Mary Packard - Tarot de Marseille

[Papageno]

Many people will no doubt consider this an act of heresy punishable by being burned at the stake like an accused dark magician or sorceress of old.

I present the Mary Packard edition of the PIERRE MADENIÉ, Dijon, 1709 Tarot de Marseille.

No, this is certainly NOT anything akin to the esteemed edition by Yves Reynaud.

However, for those who just want to take an occasional break from the Haute Mondial of the prestigious Salon Privé editions of Marseille decks, and just want to have something frivolous and pretty to read with, the Mary Packard printing fills the bill for me.

Here’s a picture of the card back:

.......updated April 9, 2020, No Pictures of the cards .....lost them in my imgbb account. oh well, you can Google them.
I really don't feel like taking iPhone snapshots of them.

I love the card backs and the slightly grungy images that look as though they’ve been smudged by residual ink from a woodblock printers press.

The original images have been vigorously cleaned up and the outlines are obviously redrawn, bearing only a superficial resemblance to the authentic historical reproduction by Yves Reynaud.
They are, however, still recognizable and the overall essence and integrity of the images is reasonably intact.

The Packard version can only be described as something of a frilly fantasy deck, like something one might imagine being used by aristocrats at the court of Louis XIV or in the hands of the ancient and noble Italian family of Borghese, perhaps a copy survived the centuries and came into the possession of a Russian Imperial Grand Duke or Duchess, or resided in the library of a British Lord.

Ya know, sometimes you just gotta lighten up and have a little fun with all this.

FYI, be sure you purchase the English language edition unless you're fluent in French.

[Charlie Brown]

I don't see any problem.

[Rose Lalonde]

I hadn't seen that deck before. A similar one, if you haven't already seen it, is the Mamanmiyuki. A Japanese woman redrew the Madenié. I have the mini, but there was also a full size at one point. These are my scans on AT.

(Often the little Mamanmiyuki winds up in my bag and travels. My favorite TdM, the Yves Madenié, stays at home on the reading table.)

[Papageno]

A similar one, if you haven't already seen it, is the Mamanmiyuki. A Japanese woman redrew the Madenié. I have the mini, but there was also a full size at one point. These are my scans on AT.

I've never seen that edition before, thank you for posting that AT link, but then again I was never an aficionado of the Marseille decks and tradition until very recently. I used to avoid the Marseille discussions on AT completely.

It's interesting, her color palette imparts a very organic feeling to the images.
Her choice of brown instead of black for the Batons and Swords, and the various shades of green applied to the trees of The Hanged Man, and then carried over to the Queen of Batons and the King of Denier.

The backs are charming, I love the little bunnies.

If you were on AT (everybody was back then), then you might be aware of the 1980 "Angel Tarot", printed by Angel Playing Card Mfg. Co., Ltd, Japan for U.S. Games Systems.

Now there's an odd little deck for you, charming and quirky, definitely a very unique perspective on the Marseille tradition.
Even the arrangement of the Batons and Swords are unique, but they do work in their own way.

[Papageno]

I don't see any problem.

Neither do I , obviously.

It's really interesting how many independently printed variants there are on the TdM.
As I just pointed out to Rose LaLonde, I used to avoid the Marseille discussion threads and never saw any value in those editions other than for their historical value. I remember back in the day when the TdM people were clamoring for a copy of the Dussere, Dodal.

Still, I suspect there's at least 500% more RWS clones and variants out there than there will ever be in the TdM and Thoth worlds combined, It's mind-boggling.
However, it's nice to see the emergence of viable hybridized variants with real integrity.

[Joan Marie]

I really love the card backs on both of these decks.

They both have a real warmth, a real charm.

[Papageno]

I really love the card backs on both of these decks.

They both have a real warmth, a real charm.

Yes, it's the warmth or lack thereof, of the color palette and technique that can make a huge difference in the perception of the artwork, and subsequently the way in which you approach reading with any particular deck.
I recently looked at a few decks online that were conceptionally brilliant, but they left me feeling cold and bleak, it's all very subjective.

