Franco Pratesi has a couple of new tarot notes on naibi.net. One is about a 1794 Milanese book seemingly aimed at settling disputes among experienced players of the game - Pratesi says it would be no help to a beginner. He compares it with an 1820 edition of the same work and finds it essentially the same. I cannot begin to translate the gaming terms into comprehensible English.

The other, which I want to talk about here, is a 1795 almanac (for 1796) that starts off with a lettera, the second in a series, the first, the previous year, having been about the game of pharaoh). It is a summary of Court de Gebelin's "discoveries" about the Egyptians' original meanings of the cards. The author is a certain Isadoro Bianchi (1730-1808) and the publisher is Giuseppe Feraboli, "stamp. vesc. e della città", i.e. printer for the diocese and the city. The city in question is Cremona. Pratesi's note, in Italian, is at http://naibi.net/A/CREM1795.pdf. My translation of it is at https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.co ... 07/16.html.

This summary is mostly direct quotes, but unattributed, except with a nod at the end to Gebelin, as "the only one in Europe who has understood the allegory of the game" (p. 4 of my translation).

What I am going to do here is make some additional comments about the summary and its author, assuming that you can go to his site and mine for the original and a translation, and then discuss both in relation to the Bolognese cartomancy document.

COMPARING BIANCHI'S SUMMARY WITH GEBELIN'S ORIGINAL

It is in general an able abridgement, accurately translated into Italian, of what Gebelin says regarding the 21 trumps plus the Fool, as well as his derivations of tarrocco, mad (Bianchi's odd spelling of the Matto or Mat), and Bagatto. It is mostly Gebelin's own words, with his characteristic phraseology and scholarly references.

In case you were wondering what decks were actually available in 1794 Cremona, according to the histories of Italian card production they would have been Tarot de Marseille's, precisely what Gebelin was referring to. This was true even in Bologna Sometimes even the titles were in French, or else Italian translations of the French (except for "Maison-Dieu", for which they substituted "Il Torre").

What interested me was those few instances where Bianchi's summary departs from what Gebelin says, or what is on the cards. That might reveal something about the author's own preconceptions, I thought.

One error in describing a card is actually made by Gebelin, too, something I had never noticed before. Gebelin assigns the number XIII to Temperance, even though in all the French decks it was XIIII. The number XIII is even on Gebelin's illustration of the card. Here is Bianchi's description of the card

Nel num. 13 si esprime la Temperanza, che da un vaso versa dell’acqua calda in un
altro per temperare così il suo calore.

In no. 13 is expressed Temperance, who pours hot water from one vase into another to thus temper its heat.

Comparing this to Gebelin himself, we find the number XIII but not the temperature of the water (Monde Primitif, Tome VIII, p. 372, at https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k ... texteImage.

XIII. La Tempérance . C'est une femme aîlée qui fait passer de l'eau d'un vase dans t un autre, pour tempérer la liquer qu'il renferme.

XIII. Temperance. It is a winged woman who passes water from one vase to another, to temper the liquor it contains.

To me this shows nothing about how Bianchi or others saw the card, but might about how they saw the stereotypical image of Temperance: as cooling hot water.

What Bianchi says about number 11, Forza (Gebelin's Force), is also of interest.

Il num. 11 rappresenta la Forza. Quella è una Donna, che, resasi padrona di un Lione, lo sbrana, come potrebbe farsi del più piccolo Cane.

No. 11 depicts Strength. That is a Woman who, having become mistress of a Lion, tears him to pieces, as might be done with the smallest Dog.

Gebelin does not say such a thing, but says only that "she holds open its mouth, as she might that of her little spaniel" ("lui ouvre la gueule avec la même facilité qu'elle ouvriroit celle de son petit éspagneul"). So Bianchi is probably thinking of what Samson did to his young lion, or Hercules with his.

When Bianchi gets to Death, he correctly identifies it as 13, despite its being the second card with that number. Not only that, but he gives the card that Gebelin identified with the Egyptian Typhon, brother of Isis and Osiris, the same number. Gebelin had associated Typhon with card 15, of course. As a result, Bianchi has nothing for card 15 at all. Bianchi:

Non è maraviglia, che nel num. 13 si vegga la Morte. Questo è un gioco di guerra. Rappresenta il num. 13 un personaggio Egizio, cioè Tifone, Fratello di Osiride, e di Iside.

It is no wonder that in number 13 is seen Death. this is a game of war. The number 13 represents an Egyptian personage, that is, Typhon, Brother of Osiris and Isis.

Gebelin:

Le no. XV représente le célebre personnage Egyptien Typhon, frere d'Osiris et d'Isis, le mauvais Principe, le grand Démon d'enfer.

