Tarot of Marseilles
(Camoin edition)

This new restoration of the woodblock designs by Nicolas Conver has been done by the House of Camoin, direct descendants of Conver's tradition and heirs to the original designs.  I had the pleasure of meeting Philippe Camoin personally in Chicago this summer at the World Tarot Congress.  I took one look at his deck and I was compelled to purchase it.
 
The artwork in the deck has been completely restored to the original concepts but using computer and modern printing technology for an image fidelity that is second to none.  Clear, precise areas of color and symbolism, and indeed, there are more colors used here than in any other Marseilles deck I've seen.  The white backgrounds are still here, in fact none of the original feel is lost, it's just enhanced and cleaned up.  This deck represents the culmination of years of dedicated work by Camoin with Alexandre Jodorovsky.

Classic Marseille symbolism is used in the deck,  but somehow they have more esoteric quality than I expected.  There are no scenes in the numbered cards.  The Roman Numerals used are used in the old way, instead of the subtractive method, throughout the entire deck.  Order is also consistent with the Marseilles norm.  Justice is 8 and Strength 11.

The cards are standard sized and seem to shuffle easily.  The back design is a reversible pattern of little purple arrow thingies on white.  The little white booklet is quite good and actually goes into some explanation of the cards' symbolism as well as meaning.  It is printed in six languages; French, Spanish, English, German, Portugese and Italian.  Titles on the courts and Majors are in French.  Suits are Wands, Coins, Swords and Cups, and the King, Queen, Knight and Page are the typical courts.
 
This is my other favorite of the Marseilles style decks, due to the recoloring and the clean capture of the images.  It just looks really smashing.  I don't know where to recommend purchasing the deck except directly through the House of Camoin's website.  It's definitely worth the effort to get one.
 
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Review Copyright 1999 by Gina M. Pace
 
Tarot of Marseilles by Jodorowsky and Camoin
published by Camoin, Marseille, France