Thanks, Ross. Franco says that it is about a lawsuit about who precisely owns the shop, the contract between the abbot and the shop manager having been kept confidential.

Here is another translation, this time of one done in April. At least I am getting it done the same month. I have skipped quite a few in between. As usual, Franco has reviewed the translation and made important suggestions. I have added in brackets some comments that may assist the Italian-deprived ...

Here is another couple of findings from Franco's search through inventories of minors' inheritances. Again, comments in brackets are mine, and Franco has corrected some errors. Florence 1472-1474. Worn-out naibi and triumphs in a bag Franco Pratesi 1. Introduction I present here the results of a sho...

Please note that I have given one of Franco's recent essays a thread of its own, at https://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2733, because I had an idea that I would want to pursue the topic further myself. Having done that, I return to this thread to post more of Franco's recent work...

I have trouble determining which is earlier, the Florentine early pattern or the Bolognese. The clearest differences that can be expected to be inherited from earlier versions are (1) the Aces: Bologna arms on Batons and Swords coming from left, Florence from right; and (2) the Kings: Bologna Cups a...

I want now to pursue further the question of which is earlier, the "early" woodcut pattern or the "late" engraved or engraved-inspired version. First, here are my online sources for the two types. Among the engraved series, even though there were two sub-patterns, one after 1820 ...

I said in my previous post that I would explore how early the engraving plates might have been for the theorized 1682-1701 cards of Schreiber 47. My only point of reference is another engraved deck with some similarities to that one, enough to be significant, namely the Mitelli engraved tarocchini o...

An example of the historical minchiate with the Medici arms on the back, the date 1725 and the signature of Molinelli on card XXXII is at https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b105106319.r=jeucart%20minchiate?rk=107296;4. From the information supplied by Gallica it is not the same deck as that of Sy...

I recently watched a charming video comparing two currently available minchiates, Scarabeo's and Meneghello's, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED3UkT8dfOk. It shows that they are the same deck; the only difference is the coloring. Lo Scarabeo's has the water blue, for example, while in Meneghello it...

I have found another difference between early Bologna and early Florence: the aces are different. I checked all the decks I linked to. In Bologna, the hands holding the Baton and Sword come from the left, but from the right in Florence. For Swords, I give one from Bologna and three from Florence. Be...