Directory of tarot decks.
A list of a few tarot decks from my coliection with some descriptive information. I have included two images from each deck - the Fool and the Tower. The Fool because for the artist creating the deck it often seems to define the style of their artwork. I chose the Tower because it is quite a fixed image that is not easy to extend or symbolically reshape and thus to my mind tests the creative imagination of the artist. It will take quite some time to complete this listing as there are over 1200 decks to describe !
The directory is now divided into three pages as it is getting too long.
Back to first page of listings Forward to third page of listings Back to index page Updated 10th July 2006. There are 157 entries at present. Only just over another 1000 to go!
 | Taro de Ceridwen Artist: Maria Teresa Wolff Moraes Modro Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 135mm. Width: 90mm. Date: 1995. Publisher: Editora Paz e Terra. Country: Brazil Pen drawings with watercolour or coloured ink. This Brazilian Majors only deck has vibrantly coloured pen drawings. Some of the lines show some overdrawing, as if the images were first drawn in pencil then inked in. Each card is associated with a curative herb. Thus the Magician has Rosemary, the Empress has Digitalis and the Emperor is a species of Verbena. The name 'Ceridwen' might suggest that this deck reflects Celtic mythology, but this does not appear to be the source. Rather, this deck seems based around healing plants. |
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 | Le Tarot du Chat Artist: Claude Trapet Designer: Carole Sédillot 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are pips. Height: 119mm. Width: 64mm. Date: 1993. Publisher: Editions Jacques Grancher. Country: France Pen drawings with coloured pencil. There was an earlier Majors only edition published by Editions Jean Boully in 1989. Trapet and Sédillot also produced 'Le Tarot du Chien' in 1992. |
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 | Le tarot du chien Artist: Claude Trapet Designer: Carole Sédillot 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are pips. Height: 120mm. Width: 65mm. Standard Date: 1992. Publisher: Noeme. Country: France Pen drawings with coloured pencil. Trapet and Sédillot produced 'Le Tarot du Chat' earlier in 1989. Here they turn to dogs. |
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 | Tarot Clasico Artist: Designer: 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Height: 110mm. Width: 60mm. Standard Date: . Publisher: RBA Integral. Country: Spain Copy of the Royal tarot in slightly smaller format. The cards are slightly compressed in the horizontal direction from the original designs, thus giving a more elongated appearance to the figures |
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 | Tarocco di Colombo Artist: Amerigo Folchi Designer: 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are pips. Limited edition of 3000 Height: 110mm. Width: 70mm. Standard Date: 1991. Publisher: Italcards. Country: Italy Line drawings coloured with watercolour. |
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 | Connolly Tarot Artist: Peter Paul Connolly Designer: Eileen Connolly 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are emblematic. Height: 119mm. Width: 70mm. Standard Date: 1990. Publisher: U.S. Games Systems. Country: USA Coloured pencil with thick outlines, probably in pen. A Rider-Waite clone with intense luminous colouring. The thick outlines to the forms almost give this the style of stained glass. Death and the Devil have been renamed. The faces are slightly softened in focus which gives the figures a rather otherworldly quality. |
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 | Tarot Kernow - The Cornish Tarot Artist: Jonathan Kereve-Clarke Designer: 86 cards Major arcana only nonstandard - Each of the four suits has 12 pip cards and the usual 4 courts Height: 106mm. Width: 64mm. Standard Date: 2004. Publisher: Self published. Country: UK Computer manipulated photo collage, with some computer graphics drawing and colouring. This deck though Cornish in inspiration and bearing English and Cornish names, has abstract art forms as the basis for the card designs. These also in some cases incorporate photographs of landscape elements and architectural features relevant to Cornwall. |
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 | Jonathan Dee Tarot Artist: Shirley Barker Designer: Jonathan Dee cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are pips. Height: 120mm. Width: 70mm. Standard Date: 1996. Publisher: . Country: UK This probably originated as sketches on scraperboard, then reworked (possibly photocopied and pasted onto board) and finally coloured with some water based pigments. As a mass market deck this can be found included with a number of books to form tarot sets for beginners. Barnes and Noble originated one version but other publishers have used this deck in much the same way. |
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 | Demeroticon Artist: Dark Idol Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 120mm. Width: 80mm. Standard Date: 2006. Publisher: Arun-Verlag. Country: Germany The Demeroticon is by an Argentinian artist who goes under the name of 'Dark Idol'. He is obviously very clued up to twentieth century art and his tarot images seem to reflect various paintings. He is also influenced by modern magical ideas. |