[Charlie Brown]

Have you considered the TdM circle?

[Papageno]

Have you considered the TdM circle?

do you mean the TdM study group threads here?

[Charlie Brown]

viewforum.php?f=62

[Rose Lalonde]

If you were on AT (everybody was back then), then you might be aware of the 1980 "Angel Tarot", printed by Angel Playing Card Mfg. Co., Ltd, Japan for U.S. Games Systems.

Now there's an odd little deck for you, charming and quirky, definitely a very unique perspective on the Marseille tradition.
Even the arrangement of the Batons and Swords are unique, but they do work in their own way.

I had not come across that either, thanks. I see that it's been out for a long time, but I managed to miss it.

Not to raise the stakes , but if I go full-on-whimsy, there's also the Tarot of Musterberg from Curio & Co. Their items have fictional backstories, so the story of its use at a turn of the century amusement park is not true. However the charming lwb is framed as the amusement park's handbook of cartomancy for employees. The card descriptions are surprisingly alright, referring back to the art.

musterbergQS.png (267.55 KiB) Viewed 3526 times

[Pen]

If I hadn't decided some time ago that my collection was quite big enough I'd be terribly tempted by The Tarot of Musterberg.

[Stan K. Beest]

I'm actually quite fond of the Packard TdM Madenie. I like the large-size Cards, and the Box with the full gear (Pouch, Cloth, Book). But I did NOT like her version of the Visconti-Sforza - the rosy cheeks added on all the characters really put me off. While the Visconti Tarot is perhaps my all-time favorite (I have several versions), I could not deal with the Mary Packard one.

[Diana]

Many people will no doubt consider this an act of heresy punishable by being burned at the stake like an accused dark magician or sorceress of old.

I present the Mary Packard edition of the PIERRE MADENIÉ, Dijon, 1709 Tarot de Marseille.

Why would this be considered an act of heresy by some? I looked at all the cards on a youtube video and they seem just fine to me. Is there some controversy here that I'm not aware of?

[Papageno]

Why would this be considered an act of heresy by some? I looked at all the cards on a youtube video and they seem just fine to me. Is there some controversy here that I'm not aware of?

there's always controversy, but that's all very subjective.

While researching my decks I discovered that Robert Place actually wrote the foreword to the book that comes with this set.
Chas. Brown and Michael Bridge-Dickson don't seem to have an issue with this edition, you don't seem to have an issue with it.

Scholarship aside, I liken these to the Visconti decks, at least in terms of the card proportions.
I'm impressed by the way the publishers were able to use a classic TdM and re-package it effectively with a very attractive face-lift, in a manner of speaking. I think the end result is both fun and dignified.

Hey, don't get me wrong, I love the understated beauty and elegance of a really well produced museum reproduction, box, packaging and all.
That's just a different type of refined chic.

Someday I will create a deck for me, myself and I alone, with those same proportions, hand-painted, even the backs, each card individually.
and no I won't post pictures because this will be for my eyes only (thank you, James Bond), besides it'll be a zillion years before I ever complete such an ambitious project.

There's a vintage Soprafino deck (Majors only) that Meneghello produced in that manner, very stately looking, luxuriously proportioned cards with red lacquered backs or something. They had the right idea except that it should have been produced as a full deck IMHO. It's selling now for megabucks, no thanks.

Getting back to scholarship, I actually decided to find out how the Ignaz Krebs deck, got named Tarot Rhenan.
For the longest time, it was like, Rhenan, Rhenan what the hell is that about?

The deck was published in Austria, Ignaz Krebs came from Fribourg in Breisgau, which was part of Austria until 1805 and is now part of Germany.
It was de rigueur back then to publish tarot decks with French titles, hence Google Translate provides you with Rhenan = Rhine.

It's like being back in school.

[Diana]

The original meaning of the word heretic means "able to choose".

Middle English: from Old French heretique, via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek hairetikos ‘able to choose’ (in ecclesiastical Greek, ‘heretical’), from haireomai ‘choose’.