Andy's Playing Cards - The Tarot And Other Early Cards - page I

Andy's Playing Cards - The Tarot And Other Early Cards - page I

"The 78-card deck generally known as "tarot" has been one of the first kinds of playing cards to be manufactured in Western countries, and the very first one made in Italy.
This statement is based on a certain number of written sources dating back to the late Middle Ages: such documents provide the description of games played by those days, first mentioning cards as a pastime played in princely courts of Northern Italy by the first half of the 15th century.
It appears obvious that by the 1400s playing cards had already entered the European continent, but how this happened, and when, is still a matter of debate.


THE COMPOSITION OF TAROT DECKS

Tarot decks are made of two distinct groups of cards: 22 individual subjects named trumps, arranged in a specific sequence, and 56 cards divided into four classic suits or families, Coins, Cups, Swords and Batons, usually called suit cards."