No. XV represents the famous Egyptian personage Typhon, brother of Osiris and Isis, the bad Principle, the great Demon of hell.

Finally, when it comes to the Sun and the Moon cards, 19 and 18, Bianchi cites Gebelin's story from Pausanias about the tears of Isis:

Pausania nella descrizione della Focide ci assicura, che le lagrime d’ Iside, secondo gli Egiziani, erano stelle, che gonfiavano ogni anno leacque del Nilo, e che rendevano così fertili le campagne di Egitto.

Pausanias in the description of Phocis assures us that the tears of Isis, according to the Egyptians, were stars, which swelled the waters of the Nile every year, and which thus made the countryside of Egypt fertile.

This sentence appears between his mention of the Sun and his mention of the Moon, so it is not clear which card he is talking about. It doesn't matter, since these "tears" are on both cards. What is absent from the cards is any suggestion that they are stars; nor does Gebelin say that they are stars, although all the rest is a direct quote. Whether Bianchi has actually looked at the card is unclear. Gebelin (p. 373):

Pausanias nous apprend dans la Description de la Phocide, que, selon les Egyptiens, c'étoient les larmes d'Isis qui enfloient chaque année les eaux du Nil & qui rendoient ainsi les campagne de l'Egypte.

Pausanias teaches us in the Description of Phocis that, according to the Egyptians, it was the tears of Isis which swelled the waters of the Nile each year and which thus restored the countryside of Egypt.

At the end, Bianchi says, "A certain Court de Gebelin was the only one in Europe who understood the allegory of this game," his only acknowledgement of Gebelin. So for Bianchi, Gebelin is offering a unique interpretation, hitherto unknown in Europe.

DATE AND AUTHOR

While the almanac is dated 1795, its preface is quite possibly a reprint of work printed earlier. Pratesi refers to a rather long biography of Bianchi on Treccani, https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/is ... iografico). Besides his best-known work, the Meditations, and others, it mentions the almanac, including his piece on the tarot:

Ripubblicò a Lodi, presso Antonio Pallavicini, nel 1779, le sue Meditazioni e riprese l'attività di pubblicista. A Cremona si legò strettamente con l'editore Lorenzo Manini, collaborando al Novellista patriotico e all'almanacco da questo pubblicato (con scritti sulla libertà del commercio dei grani, sull'"influenza del commercio sopra i talenti", sul "senso comune", "sul gioco del faraone" e "del tarocco"). Legatosi con Gian Rinaldo Carli, procurò, presso il medesimo editore, una riedizione delle Lettere americane, facendole precedere da una dedica a B. Franklin (1781) e seguire da un'apologia di quest'opera contro gli attacchi di Clavigero (prefazione nell'edizione delle Opere di G. R. Carli, XI, Milano 1785). Diede pure un'edizione degli Opuscoli eruditi di G. Allegranza (1781).

He republished his Meditations in Lodi, with Antonio Pallavicini, in 1779 and resumed his activity as a publicist. In Cremona he became closely linked with the publisher Lorenzo Manini , collaborating on the Novellista patriotico and on the almanac he published (with writings on the freedom of the grain trade , on the "influence of trade on talents", on "common sense", "on the game of pharaoh" and "of the tarocco"). Linked with Gian Rinaldo Carli, he procured from the same publisher a reprint of the Lettere americane, having them preceded by a dedication to B. Franklin (1781) and followed by an apology [i.e., defense] of this work against Clavigero's attacks (preface in the edition of the Opere of G.R. Carli[/i] XI, Milan 1785). He also gave an edition of the Opuscoli eruditi by G. Allegranza (1781).

I wondered about this Lettere americane. I findat https://bookcollectorshop.com/products/2688, that its author, Gian Rinaldo Carli (1720-1795), also known by other names, was an Italian economist, historian, and antiquarian. That site continues, "This work contains Carli's letters theorizing about the origins of the American Indians, possibly from Europe via Atlantis to Brazil." Bianchi wrote the dedication. Carli was another pro-Austrian enlightenment intellectual and has his own biography in Treccani.

Given the inclusion of the article on the tarot in Treccani's paragraph going from 1779 to 1781, Pratesi is justified in wondering if the 1795 publication is perhaps a reprint of something earlier.

