "Fabrica Dotti" (Milan)
Deck * Glanz, Constitution Tarock - Austria (1848)
Deck * Piatnik, Habsburger Tarock, Austria 1850, reprinted 1993
Deck * Dondorf, Microscopic Tarock - Germany (1858-1933)
Deck * Piatnik, Can-Can Tarock, Austria, since c.1860
Deck * C.L.Wuest, Tarot - Germany (since 1890)
Deck * Catel, Jeu de Tarot - France (19th/20th ?)
Deck * Grimaud standard deck - France (groups of persons)(19th/20th ?)
Deck * Vannak, Szerencse Fel Tarock - Hungary (1901)
Deck * Joseph Glanz, Tarock No.1 - Austria (1906)
Deck * Modiano, Alan-Tarock - Italy (since 1910)
Deck * Alan Tarot - Italy, Modiano (since 1981, reprint of 1910)
Deck * Erste Slowenische Spielkartenfabrik, Tarock (1912)
Deck * Franz Adametz, Industrie und Gluck Tarock, Austria since 1930
Deck * Tarot des Regions de France - France, Grimaud (1986)
Deck * Fournier, Nuevo Juego del Tarot - Spain (1977)
Deck * 1991, Kolin (Czechia), Taroky
Deck * Jeu de Tarot, France, Heron (20th c. ?)
Deck * Tarocco, Modiano, Italy
Deck * French Tarock, ASS
Incomplete other decks (mainly Tarock for playing)
Deck * Sachsentarock, ca. 1778, Breitkopf - Leipziger Kartenfabrik
Deck * A.Goebl Tarock, Germany c.1780
Deck * 1800 J.D. Backofen, Tarock ?
Deck * 18th P.F. Ulrich, Tarock
Deck * J.C.DuPort, Tarock - Poland (18th c.)
Deck * C.F.Pfeiffer, Tarock - Germany (18th/19th c. ?)
Deck * Napoleon Tarock - France, unknown (1808)
Deck * Turkey - Germany. unknown (1810)
Deck * Estel, Chinese Tarock - Austria (1820)
Deck * Joseph Estel, Tarot - Austria (1823)
Deck * Mythology Tarock, 1825, Frankfurt
Deck * Bechstein - Tarock, Germany (1835)
Deck * Emil Hirschfeld, Tarot - Austria (1844)
Deck * "?" Austria "Chinese Tarock", c.1850
Deck * Kobitsch, Tarock - Germany (1855)
Deck * Piatnik, Hunter Tarock, Austria (1856)
Deck * Dondorf, Cego Tarot -Germany (since 1858)
Deck * C.Titze&Schinkay, Tarot (since 1859)
Deck * Joseph Glanz, Tarot - Austria (1865)
Deck * F.Pittner, Tarock - Austria (1865)
Deck * Piatnik, Fools Tarock, Austria (1865 or 55)
Deck * ca. 1890 "Grimaud" (France), deck "Classical Deities Tarot",
Deck * LeQuart, Classical Deities Tarock - France (1890)
Deck * Ceska Grafika, Tarock - Czechia (ca. 1890)
Deck * ca. 1890, "Willeb" (Paris, France), deck "Tarot"
Deck * Tarock - Austria, unknown (19th c. ?)
Deck * Dondorf, Tarot - Germany (19th c.)
Deck * H.F.Mueller, Tarot - Austria (19th/20th c.)
Deck * Grimaud, Tarot Francais des Fleurs - France (1902)
Deck * ASS, Proverbs Tarock - Germany (1920)
Deck * August Denk, Tarock - Austria (1925)
Deck * VSS, Tarock, Germany (1925)
Deck * Bielefelder Cego - Germany (1954)
Deck * Tarot Comedians Francaise, Heron, Dusserre, France
Tarocco Siciliano, changed row and motifs, 64 cards
- a special treasure, as till now there is not too much to the Tarocco Siciliano in the web. There is an article connected to the decks.
Deck * 19th century "Lorenzo di Lorenzo" (Italy), deck "Tarocco Siciliano"
Deck * 19th century "La Fortuna" (Italy) deck "Tarocco Siciliano"
Deck * since 1966, "Modiano" (Italy), deck "Tarocco Siciliano"
Deck * 18th century "Tuzzolino" (Italy), deck "Tarocco Siciliano"
Deck * 1930 - 1975 "Concetta Campione" (Catania, Italy) deck "Tarocco Siciliano"
Minchiate, changed row and motifs, 97 cards
Deck * Il Meneghello, "Minchiate Fiorentine", Italy 1986, reprint of design c. 1820 and first print after 1862
Deck * Al Leone, "Minchiate Fiorentine", (Bologna, Italy) c.1790, reprint by Edizioni del Prado/Ediciones del Prado, Madrid, Spain, 2004
Deck * "Carte di Etruria" (Italy), c.1725, reprint by "LoScarabeo" (Italy) as "Antiche Minchiate Etruria", 1996
Incomplete Minchiate
Deck * unknown, Firenze, Italy, "Florence Minchiate", c.1700 (?)
Etteilla Tarot, altered row
Deck * Esoteric Ancient Tarot - Italy, Lo Scarabeo (1997, based on Etteilla deck from 1870)
Deck * Grimaud, "Grand Etteilla", France, edition of 1910
Deck * "Rei Mundy" (Belgium) for Russia deck "Grand Etteilla", 2006 designed by V.Zaichenko
Incomplete Etteilla deck
Deck * end of 18th century, "Bezu" ? (France), "Grand Etteilla"
Deck * Egyptian Tarot, France - unknown(1845)
Deck * Delarue, Le Grand Jeu de l'Oracle des Dames, France 1870, together with a complete reprint of 2003 by Lo Scarabeo, "The Book of Toth"
Tarot cards
Tarot card Fool
Tarot card Magician
Tarot card Popess
Tarot card Empress
Tarot card Emperor
Tarot card Pope
Tarot card Love
Tarot card Chariot
Tarot card Justice
Tarot card Hermit
Tarot card Wheel of Fortune
Tarot card Strength
Tarot card Hanging Man
Tarot card Death
Tarot card Temperance
Tarot card Devil
Tarot card Tower
Tarot card Star
Tarot card Moon
Tarot card Sun
Tarot card Judgment
Tarot card World
Author's site
Tarot history
Tarot and Playing Cards Museum
Tarot Iconography
Fortune Telling
Iconography of Mantegna Tarocchi
Tarot card iconography of Andrea Vitali