Universal Marseille
Marseille-pattern deck with recolored historical imagery, unillustrated pip cards.
creator unknown · Lo Scarabeo 2006 Deck Type: Tarot Deck Cards: 78 Rating: stars out of five Where to · 2006
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The record
The "Universal Tarot of Marseille" deck is of the Marseille pattern, based on a Swiss deck created in 1751 by Claude Burdel that has been recolored (newly colored). One of the telling marks of a Marseille style deck, if not THE telling mark, is that the pips (the numbered cards) are not illustrated. This is a style of deck that still retains its popularity in Europe. The suits are Staves, Chalices, Swords and Pentacles. The Court cards are King, Queen, Knight and Knave. The Trumps follow traditional titles, with Justice as VIII and Strength as XI. The Marseille deck, rather than being used primarily for divination, found its primary use for card-playing, both in gambling halls and in private homes. The Marseille decks were printed from woodblocks, and retained a plain, unassuming art form. Bursten posits that when occult scholars of the eighteenth century discovered their idea being reflected back at them from the images in a lowly deck of playing cards, that it was the Marseille deck they were looking at. Thus, the deck pattern that held such popularity in game-playing also became the focus of occultists. Bursten points out that the images that were perfectly comprehensible to the
The cards