Treccani says that he maintained a vast correspondence. Treccani lists a series of Italian and perhaps Portuguese or Spanish names, but no French ones. However, it adds (most of this part quoted by Pratesi):

È possibile che questa rete epistolare segua talvolta canali latomistici. Con la massoneria il B. poté già essere in contatto fin dal tempo del suo viaggio e soggiorno nell'Italia meridionale e in Danimarca, anche se non abbiamo una documentazione probante in proposito. L'importanza della loggia cremonese e l'intensa attività massonica di Manini poterono rendere più fitti questi suoi legami. Raccolse allora un vasto materiale per una storia Dei misteri eleusini e dell'antico arcano e nel 1786 pubblicò un opuscolo, con la falsa indicazione di Ravenna, presso Pietro Martire Neri, ma stampata a Cremona, Dell'istituto dei veri liberi muratori. Alla vita massonica continuò a interessarsi anche in seguito.

It is possible that this epistolary network sometimes follows Masonic [latomistica] channels. B.[Bianchi] could already be in contact with Masonry [massoneria] since the time of his travel and stay in southern Italy and in Denmark, even if we don't have any probative documentation in this regard. The importance of the Cremonese lodge and Manini's intense Masonic activity could make his ties even closer. He then collected a vast amount of material for a history of the Eleusinian mysteries and of the ancient arcane and in 1786 he published a pamphlet, with the false indication of Ravenna, with Pietro Martire Neri, but printed in Cremona, Of the institute of true free masons. He continued to be interested in Masonic life even later.

In Denmark Bianchi had been part of a diplomatic mission for the Kingdom of Naples, working as secretary to the prince of Raffadala, for which he got permission from the Holy See to travel (Bianchi was a monk). I think that this prince must be Salvatore Montaperto Uberti e Branciforte, listed at https://www.geni.com/people/Salvatore-M ... 6102013685, ca. 1717 Palermo - 1801 Madrid. Naples was then one of the two most active centers of Masonry on the peninsula. Luca G. Manenti, in The Grand Orient of Italy, 2019 (online), p. 30, writes:

Most of the lodges were to be found in Turin and Naples, seats respectively of the Grand Priory of Italy, founded in 1775 and presided over by Count Gabriele Asinari of Bernezzo, and the Grand Lodge “Lo Zelo” [The Fervour], led by Francesco d'Aquino, prince of Caramanico and the favorite of Queen Maria Carolina.

Treccani's biography also mentions that after Denmark, in 1776, Bianchi spent some months in Paris, where he met Rousseau and the encyclopedists among others, and then Bordeaux, traveling with the prince of Raffadala. Paris is an obvious place for contacts with Freemasons, as Franco observes.

Some of the correspondence between Bianchi and Manini in the relevant time period is online; I have not yet found any reference to Masons in it. It seems to be mostly about Latin and Greek inscriptions on marble slabs.

Bianchi's book Del Instituto dei veri liberi Muratori is online at https://books.google.com/books?id=EIEkk ... &q&f=false. It appears to be a speculative history going back to ancient times rather than an account of recent actual Masons, although they are mentioned in very general terms and never referring to Italy. Actual Masons were called "Franchi Muratori," or "Franc-Maçons," as opposed to "Liberi Muratori." Both mean "Free Masons". I do not know the term "Liberi Muratori" outside of Bianchi.

Pratesi does not go into the political situation at this time in relation to our author, but it seems to me worth mentioning. Lombardy, including Cremona, was at the time of Bianchi's return (starting 1779), occupied until 1796 by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bianchi expressed himself a fervent supporter of the enlightenment-oriented emperor Joseph II, Trecanni says. This is the emperor who supported Mozart, and also religious toleration and Freemasonry, as did his immediate successor (who died in 1792). In fact, it seems that Bianchi owed his job to Austrian connections: the count of Fermian, plenipotentiary to Maria-Theresa (n. 5, p. 238 of the Correspondence Inedite, https://www.persee.fr/doc/mefr_0223-487 ... _13_1_6096), enabling him to leave the Calmadolese monastery in Classe, outside of Ravenna, where he then lived and taught, and take up a professorship at the gymnasium (academic high school) of Cremona, his hometown. He even tried to get himself defrocked, unsuccessfully. Treccani says that his friends warned him that if he entered the papal state, he would be arrested by the Inquisition. After the French Republic invaded in 1796, he managed to keep his teaching position; there is a letter urging him to teach republicanism. When the Austrians took over again, Bianchi wrote against the previous French occupiers. When France retook Lombardy, Bianchi had to retire but kept his pension.

RELATIONSHIP TO THE BOLOGNESE CARTOMANCY DOCUMENT

Franco in his comments reminds the reader of the fact that the Bolognese cartomancy document was (and is) stored at the University of Bologna Library (BUB) with material on freemasonry ("Franc-Maçons"). I can say a little about that, since the storage seems not to have changed. It is 3 pages, "Dall'origine dei Franc-Maçons," BUB_4029-R-2; the cartomancy document is 2 pages BUB_4029-R.

