The oldest mentions about
the tarot is dating 1422 or earlier, but the first book about tarot is written
very latterly in 1750 by Etteilla. Except the huge taromancy books, the tarot research
books are quite rare. The first one could be counted, a small chapter from 8
volumes Le Monde Primitif (The Primitive World) by Antoine Court de Gebelin, in 1780. The real first
tarot history book is from Romain Merlin, with his Origine des cartes Γ jouer (Origin of Playing Cards) in 1896. The earliest tarot history book in US is the Prophetical Educational and Playing Cards of John King Van Rensselaer, in 1912, published in Philadelphia. Le Tarot, Histoire –
Iconographie - Esoterisme, of Gerard Van Rijnberk published in 1947, is one of the most mentioned book in France. The next huge works is the Tarot Encyclopedia (4 volumes) of Stuart
Kaplan, published the first time in 1978. After that, the three books of Michael Dummet: Game of Tarot, (1980), A wicked Pack of Cards (1996), A History of the Occult
Tarot: 1870-1970 (2002) are the three famous
treasures about tarot history.
Related Case: 0378, 0380, 0381, 0382, 0383, 0384.
Related Case: 0378, 0380, 0381, 0382, 0383, 0384.