Tarot Classic
Marseille-style medieval deck widely available from the 1970s.
by Stuart Kaplan
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The record
The Tarot Classic is a standard 78 card Marseille-style deck with medieval imagery, Justice as card 8, Strength as 11 and non-scenic pip cards. The deck was first published in the early 1970s, and like the 1JJ Swiss Tarot, was one of the most widely available decks at the time. There is a companion book for this deck, authored by Stuart Kaplan. Although the deck follows the Marseille designs, it does however use the rather anachronistic Rider-Waite titles (The High Priestess, The Hierophant, Wands and Pentacles). The Death card (which is usually left untitled in the Marseille) has been named, but with the title running along the side of the card. The Page of Pentacles has also been titled in this fashion. The Fool is unnumbered and all titles are in English, rather than the usual French or Italian used in Marseille decks. Some of the images differ from the traditional Marseille style, notably The Hanged Man (who is portrayed with both legs tied-up). There is a wider colour palette, and the suits are vaguely differentiated by colour (Wands are green, Swords are red, Cups and Pentacles are both yellow and blue). The cards themselves are smaller than usual, measuring approximately 1
The cards