BUB_4029-R (cartomancy):
BUB_4029-R2 (freemasonry):
The handwriting of the freemasonry document of subfolder BUB 4029R-2 seems to me, and to Franco, similar to that of the cartomancy document in the nearby subfolder 4029R (file 4029 itself has many subfolders, each with a letter of the alphabet; R is the highest). I asked Franco what date range he would give for this style of handwriting. He emailed back, "1750-1850," adding that perhaps an expert could give a narrower range. Lorenzo Cuppi, in his article discussing the cartomancy document, said

Regardo a questo manoscritto vorrei osservare brevemente che esso si trova tra manoscritti del 1760 e che la sua grafia e talmente moderna che puo sembrare ottocentesca.

Regarding the manuscript, I would like to remark briefly that it is found among manuscripts from 1760 and that the handwriting is so modern that it may seem nineteenth century.

("Tarocchino Bolognese. Due Nuovi Manuscritti Scoperti e Alcune Osservazioni, Part II," The Playing Card 30, No. 4 (2003) p. 191.)
Cuppi supposed it to be a copy of the original (probably based on the erroneous supposition that fantesche - female pages, maids - stopped being used in Bologna by 1760).

There is also a BUB_4029-R-1, a 2 page letter, plus a doodle on the back of the second page, that purports to be the translation of a letter from Paris. Pratesi tells me that the handwriting of this letter looks "foreign"; it seems to me similar to French handwriting I have seen. I can't read it, but it doesn't seem to pertain to either freemasonry or cards. There is no date, but the subfolder tab has the dates 1783-1784 printed on the other side; someone recycled the back of a handout of some kind. Below, I have flipped (left and right) and enhanced the scan so that the other side is more legible.
Napoleon entered Bologna in June of 1796, and his forces remained until 1815, except for one year under Austria, 1799-1800. I personally do not think that the cartomancy document is as late as 1796, given the dates on the subfolder tab for the letter from Paris. But you never know. The French opened Masonic lodges en masse, part of spreading revolutionary French values; Italians signed up in their tens of thousands (Manenti p. 39).

In the handwritten Freemasonry document 4029-R-2, the last date I can make out is 1766. When I emailed the scan to Franco, he noticed a large watermark on the center of the 2nd and 3rd pages, the letters DV in a circle. If anyone knows that watermark, it might at least help document the time and place of the paper that was used.

I now offer a translation of Franco's follow-up essay on Gebelin's fortunes in northern Italy.

https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.co ... -o_15.html

My comments pertain only to a long quotation from Cicognara that Franco extracts information from. It reads (following Franco's division of the paragraph into smaller ones):

Gibelin nelle sue ricerche su questo argomento con moltissimo ingegno, e vagando piacevolmente forse nei sogni, pretende che le carte da Tarocco, giuoco non conosciuto in Francia, siano un antico libro, la cui allegoria trova conforme alla dottrina civile, filosofica e religiosa degli antichi Egizi, e vuol riconoscerlo come un’opera della profondissima sapienza di que’ popoli, ove tutto era grande e misterioso, e i soli che poterono inventarlo, rivaleggiando in tal proposito cogl’Indiani, cui si attribuisce l’invenzione degli scacchi.

Deriva egli infatti il nome Tarocchi da Tar, che significa via, cammino, da Ros, Ro, Rog che significa Re reale, e spiegasi letteralmente cammino reale della vita, cosicchè passando in rivista li diversi stati, nei quali la vita degli uomini è divisa, facilmente si trova come spiegare, senza troppe contorsioni d’ingegno, qualunque allegoria di questo giuoco.

Che infatti le immagini delle cose servissero agli antichissimi popoli di caratteri ognuno lo sa, e siccome la varia combinazione degli oggetti che si riproducono alla facoltà visiva, dispongono l’osservatore alla meditazione, così in quelli trova facilmente un linguaggio mistico, che specialmente in Oriente era riservato al sacerdozio, e che forma in questa età nostra l’occupazione di tanti dotti, e dà luogo a tante controversie. Se quindi la faccia d’un Obelisco o di uno Scarabeo ci presenta una quantità d’imagini alle quali è pur forza attribuire un significato, perchè si vorrà trovar stravagante o piuttosto perchè vorrassi che sia vuoto di senso ciò che esprime ciascuna delle carte di Tarocchi, e perchè non si vorrà che rappresentando queste altrettanti caratteri mobili per il vario loro accozzamento non abbiano a dinotare egualmente un vario discorso simboleggiando gli avvenimenti della vita umana sotto questo mistico e scherzevole velame? A noi sembra molto più strano voler negare a queste paginette volanti un significato, ridendosi delle indagini, che si sono fatte per ispiegarlo.

