The tarot of the Bohemians : the most ancient book in the world : for the use of initiates / by Papus [i.e. G.A.V. Encausse] ; translated by A.P. Morton.

  • Gérard Encausse
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The tarot of the Bohemians : the most ancient book in the world : for the use of initiates / by Papus [i.e. G.A.V. Encausse] ; translated by A.P. Morton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    OsAvald Wirth ; perliaps—and this is really almost in- dispensable—you hâve secured botli of them. You need, then, only deal tbe cards upon tbe table, to see at once that the personages depicted upon them ail wear dresses of the Renaissance period.1 And yet, is this pack of cards of ancient origin ? It does not appear so. Look at your figures more attentively and you Avili soon perceive Egyptian symbols [the triple cross (No. 5), and the ibis (No. 17)] combined Avith these Renaissance costumes. Tliey at once prove that the Tarot of Marseilles is really the exact représentation of the primitive Egyptian Tarot, slightly altered to the epoch de- noted by the costumes. Only the gypsies possess the primitive pack intact. The studies of those learned men Avho hâve inves- tigated the Tarot hâve confirmed this fact by the strongest évidence. And the Avorks of Chatto,2 Boiteau,3 and above ail of Merlin,4 sIioav us that history corro- borâtes our assertion. Merlin conducted bis researches very scientifically, and succeeded in discovering the original of our Tarot of Marseilles in an Italian Tarot at Venice, the father of ail the later packs. . . He believed also that he had discovered the origin 1 The description does not apply to ail Tarot sets. Ed. 2 Chatto, Facts and Spéculations on the Origin and History gf Playing Cards in Europe. 8vo. London, 1848. 3 Boiteau, Les Cartes à Jouer et la Cartomancie. 4to. Pans, 1 ^ Merlin, Origine des Cartes à Jouer, recherches nouvelles sur les NaSbis, les Tarots et sur les autres Espèces de Cartes. A work ornamented with 70 illustrations. 4to. Pans, 1869.