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 | Dimenzio Tarot Artist: Jozsef Stichleutner Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 120mm. Width: 70mm. Standard Date: 2001. Publisher: Edesviz Kiado. Country: Hungary Acrylic paintings. Modern reworking of traditional tarot forms. |
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 | Tarocchi Omaggio a Federico II Artist: Pippo Madè Designer: cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are emblematic. Limited edition of 1500 Height: 232mm. Width: 148mm. Large Date: 2000. Publisher: . Country: Italy Pen drawings coloured with gouache. The large format cards show the high quality of the artwork. The imagery is based on the life, intellectual, aesthetic and court activities of Federico II, King of Sicily and Emperor of Germany in the first half of the 13th century. |
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 | Film Noir Artist: Dore Mullen Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 120mm. Width: 70mm. Standard Date: 2005. Publisher: Self published. Country: USA Photo collage. Images from old black and white movies from the 30's and 40's. These seem to have been taken from a book, and cut out and pasted onto standard tarot card frames. It would be great fun to identify the scenes chosen to reflect each of the traot cards with the film from which it is taken. |
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 | Fine Art Tarot Artist: J. Breyer Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 110mm. Width: 58mm. Standard Date: 1981. Publisher: U.S. Games Systems. Country: USA Reproductions of sections of well known European paintings, illuminations from manuscripts and coloured engravings. Includes works by Goya, Bosch, Botticelli. and Rubsn among others. Originally published as 'Le Tarot des grande peintres', by Editions Ergonia in France, 1979, together with a booklet entitled 'L'Arbre du Thot'. |
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 | Flowers of Life Tarot Artist: Cerrithwen Genetti Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 129mm. Width: 88mm. Standard Date: 1999. Publisher: Color Wheel Creations. Country: USA Photo collage |
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 | The Gendron Tarot Artist: Melanie Gendron Designer: 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are emblematic. Height: 119mm. Width: 69mm. Standard Date: 1997. Publisher: U.S. Games Systems. Country: USA Painting with photo-collage. Melanie Gendron opts for dense, detailed symbolism, layered in painted forms and some photo-collage. |
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 | Gill Tarot Artist: Elizabeth Josephine Gill Designer: 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are pips. Height: 107mm. Width: 80mm. Standard Date: 1990. Publisher: U.S. Games Systems. Country: USA Finely detailed paintings, probably in acrylic. Gill uses her warm luminous paintings to reflect her view of tarot. Her artwork is strongly influenced by kabbalistic and magical ideas. On the back of the cards is the phrase "and I see men as trees, walking", that is, kabbalistic trees of life. She also created the 'Servants of Light Tarot' for the British esotericist and magician Dolores Ashcroft- Nowicki. |
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 | Gothic Tarot Artist: Dawn Williams Designer: cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are pips. Limited edition of 150 Height: 105mm. Width: 69mm. Standard Date: 1995. Publisher: Mystic Eye. Country: USA Computer graphics drawing program. This tarot focuses on the Bram Stocker vampire theme. The suits thus are Stakes (second death is final), Blood (life everlasting begins with the blood), Fangs (the dead are ever hungry) and Coins (human loyalty can be bought with gold). The Majors each have a subtitle making a reference to the underlying ‘vampire’ mythology and many are re-named to fit into the vampire agenda. The artwork is in the style of a graphic artist who does advertisements for newspapers or magazines. It is well executed with bold black outlines, strongly coloured areas with much use of fades and merges. Though it was done on a computer it mimics the style of airbrushed graphics. |
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 | Gothic Tarot of Vampires Artist: Emiliano Mammucari Designer: Pietro Alligo 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are emblematic. Height: 119mm. Width: 65mm. Standard Date: 2003. Publisher: Lo Scarabeo. Country: Italy Acrylic paintings. A disturbing tarot, set in our contemporary world. Many of the cards depict violence, bloodletting, and a number of cards seem to depict suicide or blood-sharing through the cutting of veins in the wrists. Unlike most of the Lo Scarabeo decks this tarot does not have titles to the cards. |
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 | Tarot de Gruyeres Artist: José Roosevelt Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 140mm. Width: 99mm. Standard Date: 1993. Publisher: Glasson S.A.. Country: Switzerland Fine line pen drawings in black ink. Card 10 has red inked areas, and this image is used on the booklet and the box cover. |
