This deck came as a total surprise to me (literally; it arrived in the mail one day totally unannounced) and I had no idea what to expect at all when I opened the box.  I've got a reproduction of an early Tarocchi Del Mantegna, which I will be reviewing shortly, and would have expected this to be similar.  Instead, what I saw when I opened the box is one of the most glorious historical decks ever seen!  And I thought the gold Visconti deck was incredible.
 
First of all, a little historical background information on the Mantegna Tarot is probably in order.  This is not technically a true tarot deck, in the sense that the number of cards is different, it does not have a Major or Minor Arcana, and it was not originally printed in card format.  There is much speculation as to whether its original use was intended for educational purpose or for divination.  The images known as the Tarocchi del Mantegna are named thus because they were always believed to be the work of Andreas Mantegna (1431-1506) but this has been hotly contested and now the most evidence seems to point elsewhere for this deck's origin, likely the Ferrara school.
 
The Mantegna Tarot consists of fifty cards, broken down into five "suits" of ten cards each; the first group features ten archetypes of the human conditions;  the next ten feature the nine Muses plus the Greek god Apollo; following are the ten Liberal Arts; the Cardinal Virtues, and finally, astrological and heavenly bodies.  As such, this deck can be seen as a much more esoteric and hermetic deck than many of the early tarots, with the exception of the Minchiate decks.  I would guess that there is a relationship or influence from this deck to the Minchiate, since there are many similarities.  Read more about the historical Mantegna Tarot here.  Also, the International Tarot Society published an article on the Mantegna Tarot here, with scans.  And a wonderful website devoted entirely to historical tarot, published by Tom Tadfor Little, is the Hermitage.
 
The really nifty thing about this deck is the way it's been resuscitated.  In my other Mantegna deck, the one which is a reproduction of the images as they were, the deck is done in what looks like pen and ink or engraved drawings, black ink on white card.  They have the look of old book illustrations.  In this deck, the cards have been done in wonderful color, similarly to the Visconti gold, but the backgrounds are rendered in silver foil with beautiful colored filigree designs on them.  And, the colors of the filigree change according to which group of ten that the card belongs to!  Unfortunately, the silver doesn't adequately show up in the scans, but trust me, it's a gorgeous shiny silver foil, not the black that it appears.
 
Each card features the glorious image with a white border around it; at the top of the card, the title appears in English, French, Spanish and German.  At the bottom of the card, the title appears in the center in Italian, with the Roman numeral next to it.  The left hand bottom corner features a letter (A for all ten of the Astrological cards, B for all of the Cardinal virtues, C for all of the Liberal Arts, D for the muses and Apollo, and E for all ten of the human conditions) and the bottom right corner features the Arabic numeral for the card.  The cards are numbered in sequential order from 1 through 50 and other than this ascending order do not seem to have a numerical value where any one is better or valued higher than any other.
 
There are no Major or Minor Arcana breakdowns in this deck, and few of the cards resemble the traditional tarot of either the Marseilles style or the Rider-Waite style.  The titles of the cards are as follows, given in English and Italian:
 
Of the cards of the human conditions:
Wretch - 1 - Misero
Servant - 2- Fameio
Artisan - 3 - Artixan
Merchant - 4 - Merchadante
Gentleman - 5 - Zintilomo
Knight - 6 - Chavalier
Duke - 7 - Doxe
King - 8 - Re
Emperor - 9 - Imperator
High Priest - 10 - Papa
 
Of the nine muses plus the Greek God Apollo:
Calliope - 11 - Caliope
Urania - 12 - Urania
Terpsichore - 13 - Terpsicore
Erato - 14 - Erato
Polymnia - 15 - Polimnia
Thalia - 16 - Talia
Melpomene - 17 - Melpomene
Euterpe - 18 - Euterpe
Clio - 19 - Clio
Apollo - 20 - Apollo
 
Of the Liberal Arts:
Grammar - 21 - Grammatica
Logic - 22 - Loica
Rhetoric - 23 - Rhetorica
Geometry - 24 - Geometria
Arithmetic - 25 - Aritmetricha
Music - 26 - Musicha
Poetry - 27 - Poesia
Philosophy - 28 - Philosofia
Astrology - 29 - Astrologia
Theology - 30 - Theologia
 
Of the Cardinal Virtues:
Intellect - 31 - Iliaco
Senses - 32 - Chronico
Vital Functions - 33 - Cosmico
Temperance - 34 - Temperancia
Prudence - 35 - Prudencia
Strength - 36 - Forteza
Justice - 37 - Iusticia
Charity - 38 - Charita
Hope - 39 - Speranza
Faith - 40 - Fede
 
Of the Heavenly bodies:
Moon - 41 - Luna
Mercury - 42 - Mercurio
Venus - 43 - Venus
Sun - 44 - Sol
Mars - 45 - Marte
Jove (Jupiter) - 46 - Iupiter
Saturn - 47 - Saturno
Upper Heavens - 48 - Octava Spera
Celestial Power - 49 - Primo Mobile
Divine Light - 50 - Prima Causa
 
A special feature of this deck is that the 50 cards come accompanied by an additional 25 cards which feature a smaller, non-silvered image of the card, with the meanings printed next to it.  Each of these cards is done with one image on each half; for example, number one is at one end, and if you turn it over, number two is at the other end.  The meanings are given in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and what looks to my untrained eye to possibly be Dutch.

The cards themselves are pretty much standard tarot card size but since there are only 50 in the actual deck, much easier to handle and shuffle.  They are printed on good quality cardstock which has a mild coating for protection but not so much as would interfere with the silver foil effect.  The edges are smooth and the corners nicely rounded.  The back design is a beautiful and intricate detail in blue, which is reversible.  Interestingly, due to the process used to silver-foil the fronts of the cards, you can see the imprint of the silver foil area pressed through to the back of the card.  This does not mean the card is see-through, but just the edge of the foil area can be slightly made out.  The little white booklet is fairly comprehensive, and much of the emphasis is on the historical information behind the deck; instructions for a game to be played with the cards are included, as are instructions for divination with the deck.  Brief but thorough meanings are provided.  You really don't need the 25 cards with meanings, if you use the booklet, which has better meanings anyway.
 
An additional three cards included at the back of the deck provide a brief set of instructions for divining with the cards, in the six languages.
 
Overall, I highly, *highly* recommend this deck for anyone who wants to try something a little different in terms of tarot divination or gaming.  It's a beautiful addition to any collection, and is unusual enough that most people who collect will probably end up trying it out a few times.  I also think that since it's quite different from the traditional tarot, a beginner would be able to use it just as well as anyone else.  Previous experience will not necessarily give one an advantage, unless that experience is with historical decks.  It's a gorgeous set of cards and will make a wonderful gift.  This is already one of my new favorites!

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Review Copyright 2001 by Gina M. Pace

Mantegna Tarot by A. A. Atanassov, 2001
published by LoScarabeo, Torino, Italy
ISBN 0-73870-091-6