Noi però non pretendiamo che l’interpretazione data dal citato autore non possa incontrare molte eccezioni, e che da altri non potessero diversamente spiegarsi questi enigmi. Piace qui riferirla brevemente anche pel favore, con cui si accolse questa medesima spiegazione in un Almanacco pubblicato in Cremona nel 1814 per cura di Monsignor Antonio Dragoni, negli ameni e nei profondi studj versatissimo, il quale avendola riprodotta come oggetto istruttivo e scherzoso ad un tempo, in un paese, ove tal giuoco è tuttora di comune trattenimento, compiacque alle ricerche di alcuni di lui amici senza più oltre ingolfarsi nell’oscura materia. Le carte emblematiche dei Tarocchi essendo XXI presentarono subitamente l’idea suggerita dalla Egiziana dottrina, che fu in seguito tanto cara a Pitagora, essendo il 3. numero perfetto e il 7. numero mistico per eccellenza. Quindi è che That perché il suo libro o quadro della creazione e della vita contenne tutte le possibili perfezioni, e fosse misterioso per eccellenza, lo compose di tre classi d’imagini, che notavano le tre prime età del Mondo, l’età d’ oro, quella d’ argento, e la terza di bronzo, e ciascuna classe delle imagini rappresentar quindi doveva in sette divisioni, quale una maggior perfezione, e quale un più profondo misticismo.(9)
_____________
9. L. Cicognara, Memorie spettanti alla storia della calcografia [Tomo 2]. Prato 1831. https://books.google.com/books?id=lLY-A ... in&f=false, a pagg. 130-131.

Which I render, not without hesitation, as:

Gibelin in his research on this subject, with great ingenuity and wandering pleasantly perhaps in dreams, claims that the cards of Tarot, a game not known in France, are an ancient book, whose allegory he finds in conformity with the civil, philosophical and religious doctrine of the ancient Egyptians, and he wants to recognize it as a work of the profound wisdom of those peoples, where everything was great and mysterious, and the only ones who could invent it, rivaling in this regard the Indians, to whom the invention of chess is attributed.

He derives in fact the name Tarocchi from Tar, which means way, road, and Ros, Ro, Rog which means royal King, and literally explains royal road of life, so that by reviewing the different states into which the life of men is divided, it is easy to find how to explain, without too many contortions of ingenuity, any allegory of this game.

In fact, everyone knows that the images of things served ancient peoples as characters, and since the various combinations of objects that are reproduced in the visual faculty dispose the observer to meditation, so in them he easily finds a mystical language, which especially in the East it was reserved for the priesthood, and which in our age forms the occupation of many scholars, and gives rise to many controversies. Therefore, if the face of an Obelisk or a Scarab presents us with a quantity of images to which we are forced to attribute a meaning, why would we want to find it extravagant, or rather why would we have liked what each of the Tarot cards expresses to be empty of meaning, and why wouldn't we want that representing these many movable characters, due to their various combinations, might not equally denote a various discourse symbolizing the events of human life under this mystical and joking veil? It seems to us much stranger to want to deny these little pages a meaning, [even while] laughing at the investigations that have been carried out to explain it.

However, we do not pretend that the interpretation given by the aforementioned author cannot encounter many exceptions, and that these enigmas could not be explained differently by others. It is nice to mention it briefly here also for the favor with which this same explanation was received in an Almanac published in Cremona in 1814 by Monsignor Antonio Dragoni, very versed in pleasant and profound studies, who having reproduced it as an instructive and joking object at the same time, in a country where this game is still a common entertainment, he complied with the research of some of his friends without delving further into the obscure matter. The emblematic cards of the Tarot, being XXI, immediately presented the idea suggested by the Egyptian doctrine, which was later so dear to Pythagoras, being the 3rd perfect number and the 7th mystical number par excellence. So it is that That [i.e. Thot or Thoth], because his book or picture of creation and life contained all possible perfections and was mysterious par excellence, he composed it of three classes of images, noting the three first ages of the World, the age of gold, that of silver, and the third of bronze, and each class of images therefore had to represent in seven divisions that greater perfection and deeper mysticism.
________________
9. L. Cicognara, Memorie spettanti alla storia della calcografia [Tomo 2] (Memoirs pertaining to the history of copperplate engraving, Vol. 2]. Prato 1831. https://books.google.com/books?id=lLY-A ... in&f=false, pp. 130-131

I have altered Franco's link to Cicognara slightly, as I couldn't get his to work. In the translation, am unsure about the long sentence comparing obelisks and tarot cards, and the sentence after it. But I think I have the meaning at least.

