Tarot of Prague

From Tarotpedia

Tarot of Prague - The Chariot

1 Description
2 Creators
3 Publishing details
- 3.1 Date of Publication
- 3.2 Publisher
4 Deck creation and/or publication process
5 Creators' comments
6 Creators' websites
7 Reviews

[edit] Description

A standard 78 card Tarot deck digitally collaged from original photographs of Prague art, architecture and scenes taken by the artists. Elements from the traditional Czech 32-card Marias cards are also incorporated into the design.

The deck is based on the Waite-Colman Smith deck, though considerations of variations between that deck and others have lead the creators to omit numbering of its Trumps. This inadvertently reflects very early decks that likewise did not carry numbers.

[edit] Creators

[edit] Publishing details

ISBN 0954500709

[edit] Date of Publication

2003

[edit] Publisher

The Magic Realist Press

First edition deck comes in a "bookbinder" cover - the cardstock is ordinary thick card with a very matte varnish. This first edition has two Death cards.Cards have a patterned sepia-coloured background. Only 3500 copies of the first edition were produced and all are numbered.

Second edition deck has some slight changes on some cards - mainly changes in colouring - and comes with a spare card, Prudence, rather than the second Death card. The second edition is printed on playing card stock with a slightly glossier varnish. The cards in this second edition are also a little larger and have a patterned blue background. This edition is unlimited, and is currently (2006) in its second printing.

[edit] Deck creation and/or publication process

Photographs were electronically edited to bring together a collage that broadly follows the pattern of the Waite-Colman Smith deck.

Unusually in a collaged deck, a great deal of redrawing of the elements was done so that they fit together naturalistically into each scene. The female figure on the Moon card is, for example, composed of three different statues, combined in a way that's intended to be visually seamless. The result is that the images looks rather more 'realistically' integrated and less flat and obviously collaged than many others done with the same basic technique. This is not a value judgement, but it does give a distinct look that isn't classic collage.