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 | Guardian Tarot Artist: Jeff Mincevic Designer: 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are emblematic. Height: 101mm. Width: 75mm. Standard Date: 2004. Publisher: Sanctuary Studios. Country: Canada Acrylic on board. Rider Waite clone but in a dark gothic style. |
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 | Gummy Bear Artist: Anneke Larsmeyer and Sascha Tessmann Designer: Dietmar Bittrich 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are emblematic. Height: 95mm. Width: 60mm. Standard Date: 2005. Publisher: U.S. Games Systems. Country: USA Pen line drawings coloured with water based ink or paint , possibly gouache. Originally issued in 2001 in Germany where it was called the 'Gummibarchen Tarot'. It is based on the fruity gum sweets of the same name. |
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 | Tarocchi di Renato Guttuso Artist: Renato Guttuso Designer: 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are pips. Height: 119mm. Width: 80mm. Standard Date: 1983. Publisher: Moda 90 (Trieste). Country: Italy Pen drawings coloured with water based paint or inks. |
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 | De Tarot in de Herstelde Orde Artist: Onno and Rob Docters van Leeuwen Designer: 80 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are emblematic. Height: 120mm. Width: 70mm. Standard Date: 1995. Publisher: Servire of Utrecht. Country: Holland Pen drawings coloured with watercolour. The backgrounds in many cards are in a pontilist style. This is the Tarot of the Restored Order. It is a Rider-Waite clone but "restored", as Rob Docters van Leeuwen seems to have believed, to its true form. |
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 | Tarocco dell'Orror Artist: Gianni Maiotti Designer: Osvaldo Menegazzi 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are pips. Limited edition of 2500 Height: 111mm. Width: 65mm. Standard Date: 1987. Publisher: Il Meneghello. Country: Italy Pen drawings coloured with acrylic or possibly felt tip or marker pen. One of the first of the horror tarots. The artwork is comic book cartoon style, with imagery seemingly drawn from the horror ‘B’ movie genre. |
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 | Japanese - Crystal Tarot Artist: Mokuseioh Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 117mm. Width: 73mm. Standard Date: 1991. Publisher: . Country: Japan Acrylic paintings with pen drawn outlines and soft modelling and shading, possibly through use of airbrushing. Each card is associated with a healing crystal, which is incorporated into the soft subtly coloured and modelled imagery. Entirely European in conception. The cards are in the cut out foam box characteristic of Japanese tarot packaging and come with a book in a slip case. A small format CD is also provided. |
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 | Japanese - Derakkusu ban Hihou Tarot Artist: Mondo Oki Designer: 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are pips. Height: 109mm. Width: 65mm. Standard Date: 1999. Publisher: . Country: Japan Pen drawings with use of large solid black areas. Black and white pen drawings are wonderfully stylised, with beautiful flowing lines. The artwork knows European art well, and his drawing style draws on various sources, for example, we note some influence from Aubrey Beardsley. Mondo Oki also quotes from other art tarots in his designs. The cards are in the cut out foam box characteristic of Japanese tarot packaging and come with a book in a slip case. |
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 | Japanese - George Domon Tarot (Aino No Tarot Uranai) Artist: George Domon Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 124mm. Width: 72mm. Standard Date: 1989. Publisher: . Country: Japan Paintings, probably acrylic. Domon creatively explores the conventional tarot imagery through this finely detailed painted tarot. Very much in the European style with little Japanese influence on the artwork. The cards are in the cut out foam box characteristic of Japanese tarot packaging and come with a book in a slip case. |
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 | Japanese - Enishi Gen Tarot Artist: Enishi Gen Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 126mm. Width: 74mm. Standard Date: 1990. Publisher: . Country: Japan Paintings using diffuse areas of blended colour, probably using an airbrush. Beautiful soft toned tarot designs. The faces of the figures are sharply depicted but the rest of the image dissolves into softer forms. As in her other deck the 'Starlot' she renames the Fool to 'The Challenger', but the rest of the cards have the conventional names. The cards are in the cut out foam box characteristic of Japanese tarot packaging and come with a book in a slip case. |
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 | Japanese - Fortune Tarot Artist: Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 115mm. Width: 64mm. Standard Date: . Publisher: Tsuchiya Books. Country: Japan Pen drawings coloured with acrylic or guache. Beautiful sharply drawn and sensitively coloured conventional Rider Waite clone. The cards are in the cut out foam box characteristic of Japanese tarot packaging and come with a book in a slip case. |