What Franco finds of interest here is the reference to an almanac published in 1814 Cremona, as it seems to be a follow-up to the 1796 "Second Letter" which he transcribed in his first essay on this subject. The reference to "the research of some of his friends", i.e. Dragoni's friends (yes, the forger), was particularly interesting, because it suggests not only that Gebelin was being studied in Cremona, but that they were extending his work by their own "research".

What I am interested in is how this 1814 publication that Franco found reference to in Cicognara might have been a development from Gebelin rather than merely a summary of his views, as in 1796.

If you look at what Cicognara says immediately after the passage that Franco quotes, you will see that he presents an account of the 22 cards in order from 21 to 0. So in that list is Cicognara writing down what he has been reading in the lost almanac, or is it his own effort, based on notes he has taken and then put together according to what appealed to him? I think the former. If the latter, he is not likely to have said "Gibilen" at the start of Franco's quote, or "That" for "Thot" at the end. Also, if Cicognara had read the French original, he surely would have noticed that the doctrine of the three ages comes from de Mellet, not "Gibelin"; Gebelin does not speak of it. And even if Cicognara was speaking in a kind of shorthand, treating both authors as one, he would have noticed that for de Mellet the third age is iron, not bronze: it is right in de Mellet's section title. This change from iron to bronze is already an innovation by the group in Lombardy. If the third age is the Bronze Age, then the tarot itself would either be from that period or a little later, making it possibly earlier than for de Mellet. (The idea of the four ages itself goes back to Hesiod and Ovid.)

Also in favor of the account's not being Cicognara's own compilation is that after attributing the doctrine of the three ages to the account in the almanac, the first sentence of the next paragraph picks up where the previous one ended (Here I am using archive.org's edition of Cicognara, https://archive.org/details/gri_3312500 ... 7/mode/2up, since it offers a text version. The date of publication is the same, 1831, but the print is smaller and the pages bigger, so that all three volumes are in one, with the part I am quoting on pp. 53-55 rather than 131-135 in the Google Books version.)

XXI. Prima e principale imagine esser dunque doveva il 21, cioè il Mondo prima figura del secolo di oro.

XXI. First and principal image must therefore be the 21, that is, the World, first figure of the era [literally, century] of gold.

This comes directly out of what he had said in the last sentence of the preceding paragraph, which he attributed to the Lombard text. Cicognara goes on:

Nell’ uovo simbolo della creazione, sta Iside, idea del tempo col peplo in capo, a’ quattro angoli sono le quattro stagioni dell’anno Aquila, ossia Primavera. Leone o Estate, Bue o Autunno Genico Inverno, che dai moderni non è meraviglia che fosser presi per quattro segni evangelici.

In the egg symbol of creation, is Isis, the idea of time with the peplos on her head, in the four corners are the four seasons of the year Aquila [the Eagle], i.e. Spring, Leo or Summer, Ox or Autumn Genius Winter, which by moderns it is no wonder that they were taken for four evangelical signs.

This account of the World card is not Gebelin alone, but a mixture of him and de Mellet: for the latter the lady in the middle is Isis, for the former she is the goddess of Time. Cicognara has both.

Then for Judgment, we read:

XX. Il Giudizio, un uomo e una donna fanciulli, che spuntano dalla terra alla voce di Osiride, la quale comanda alla materia, e li anima col fuoco simbolo della Creazione.

XX. The Judgment, a man and a woman, children, who emerge from the earth at the voice of Osiris, who commands matter, and animates them with the fire symbol of Creation.

While both Gebelin and de Mellet speak of this card as about creation, it is only de Mellet who mentions the voice of Osiris and the animating fire.

Then, to complete this age of gold, he lists the Sun, Moon, Star, Castle of the Devil, and Typhon:

XIX. Il Sole, anima di tutto il creato presso ogni popolo della terra.
XVIII. La Luna, da cui cadono le lagrime d’Iside, che ogni anno gonfiando il Nilo feconda le campagne Egiziane, allorché il Sole avvicinasi al Cancro che vedesi nel Nilo. Li due cani che abbajano alla Luna presentano un’ulteriore allegoria, che ciascuno del volgo spiega uniformemente .
XVII. Li sette pianeti, anticamente conosciuti, e la Canicola; o la stella per eccellenza; ed Iside che all’ alzarsi della Canicola versa le sue lagrime, allude alla rigenerazione della natura.
XVI. Il castello di Pluto, o la casa per eccellenza. Ma la moderazione essendo prima dote d’ogni
eccellenza, il castello pieno d’oro cade precipitoso, e i suoi adoratori soccombono sotto il suo peso. Lezione di gran moralità per gli avari.
XV. Tifone detto il diavolo fratello d’Iside e di Osiride. Qui il cattivo principio, ossia il principe del male, il gran genio delle tenebre, origine delle disgrazie, chiude il secol d’ oro, e mena a quello dell’ argento.

