I remember seeing this deck advertised in my first US Games catalog about seven or eight years ago, and wanting to buy it back then.  However, that was in the days before I was a deck collector, and I already owned four decks, and thought that was too many, and $50 was too high a price to pay to add another one to an already extraneous collection.  I also didn't understand the significance of the words "limited, numbered edition."
 
What this means, of course, was that by the time I had worked my way round to being ready to buy it, it was no longer listed in the catalog and was no longer being distributed in the United States.  I pretty much gave up hope of ever getting one.  They are available sometimes from overseas sources, but a credit card is usually required, and I don't have one.  Finally, I was able to obtain a copy through a friend, and I have to say I still like it after actually looking at it and holding it.
 
The real gems in this deck, of course, are the Major Arcana.  This deck uses scenes from the voyages of Christopher Columbus to illustrate the Majors.  For example, the Lovers card shows Queen Isabella bestowing her blessing upon Columbus before he departed for the new world.  I don't think this has a lot to do with the meaning of the card, and tends to just be an artistic opportunity to show the two figures of opposite sex interacting on the face of the card.  When I first saw it, my thought was, "Is he implying that Isabella and Columbus were having an affair?"  *laugh*  Obviously this is not the case.  Perhaps I've been reviewing too many erotic tarots lately!
 
Other examples include Death, which has the massacre and destruction of the American peoples by the Spaniards, and the Devil, showing Columbus "subduing" an Indian and thus giving birth to the slave trade.  One thing that I believe is clear from this deck is Folchi's willingness to show that Columbus was not entirely the hero that history has made him out to be.  On a more technical note, this deck uses traditional titles on the cards instead of descriptive ones, so that you have to refer to the booklet to understand who is what.  The titles appear in four languages; Italian and Spanish at the top, and English and French at the bottom.  The Roman numerals appear in small circles in the top center.  Each card also bears the standard crest of Columbus at the bottom center of the images.  Ordering is traditional according to the European norm, with Justice being 8 and Strength being 11.
 
The Minor Arcana are a minor letdown (pun intended).  The four suits are Coins, Wands, Swords and Cups.  When I opened the deck, the suit of Coins was first in the Minors.  The suit of coins is illustrated with scenes, some are simple and iconistic, but they are scenes nonetheless.  Each item shown on one of the numbered cards represents one of the many "gifts" that Columbus brought back from the New World to Spain upon his return.  Gold, fruits and vegetables, tobacco, peanuts and syrups are among those shown.  The Wands suit is my favorite in this deck, it shows the wands crossed over the rest of the image, but each image displays a map with Columbus' many voyages marked out.  Each card has a successive voyage, or other similar treatment.  Then you get to the Cups, and it's like Folchi's inspiration totally dried up.  Each of the cups cards shows the *same* ship at the bottom, on the same water, with only different colors used and the cups arranged in the sky.  Really silly.  And finally the swords, which don't even have attractive scenery like that, but merely show the swords arranged against a green background.  Bo-ring!
 
The court titles used in the deck are the traditional King, Queen, Knight and Page.  These are always fully illustrated in Folchi's excellent style, regardless of whether he sold out on the numbered cards or not.  As for pips or scenes, well, some pips, some scenes.  This deck is an example of how Folchi can be totally *on* and totally *off* all in the same deck.  He is one of the more prolific tarot artists around..... sometimes I wonder if he has spread himself too thin.
 
The cards themselves are standard sized and printed on an excellent cardstock, with smooth edges and corners and come in a very sturdy box with a plastic inset to hold the cards.  This is one of the more substantial packages I've seen in a while.  The cards are very stiff and shuffling and handling is difficult, but I'm not sure I would use this for readings at any rate so I'd say shuffling is a minor concern.  The back design is predominantly red with crest logos and the Italcards name on it.  It is not reversible.  There are two little white booklets with this deck, each one printed from the end to the center in a different language so you get four copies of the same meager set of instructions to match the four languages the titles are printed in.  I appreciate this in terms of being able to read what is figured on these cards (a must with historical decks) but regret that it limits the amount of information that can be provided.
 
This deck can be hard to come by.  Places like Alida still list it in their inventory but it is not always immediately available.  Collectors will probably enjoy it and many of the cards are really beautiful.  However, its useability is limited and so I recommend it only as an art collectible and not as a reading deck.  This is not a deck for beginners.

Click here for pictures

or here to return

Please use your browser's back button to return from pictures

Review Copyright 2000 by Gina M. Pace

Il Tarocco di Colombo by Amerigo Folchi, 1991
published by Italcards, Bologna, Italy