What a Tarot Facsimile Is and What It Does Not Reproduce

A facsimile attempts to bring the appearance of a historical object closer to someone who cannot handle the original. In tarot it can take the form of a complete deck, a portfolio of plates, or an edition accompanied by notes. It is a valuable tool: it allows comparison of surviving images and study of details from a scattered set. But “facsimile” does not mean time machine. Between the original card and the one that reaches your hand are photography, digital color, scaling decisions, new paper and, sometimes, new images that fill gaps. Reading the editorial note is as important as looking at the cards.

The Visconti-Sforza case reveals all the layers. The Morgan Library & Museum holds thirty-five original cards from the set. Its shop describes a modern edition with reproductions of seventy-four surviving cards and four recreations to complete a deck of seventy-eight. That modern deck may be excellent for study or practice, but one must distinguish the reproduced cards from the cards imagined from what is missing. The product does not turn the four recreations into originals, nor does it transfer the museum’s objects into a retail box.

Original, Reproduction, and Facsimile

The original is the period material object, with its own support, layers, and wear. A reproduction is a representation of that object: photograph, print, or digital file. “Facsimile” usually promises a reproduction attentive to its features, often in a handling-friendly format, but the degree of fidelity depends on the edition. A reconstruction is a visual hypothesis that supplies something not preserved; a recreation can be freely inspired by an old style. These categories can coexist within the same deck. The publisher should identify them card by card when they affect historical study.

This is not about forbidding enjoyment. If someone wants to read with a seventy-eight-card deck, they need cards for every position in their system. A recreation can solve that. The problem appears when the color or drawing of that recreation is cited as proof of what a fifteenth-century workshop painted. To learn about the available evidence, start with why incomplete decks survive and consult the museum inventory.

Scale Can Change the Experience

The Morgan’s Visconti-Sforza cards measure approximately 173 by 87 millimeters according to the catalogue. A modern edition may preserve those dimensions, reduce them for easier shuffling, or crop margins. The change does not invalidate the deck, but it modifies what we perceive: a figure looks smaller, a crack disappears at the edge, or a detail is amplified when the image is adjusted. When evaluating a facsimile, compare the stated measurements with those in the object record and observe whether the complete edges are reproduced.

The back deserves the same attention. A playing deck needs uniform backs so that cards cannot be identified before being picked up. A scattered historical set may have different backs or backs documented unevenly. The publisher may design a new common pattern. If it does, that pattern belongs to the edition, even if the fronts copy old pieces. The article what the backs of old cards say explains why that difference affects research.

Screen Color Is Not Pigment

A digital record may show the card with controlled lighting, adjusted contrast, and image compression. Facsimile printing translates that data again into current inks and paper. Two editions of the same object may show different blues or golds. Without studying the source and the editorial process, we will not know which comes closer to the visible state of the original, and not even that state will be identical to its manufacture. Reproductions can be excellent documents of a photograph or a restoration decision; they are not a direct reading of every ancient layer.

When a symbolic argument depends on a very precise nuance—“this red demonstrates an intention of danger”—one must cite the specific object and verify the color in an appropriate source. For a contemporary reading you can work with the red of your edition, but do not automatically attribute that nuance to the historical workshop. The difference does not extinguish the imagination: it clarifies when we are interpreting a modern deck.

Is an Old Reissue a Facsimile?

Not necessarily. The BnF catalogs a late nineteenth-century reissue of the Nicolas Conver deck. It is a historical object from its own period, produced from an earlier model. It is not the original from the supposed old year that may appear on a card, and it is also not identical to a current facsimile made from museum photography. “Reissue,” “copy,” “restoration,” and “facsimile” indicate different relationships to the model. A bibliographic record helps distinguish them if we read technique, date, and editorial responsibility.

This precision matters in shops and libraries. A box may advertise “tarot from 1760” because it reproduces a design associated with that date. The practical question is: when was this copy printed, and from what object did it take its images? How to identify the date of a historical deck shows why the inscription is not enough. If the commercial description does not clarify it, look for an institutional catalogue or a publisher’s note before repeating the date as fact.

Five Questions Before Buying or Citing

Which originals have been photographed, and where are they preserved? Which cards have been reconstructed, replaced, or taken from another set? Have the size and edge of the pieces been respected? Where does the back come from? What color changes or cleaning have been applied? A good edition does not have to satisfy exactly the same criterion in every question. It must allow the reader to know what they are receiving. For daily practice you may prefer a small format; for historical comparison, high-quality images and documentary apparatus.

A facsimile can be a door into tarot history when it keeps its decisions visible. With it we can compare images and learn to recognize motifs; afterwards we return to the museum record to verify the piece. The error is not in using a reproduction, but in forgetting that it is a reproduction. The best commercial and educational guide does not promise “to have the original in your hands.” It explains what is preserved, what has been copied, and what has been created so that the current deck works.

Sources Consulted

• The Morgan Library & Museum, Visconti-Sforza catalogue. Data on the original objects it preserves.
• Morgan Shop, Visconti-Sforza facsimile. Description of the seventy-four reproduced cards and four recreated cards.
• BnF, deck associated with Conver and later reissue. Two records that help separate model, copy, and reissue.