If you want to have gorgeous reproductions of ancient decks there are only a few ‘addresses’ in the world. One of them is the ‘webshop’ of Rinascimento and art-historian Giordano Berti. And with the Tarocchi Perrin, recently released, they offered the tarot world yet another faithful remake. The Perrin Tarot only has 600 copies. Should you stand in line for one? I’ll tell you. As always, a Berti reproduction comes in a beautiful book-box, designed by artist Letizia Rivetti. The tobacco-colored paper, gold speckles and caramel ribbon make this box look very luxurious and a show-stopper in any tarot cupboard. The front has a World card sticker with Tarocchi Perrin written on top of it. Once opened you see the inner red velvet lining holding booklet and deck with its cream-colored band. Sturdy & smooth The Perrin Tarot is a deck on the smaller side (11,5×6,8cm). The cards have a back with black & white little diamonds and, if that is your thing, can be used in reverse. It’s printed on sturdy paper with a very smooth linen finish. If you ask me the card-stock is every reader’s dream: thick enough, still flexible, smooth, not sticky or slippery and with…
Historian and deck curator Giordano Berti has another gorgeous reproduction to offer. The Tarocchi Perrin, or Perrin Tarot is like a younger cousin of the Soprafino Tarot and will most likely speak to those who are a fan of art like this. Eh…that would be me! The Perrin Tarot has *just* become available. It is a faithful remake of the 1865 Turin deck by Claudio Perrin, a lithographer/publisher from the 19th century. Colorful Soprafino Tarot Perrin’s inspiration came, not surprisingly, from the engraver Charles Dellarocca (some write della Rocca) and his Milanese manufacturer Ferdinand Gumppenberg. The style is quite similar. However, the artist who designed the Perrin Tarot, still worked enough of his own magic and originality in the deck. The characters and environments are different and it seems the deck is also more colorful than the Soprafino. I might just openly cheat… The actual artist is unknown, but it is probably safe to guess he was one of the many illustrators used by Perrin’s Publishing House, back then specialized in illustrated history books. The deck was already extremely rare in the 19th century, since Claudio Perrin wasn’t a regular Tarot producer. He probably didn’t have the same distribution network…