Cary-Yale Visconti Tarocchi Deck (Cards)

~ Stuart R. Kaplan (Creator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Cary-Yale Visconti Tarocchi Deck is comprised of 22 Major Arcana and 64 Minor Arcana cards. The deck includes reproductions of tarocchi cards from the Cary Collection of Playing Cards, now housed at Yale University. Nineteen cards have been recreated to replace missing originals. In addition to the King and Queen, each suit in the Minor Arcana contains both male and female Knights and Pages.

Product Details

• Cards: 86 pages
• Publisher: U.S. Games Systems; Crds edition (June 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880790385
• ISBN-13: 978-0880790383
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 3.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #817,865 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth having, November 3, 2000

By	Lori (Oregon Coast) - See all my reviews

These fabulous cards are lavish reproductions of museum-held artworks. A detailed booklet comes with them, with photos of each card, giving the names of the cards, for those who use the cards to read tarot. They are just as wonderful to have as artwork, and as a faithful reproduction, they are not labeled on each card. The size of the cards, and proportions of the cards, are also determined by the fact that they are reproductions. The deep, royal colors (golds, reds, browns, greens) reflect the choices of the fifteenth century artist who made them. These are rich, fascinating cards, rather mysterious, and one of my 2 favorite decks (the other being the Visconti-Sforza deck, of the same era, and originally made for the same family of Italian nobility).

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good deck, but needs a couple of improvements., November 21, 1999

By	Uri Raz (Israel) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a very interesting deck, which I like a lot, especially as a reference with which to compare other decks. I'm happy I bought the deck - I use it alot.

But there are a few things I dont like about it :

1. Some of the details are coloured in such a way to make them somewhat hard to distinguish from the background.

2. The cards dont have their names on them. I wish the names were added on a white boundary, making it easier to recognize.

3. Just a warning to those who want to spread with the cards - their somewhat large and not very easy to shuffle.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cary-Yale Visconti Tarocchi is tops, March 19, 2006

By	Edwin Digiambattista "jazz/rock player" (the mountains of New Jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Cary-Yale Visconti tarot deck is among the most striking and beautiful of all the family of Visconti decks available. At 3.75" x 7.5" the deck is huge with a solid ivory backing and an informative booklet.

No one is really sure who the original artist was but scholars suspect that a local artist named Bonifacio Bembo (circa 1420) was responsible for the surviving decks. History says that he was a Cremonese artist employed by the Sforza family, one of the leading royal families of the time. It is commonly believed that several of the original decks were in fact wedding presents to honor the union of the Visconti and Sforza royal houses.

From the back of the box: "Complete deck of 86 cards comprises 22 Major Arcana & 64 Minor Arcana, reproduced in magnificent color. Facsimile reproduction of 67 tarocchi cards from the Cary Collection of Playing Cards at The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Additional 19 cards recreated to replace cards presumed missing from the original deck. The deck is unique in that each suit contains both male and female knights and pages in addition to king and queen". It is due to these extra male and female cards that the usual count of 78 rises to 86.

This deck is for serious collectors. The very large size does not lend itself to shuffling or spreading the cards. Other than the stunning Renaissance art, the face of the cards are otherwise unmarked. There are no numbers, no labels, and no descriptions. This would make it difficult to use the cards for readings or divination (If you are interested in that sort of application). The original cards are in very poor condition and even though the reproductions are excellent it's often hard to see details without strong light and sometimes a magnifying glass.

As a modest collector, I feel fortunate to have the Cary-Yale deck in my collection. I have other Visconti-Sforza decks and other Renaissance decks, but Cary-Yale is indeed the most impressive.