Julia Orsini - Le Grand Etteilla ou l'art de tirer les cartes - 1838-1838

Le Grand Etteilla – Julia Orsini – Ancient work on cartomancy and Egyptian tarot – 19th century

Ancient work devoted to cartomancy and the interpretation of tarot, published under the name Julia Orsini and attributed to Simon-François Blocquel. Le Grand Etteilla gathers an introduction to the history of cards, a method of divinatory dealing, the explanation of the 78 tarots or Egyptian cards, a table of the various symbolic meanings as well as rules for playing tarot.

The work is distinguished by its old black-and-white illustrations and its red binding with gold decoration, with marbled boards. It constitutes a historical testimony of the French tradition of cartomancy in the 19th century and presents particular interest for collectors of old books, esotericism and the history of tarot.