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    Tarot in Piedmont in The 16 Century: The Oldest Book On The Subject

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    hparreyra
    This document provides background information on the oldest known book about Tarot cards from the 16th century in Piedmont, Italy. It was written by Francesco Piscina in 1565 in Mondovì, Italy called "Discorso sopra la significatione de’ tarocchi". Very little was known about Tarot in the first few centuries after its introduction to Europe. This book represents an early printed work on the topic rather than a manuscript. The document outlines the bibliographic sources that mention Piscina's book and provide context about the author and the printing industry in Mondovì at the time.

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    Tarot in Piedmont in The 16 Century: The Oldest Book On The Subject

    Uploaded by

    hparreyra
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    This document provides background information on the oldest known book about Tarot cards from the 16th century in Piedmont, Italy. It was written by Francesco Piscina in 1565 in Mondovì, Italy called "Discorso sopra la significatione de’ tarocchi". Very little was known about Tarot in the first few centuries after its introduction to Europe. This book represents an early printed work on the topic rather than a manuscript. The document outlines the bibliographic sources that mention Piscina's book and provide context about the author and the printing industry in Mondovì at the time.

    Original Description:

    Piscina Playing cards

    Original Title

    Piscina 1

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    This document provides background information on the oldest known book about Tarot cards from the 16th century in Piedmont, Italy. It was written by Francesco Piscina in 1565 in Mondovì, Italy called "Discorso sopra la significatione de’ tarocchi". Very little was known about Tarot in the first few centuries after its introduction to Europe. This book represents an early printed work on the topic rather than a manuscript. The document outlines the bibliographic sources that mention Piscina's book and provide context about the author and the printing industry in Mondovì at the time.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    40 views1 page

    Tarot in Piedmont in The 16 Century: The Oldest Book On The Subject

    Uploaded by

    hparreyra
    This document provides background information on the oldest known book about Tarot cards from the 16th century in Piedmont, Italy. It was written by Francesco Piscina in 1565 in Mondovì, Italy called "Discorso sopra la significatione de’ tarocchi". Very little was known about Tarot in the first few centuries after its introduction to Europe. This book represents an early printed work on the topic rather than a manuscript. The document outlines the bibliographic sources that mention Piscina's book and provide context about the author and the printing industry in Mondovì at the time.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 1

    TAROT IN PIEDMONT IN THE 16TH CENTURY:

    THE OLDEST BOOK ON THE SUBJECT


    Franco Pratesi
    (Italian Cards: New Discoveries No. 4)

    It is well known that very few documents have been preserved concerning the first two or three
    centuries following the introduction of Tarocchi. Some evidence derives from poems or other
    literary sources, which were very seldom fully dedicated to Tarot. There is, however, some hope
    that our richest libraries may still contain useful documentation, since the scholars of the past two
    centuries have practically neglected this field, evidently considering it not worthy of any specific
    investigation. A partial explanation for this behaviour may be found in the fact that Tarots have
    been for centuries everyday objects, too common to stimulate any detailed description, whereas
    lately they have, more or less suddenly, completely disappeared from most towns and regions of
    Italy.
    One exception, however, is known to exist which, moreover, is not a manuscript codex or a
    document forgotten in some archive. It is, on the contrary, a veritable printed book which has
    already been recorded in several bibliographies and catalogues. However, since finding it has not
    been too easy, a short introduction will be devoted to the sources and the information gained before
    the book itself is studied.
    For Italian books on cards there exists a useful, although rare, bibliography by A. Lensi,
    published in Florence in 1892 and reprinted in 1985 (Bibliografia Italiana di Giuochi di Carte,
    Longo Editore, Ravenna) in a limited edition, with some additions by Silvestroni and Dossena. This
    bibliography has also been cited by Dummett in his treatise on page 270 (and seemingly used in
    several other passages of the same work). In it we find on page 32 the following: Piscina Francesco.
    Discorso sopra la significatione de’ tarocchi. Mondovì 1570. Citato nel Mare Magnum del
    Marucelli che si conserva manoscritto a Firenze. A check on the manuscript bibliography showed
    that Lensi had not only correctly derived his information therefrom, but also that a second entry was
    initially included on a different page with a slightly different title but later deleted as soon as it was
    realised that it was already listed. This occurrence of a double entry is not common, but far from
    unique.
    Moreover, the book is cited in several catalogues of Piedmontese writers, which also give some
    information on the author and his life. His town was at the time a flourishing cultural centre: in
    Monte Regale (now Mondovì, near Cuneo) the Duke of Savoy, Emanuele Filiberto, had established
    in 1560 a university attended by students from both sides of the Alps. This little town already
    possessed printing-houses, from the previous century, and a certain number of incunabula are
    known from that unexpected provenance. We have obtained a good deal of information from a
    Dissertazione, published in 1801 in Turin and in 1804 in Mondovì, by the priest Gioachino Grassi
    di Santa Cristina on the printing-houses of that town. Two booklets by Piscina would appear to have
    been published in 1570, that is after the beautiful editions by Lorenzo Torrentino and his sons,
    together with Arnoldo Arlenio. These printers came probably from Flanders and Germany
    respectively but had practised their art for some time in Florence whence they were summoned to
    Mondovì by the above-mentioned Duke of Savoy. What escaped this local expert − due to the fact
    that no copy of the edition here discussed has been preserved in the libraries of the town − is that
    the edition is in fact five years older, and thus can be included among the Torrentino editions,
    actually bearing the name of the son Lionardo on the title-page.
    From the Syllabus Scriptorum Piedemontii, by D. Andrea Rossotti, published in Mondovì in
    1667, we obtain on pp. 216-7 information not only about Francesco Piscina but also about his
    father. The latter had been so brave in the battle of Cerasole that the King of France, Francis I,
    allowed him to display the Royal fleur-de-lis on his coat of arms. The Doctor Utriusque Juris
    Francesco Piscina had been a student of law under Menochio, a well-known professor and writer,

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