XIX. The Sun, soul of all creation among every people on earth.
XVIII. The Moon, from which the tears of Isis fall, which every year by swelling the Nile fertilizes the Egyptian countryside, when the Sun approaches Cancer which can be seen in the Nile. The two dogs barking at the Moon present a further allegory, which each of the common people explains uniformly.
XVII. The seven planets, anciently known, and the Canicola; or the star par excellence; and Isis who sheds her tears as the dog days rise, alludes to the regeneration of nature.
XVI.// Pluto's castle, or the house par excellence. But moderation being the first quality of all excellence, the castle full of gold falls hastily, and its worshipers succumb under its weight. Lesson of great morality for the avaricious.
XV. Typhon, known as the devil, brother of Isis and Osiris. Here the bad principle, that is, the prince of evil, the great genius of darkness, origin of misfortunes, closes the golden age and leads to the silver one.

This is all based on Gebelin; the specific phrase "soul of all creation..." is not in that author, but it sums him up well enough. The Moon is also Gebelin, who speaks of the Nile flood when the Sun is in Cancer, and how the two dogs represent the Tropics, keeping the Sun and Moon from going too far toward the poles. How the common people (volgo) would explain the dogs is not clear: surely not by reference to the Tropics. Perhaps Cicognara's author is thinking of de Mellet, who speaks instead of a dog and wolf, domestic and wild, both regretting the advent of night. But it is Gebelin who talks about Isis causing the Nile flood with her tears when the Dog-Star rises. not de Mellet, for whom the lady is Aquarius. Then it is only Gebelin who calls the sixteenth card the House of the Devil, a house of gold, and sees it as a warning against avarice; for de Mellet it is the expulsion from Paradise, the House of God. With that expulsion the Devil/Typhon ends the age of gold - something de Mellet does not mention specifically, although the card is the last of that age. "Castello" would seem to be a Lombard innovation. When the Lombard card makers themselves put Italian titles on the Tarot de Marseille images, their word was "Torre." Finally, neither French author speaks of Typhon/Devil as "the great genius of darkness"; they only identify him with winter (in Gebelin's case, it is only by inference: winter is the time when Osiris is lost).

When it comes to the Hanged Man, the account in Cicognara becomes more inventive. While repeating both Gebelin and de Mellet in saying that the prudent man walks [ipied suspeso, foot suspended (in the act of walking carefully), the account says more:

Xll. Il genio della Prudenza. Chi è prudente cammina col piè sospeso. Chi mai lo avrebbe detto a Mercurio, che alla fine dei conti la sua prudenza doveva cangiarsi in un appeso. Nel giuoco delle Minchiate da noi veduto, e delle alcuni giuochi di Tarocco non travassi però fatta una tal metamorfosi.

XII. The genius of Prudence. One who is prudent walks with foot suspended. Who ever would have told Mercury that in the end his prudence had to turn into a hanged man. However, in the game of Minchiate seen by us, and in some Tarot games, such a metamorphosis was not achieved.

I have no idea in what way Mercury's prudence turned into a hanged man. What is in each of the last two sentences is not in the French authors.

Strength and the Wheel are then characterized in de Mellet's way, the former connecting the lion with uncultivated land and the former talking about the injustices of this goddess. Neither is a theme of Gebelin's. The two are similar for the "Sage or Philosopher" (not a Hermit), although the word "philosophe" only occurs in Gebelin.

The account of Justice seems to be an innovation combining Gebelin's identification of Giustizia with Astraea and de Mellet's dividing line between silver and iron:

VIII. La Giustizia sta per abandonnare la terra ed aprire così le porte al secolo di bronzo.

VIII. Justice is about to abandon the earth and thus open the doors to the century of bronze.

Neither French author had mentioned her fleeing the earth, so this is a rather nice transitional interpretation. Nor do either say anything about Justice in terms of its being the last card in the age of silver (although for de Mellet it is).

For the Chariot Cicognara's account combines Gebelin's identification of the charioteer as Osiris defending himself against his enemies with de Mellet's more negative view that the chariot is the symbol of war, both in the dissensions and murders of the bronze age and the criminal age of iron.

