Bibliography and Internet References
These books and web sites have provided me with the material to write this text. In addition to these, the German Wikipedia entry for Royal Tarokk provided the initial material for that chapter, though I made alterations to my initial account from Dummett/McLeod.
I would encourage anyone who has discovered an interest in these games to explore these books if they can.
The Game of Tarot
by Michael Dummett with the assistance of Sylvia Mann
Duckworth 1980 ISBN 0 7156 10147
This book only saw one printing and is now much in demand, sometimes fetching high prices on eBay auctions. However, keep you eyes open and you can find a bargain. It is the most comprehensive book published about tarot, tracing the history of the games, the cards themselves, their designs, and even the occult use.
A History of Games played with the Tarot Pack
Volumes One & Two
By Michael Dummett and John McLeod
Edwin Mellen Press 2004
Volume One ISBN 0 7734 6447 6
Volume Two ISBN 0 7734 6449 2
Supplement from Maproom Publications 2009 ISBN 978 0 9562370 0 2
Edwin Mellen Press is an academic publisher that specializes in supplying academic
libraries and their web site states that they expect to sell only about 500 copies
of a book in its lifetime. Consequently, these are not widely available and are very
costly. These volumes serve to update and expand the work on the card games and their
development given in The Game of Tarot. Although the work is limited to just this
part of tarot’s history, there is no more substantial source of tarot games in the
English Language -
The first supplement to this work has now been published and is only available from the associated website www.tarotgame.org where it can also be downloaded without charge in pdf format. It includes a few corrections, usually expanding on the original text with new information, along with some significant new games – including some of those played in the United States.
A Wicked Pack of Cards
By Ronald Decker, Thierry Depaulis & Michael Dummett
St Martin’s Press 1996 ISBN 0 312 16294 4
This is the first of two books to take up the task of expanding on the history of the occult tarot, which had a fairly detailed but still limited chapter in The Game of Tarot. This book limits itself to the first hundred years of occult tarot, beginning with Antoine Court de Gabelin at the end of the 18th century. This is essential reading if you want to understand where these beliefs came from and how the developed, not to mention just why they were so very wrong. It seems to be a little harder to obtain in the US than in the UK but you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting a copy at a reasonable price.
A History of the Occult Tarot 1870-
By Ronald Decker and Michael Dummett
Duckworth 2002 ISBN 0 7156 3122 5
This book picks up the story where the last one left off, showing how the the occult tarot spread beyond France and throughout the English speaking world until the all English speakers knew by tarot was the occult and fortune telling. Once again, history is essential for understanding why we are where we are and just what went wrong. Together with the previous volume, this book pulls the rug from beneath accounts of the occult tarot leaving us with a pack of playing cards. More easily available than the previous book and you can often get it for a cheap price.
The Penguin Book of Card Games
By David Parlett
Penguin 2008 ISBN-
Previously published in 2000 as the Penguin Encyclopedia of Card Games, this is an
essential book and the only mainstream title that I know of to include the rules
for tarot games. Without doubt, David Parlett is the best of all writers on card
games, providing the rules with clarity, detail, authority, and an enthusiasm for
his subject. Every family should have a book of card games -
www.pagat.com
This web site, maintained by John McLeod, is the single largest resource for card
games on the inter-
www.trionfi.com
This site is dedicated to exploring the history of tarot and includes an enormous museum of card images to illustrate it. You can lose many happy hours here!
www.tarotforum.net
These are the forums for the Aeclectic Tarot web site. Although the focus is on the occult tarot and fortune telling, there is a history section frequented by a few very knowledgeable people. Consequently, there are many posts here that include some new finding on the history of the cards and the games that have helped inform this text.
http://a_pollett.tripod.com
This is the site of Andy’s Playing Cards. Well known on the inter-