Vandenborre Bacchus Tarot by US Games 1983 Sealed
 
I’m aware that several editions of this tarot exist, but the one I own bears the title of the Vandenborre Bacchus Tarot, and was originally published in 1983 by Carta Mundi. It i’s very much a historical reproduction deck. It'’s printed on unusually thick card stock of an aged parchment shade, uncoated on the fronts of the cards (which are fairly large) and only lightly coated on the backs, with unrounded corners. These physical properties make the deck rather hard to shuffle, which suggests to me that it was primarily aimed at collectors rather than people who might want to read it or play games with it. The card designs are dated to 1780, and differ only in details from those of the Jean Galler Tarot of ten years before, even down to the frequent misspellings among the card titles; the Juggler, for instance, is named “Le Bateleux” rather than “Le Bateleur”, which suggests that the craftsman who carved the woodblocks was either illiterate or spoke Flemish rather than French! (His misspelling “Temperence” is an improvement on the “Atrempance” of the Jean Galler deck, though; I'’ll grant him that.)
 
Creators: Vandenborre
Publisher: Carta Mundi 1983
Deck Type: Tarot Deck
Cards: 78
Major Arcana: 22
Minor Arcana: 56
Deck Tradition: Marseilles
Minor Arcana Style: Marseilles-Style Pips
Suits: Batons, Coupe, Epees, Deniers
Court Cards: Valet, Chevalier, Reine, Roi
Major Titles: Le Bateleux, Le'Spagnol Capitano Eracasse, L'Empereur, L'Emperatris, Bacus, Lamour, Le Chariot, La Justice, L'Ermite, Roue de Fortune, La Force, Lepen=Du, La Mort, La Temperence, Le Diable, La Foudre, Le Toille, La Lune, Le Soleil, Le Jvgement, Le Monde, Le Fou
The Fool is 22
Strength is 11
Justice is 8
Card Size: 2.72 x 4.65 in. = 6.90cm x 11.80cm
Card Language: English
Card Back: Reversible
Back Design: Crudely-drawn Sun faces in hexagonal boxes, alternating rows of right way and upside down. Back is obviously printed as one large sheet, so edges are irregular.
Companion Material: Little white booklet in English.