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 | Japanese - Kabbalah Tarot of Love Artist: Miss Persephone, Noma Araki Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 149mm. Width: 85mm. Standard Date: 1996. Publisher: . Country: Japan Thin oil or acrylic painting on canvas or fabric textured board. The texture of the linen or canvas shows through the thin glaze of paint. Conventional European tarot images well painted with a rather pleasant textured effect. The use of a thin layer of paint results in low contrast and muted subtle colours. The cards are a bit larger than the standard format. The cards are in the cut out foam box characteristic of Japanese tarot packaging and come with a book in a slip case. |
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 | Japanese - Mari Mihori Love Tarot (Ai No Tarot) Artist: Mari Mihori Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 117mm. Width: 74mm. Standard Date: 1988. Publisher: . Country: Japan Finely detailed coloured pencil drawings. Adopts imagery from Classical Greek mythology. The Star is Pandora, Judgement is Hermes/Mercury, the Devil is Pan, the Wheel of Fortune the three Fates, and so on. Beautifully detailed artwork. Some of the cards are unconventionally numbered . Thus the High Priestess is 'IV' and the Empress is 'II' - Emperor 'III' and Hierophant 'V'. This appears to be intentional as her other tarot deck also adopts this ordering. The cards are in the foam padded box characteristic of Japanese tarot packaging and come with a book in a slip case. |
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 | Japanese - Mari Mihori Unmei Tarot Artist: Mari Mihori Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 130mm. Width: 69mm. Standard Date: 2000. Publisher: . Country: Japan Paintings, possibly using some photo collage. Like her Ai No Tarot, Mihori has the same unconventional numbering for some of the cards. This deck is very creative, and she does not copy imagery from familiar decks but instead reworks it in her own way. This is one of the many treasures of Japanese tarot. The cards are in the foam padded box characteristic of Japanese tarot packaging and come with a book in a slip case. |
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 | Japanese - Shiawase-o-Yobu, Ai-no-Tarot Uranai
Artist: K.H. Nikorasu and Belne Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 125mm. Width: 68mm. Standard Date: 1991. Publisher: . Country: Japan Fine pen drawings with watercolour. The extremely detailed pen drawings are subtly coloured, and in Art Nouveau style with the flowing organic lines and the conventional decorative elements familiar in Art Nouveau. The imagery holds close to the Rider Waite deck. The cards are in the cut out foam box characteristic of Japanese tarot packaging and come with a book in a slip case. |
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 | Japanese - Shinpi no Tarot-Uranai (Future Secret Tarot) Artist: Asuka Fujiwara Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 117mm. Width: 74mm. Standard Date: 1990. Publisher: . Country: Japan Soft watercolour with blotting probably using a sponge. Asuka Fujiwara in her 'Future Secret Tarot' achieves a soft out of focus effect in her tarot deck, by using lightly drawn an painted forms then blotting areas of texture in the background. This is very effective, however, her tarot symbolism is traditional European with no obvious Japanese references. The cards are in the cut out foam box characteristic of Japanese tarot packaging and come with a book in a slip case. |
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 | Japanese - Starlot Artist: Enishi Gen Designer: 23 cards Major arcana only Height: 94mm. Width: 94mm. Square Standard Date: 1998. Publisher: . Country: Japan Acrylic paintings. A square shaped tarot with an astrological theme. Each card is associated either with one of the 12 zodiacal signs or with one of the 10 planets. The cards associated with the zodiacal signs have the star map of that constellation depicted. The artwork is delighfully detailed and like many Japanese tarots, is influenced primarily by European art rather than having any obvious Japanese resonances. The fool is renamed to 'The Challenger', but the rest of the cards have the conventional names. The cards are in the kind of box characteristic of Japanese tarot packaging and come with a book in a slip case. |
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 | Japanese - Tenshi Mitora no Renai Tarot
Artist: Masato Tojo Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 103mm. Width: 63mm. Standard Date: 1996. Publisher: Kokusho Kankokai. Country: Japan Pen drawings coloured with watercolor or water based acrylic. This deck incorporates conventional European style imagery alongside more anime figures of young women with long limbs and sylised faces. There is a theme of winged angelic forms. The deck has been translated 'The Unreacheable love of the Angel' Tarot. This could be seen as a transitional work between the European inspired artwork of early Japanese tarots and the later flowering of the anime style. The cards are in the cut out foam box characteristic of Japanese tarot packaging and come with a book in a slip case. |
