Italo Calvino, Sergio Samek Ludovici - Tarots. Le jeu de cartes Visconti de Bergame et New York - 1974

CALVINO (Italo) — SAMEK LUDOVICI (Sergio). Tarots. The Visconti deck of Bergamo and New York. A study by Sergio Samek Ludovici. Text by Italo Calvino. Milan-Paris, Franco Maria Ricci publisher, 1974. Collection "The Signs of Man", 2.

1 large-format quarto volume of 167 pages, in a slipcase.

First French edition of this sumptuous work devoted to the famous tarot deck painted around 1450 for the Visconti and Sforza, dukes of Milan, attributed to Bonifacio Bembo, whose cards are today shared between the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo and the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. The historical study by Sergio Samek Ludovici accompanies the Italo Calvino text inspired by these cards, in the translation by Jean Thibaudeau and Nino Frank. There is also a reproduced autograph page, "Italo Calvino by Himself".

Numerous color reproductions of the cards, pasted in, gilded, and reproductions of frescoes. Printed in Parma in January 1974 at the Nino Amoretti workshop, under the direction of Franco Maria Ricci, on handmade paper specially produced by the Pietro Miliani mill at Fabriano.

Limited edition of 3,000 numbered copies; this one is No. 1678, with the signature of Franco Maria Ricci on the justification. The publisher's control card is kept, at the same number.

Black publisher binding, gilt title and two mounted cards on the front cover, endpapers illustrated with shamrocks; black slipcase adorned with a scatter of shamrocks, medallion with the publisher's arms.

Condition: slipcase rubbed, with whitish marks on one side. Interior very fresh.