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 | Japanese - Twelve constellations Tarot (Juni Seiza Tarot Uranai) Artist: Shurei Etoile Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 142mm. Width: 79mm. Standard Date: 1988. Publisher: . Country: Japan Pen drawings coloured. Graduated tones suggest use of an airbrush. Sharply drawn and subtly coloured drawings. The imagery holds close to conventional tarot, but is creatively explored. Twelve of the cards are expressly associated with the zodiacal constellations. Again, this Japanese tarot entirely conforms to the European style. The cards are in the cut out foam box characteristic of Japanese tarot packaging and come with a book in a slip case. |
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 | Japanese - Uranai Tarot (Your Future Tarot) Artist: Will, Shigeyuki Ozawa Designer: 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Height: 115mm. Width: 71mm. Standard Date: 1989. Publisher: . Country: Japan Pen drawings. The Majors are coloured with watercolour. The Minors are black and white with some added grey toned areas. Rider Waite clone with some minor variations. The Majors are coloured while the Minors are left in black and white. The cards come with a book in a slip case. |
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 | Jungian Tarot Artist: Robert Wang Designer: 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are pips. Height: 110mm. Width: 75mm. Standard Date: 2002. Publisher: Marcus Aurelius Press. Country: USA Oil or acrylic paintings. As befits a 'Jungian' tarot, the imagery here is symbolically very strongly defined. Each of the Major arcana present us with an archetypal figure set within an arch or niche, below which is an area we can suppose is meant to represent the Jungian collective unconscious. Here we usually find various symbols and a mandala. |
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 | Kamasutra Tarot Artist: Art School Vijai and Ram of Rajistan Designer: 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are emblematic. Height: 120mm. Width: 66mm. Standard Date: 2006. Publisher: Lo Scarabeo. Editor: Pietro Alligo. Country: Italy The images have been recreated from the original Kamasutra manuscripts, but the artwork seems less subtle and more sharply drawn than the originals. There seems little association between the image depicted and the tarot card on which it appears. The artists are forced to use symbols placed alongside or below the main image to reflect the tarot imagery. |
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 | Klee Tarot Artist: Paul Klee edited by Jason Lang. Designer: Jason Lang 22 cards Major arcana only Limited edition of 100 Height: 157mm. Width: 108mm. Large Date: 2005. Publisher: Self published. Country: Canada Colour prints of sections of unidentified paintings by Paul Klee, which the designer of this deck, Jason Lang, associated with the symbolism of the major arcana. |
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 | Knapp Hall Tarot Artist: J. Augustus Knapp Designer: M.P. Hall 78 cards Major and Minor arcana. Minor arcana are pips. Height: 91mm. Width: 59mm. Standard Date: 1985 [1939]. Publisher: U.S. Games Systems. Country: USA Oil paintings. The later reprint shows clearly the coarse colour printing method used in the original priting. |
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 | Korean - Angel Girl Artist: Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 85mm. Width: 58mm. Miniature Date: 2004. Publisher: Aniland. Country: South Korea |
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 | Korean - Anime Goth Artist: Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 120mm. Width: 60mm. Standard Date: . Publisher: Aniland. Country: South Korea |
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 | Korean - Insects Tarot Artist: Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 85mm. Width: 58mm. Miniature Date: 2005. Publisher: . Country: South Korea |
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 | Korean - Inu Yasha Artist: Rumiko Takahashi Designer: Height: 115mm. Width: 60mm. Standard Date: 2006. Publisher: Diawon. Country: South Korea |
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 | Korean - Olympus Guardian II Artist: Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 86mm. Width: 58mm. Miniature Date: . Publisher: SBS Production. Country: South Korea |
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 | Korean - Pretty Cure Artist: Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 115mm. Width: 60mm. Standard Date: 2006. Publisher: Diawon. Country: South Korea |
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 | Korean - Slumberland Artist: Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 86mm. Width: 58mm. Miniature Date: . Publisher: Hemon. Country: South Korea As the subtitle says "A deck for children and the young at heart". |
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 | Korean - Tarot Elite Artist: Designer: 22 cards Major arcana only Height: 87mm. Width: 57mm. Miniature Date: . Publisher: Elite Co.. Country: South Korea |
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