VII. Osiride su d’un carro trionfale, simbolo delle guerre proprie nel secolo di bronzo.

VII. Osiris on a triumphal chariot, symbol of war itself in the century of bronze.

That it is Osiris is only in Gebelin. De Mellet says (I am using Karlin's translation):

Seventh, the WAR CHARIOT, in which is an armor-clad King, armed with a javelin, expresses the dissensions, the murders, the combats of the age of bronze, & announces the crimes of the age of iron.

What is odd here is mentioning the bronze age, de Mellet's only such mention, before jumping immediately into the iron age.

When it comes to Love, Cicognara's title "Matrimonio" sides with Gebelin, who sees it as marriage, also citing his "Love unites Honor and Truth," as opposed to a choice between virtue and vice. Cicognara's account does say that it is the antidote against concubinage.

Here is Cicognara's account of the fifth card:

V. Il Jerofante o gran Sacerdote, ora il Papa. Col triplice Tau, ossia segno per eccellenza. Necessità di stabilire la gerarchia sacerdotale.

V. The Hierophant or high Priest, now the Pope. With triple Tau, or sign of excellence. Necessity of stabilizing the priestly hierarchy.

Instead of the Pope, de Mellet mentions only Jupiter. Cicognara "Hierophant" and "Papa" would be from Gebelin. The three-barred cross is in Gebelin, but he does not call it a Tau: he says it is a design seen in the Bembine Tablet under the letter TT. Cicognara's "Necessity for stabilizing the priesthood" is something new; it seems made to order for these post-Napoleonic times of 1814 and later.

IV. Il Re. Necessità dell’ordine sociale e dell’autorità.
III. La Regina.

IV. The King. Necessity of the social order and of authority.
III. The Queen.

Both Gebelin and de Mellet call the Emperor and Empress King and Queen. Gebelin's positive language is used rather than de Mellet's more negative view ("his helmet is trimmed below with sawteeth, to make known that nothing could assuage his insatiability" (de Mellet's footnote: "or his vengeance, if it is Osiris angered").

The last three cards get more comment than any prevous ones. Here for card II:

II. La gran Sacerdotessa o Papessa. E noto come non fosse precluso nell’antico ordine sacerdotale il vincolo del matrimonio, e quindi successivamente per abuso si è data questa denominazione secondo il vario carattere della prima dignità ecclesiastica. La dissero altrimenti l'orgoglio de’ potenti, poiché fu posta talvolta in suo luogo una Giunone co’ pavoni, siccome si vide posto il Giove in luogo del Papa.

I. The High Priestess or Popess. It is known that in the ancient priestly order the bond of marriage was not precluded, and therefore subsequently due to abuse this name was given according to the variable character of the first ecclesiastical dignity. It was said of her differently the pride of the powerful, since sometimes a Juno with peacocks was placed in her place, just as Jupiter was seen placed in the Pope's place.

This follows de Gebelin's observation that in ancient times the priesthood did not preclude the bond of marriage. The next part, if it is a matter of "abuse" would seem to refer to "Pope Joan." I find nothing like this language in either French writer. The presence of the peacock on the version with Juno gives it the interpretation of "pride of the powerful" given by de Mellet.

Cicognara's account of the Bagat uses the title "Giocolare", which seems like a good translation of "Bateleur," applying to the entertainer rather than to a gambler.

1. Il Giocolatore, che colla verga fa prodigi, esso è detto Pag ad o Bagat, cioè arbitro della fortuna. Difatti questo nome, che nulla significa nelle nostre lingue occidentali, è appunto orientale, e Pag significa capo, padrone, signore, e Gad Fortuna, ed il giuocolatore si raffigura come un arbitro della sorte colla bacchetta di Giacobbe, o colla verga dei Magi.

1. The game-player, who works wonders with the rod, is called Pag ad or Bagat, that is, arbiter of fortune. In fact this name, which means nothing in our Western languages, is precisely oriental, and Pag means leader, master, lord, and Gad Fortuna, and the juggler is depicted as an arbiter of fate with Jacob's wand, or with the rod of the Magi.

His description of the personage comes straight from Gebelin. It omits de Mellet's observation that another of his talents is sisleading the people.

The account's description of the Fool combines Gebelin and de Mellet:

O. Zero, il Matto Mat, privo di cervello. Questa carta non ha numero, ma però essa completò l’Alfabeto sacro di That, e corrisponde al Tan che vuol dire compimento ó perfezione. Può nominarsi anche Zero della mistica numerazione, e lo Zero, che da se nulla vale, tanto poi serve a far valere gli altri numeri. Questo Mat in un sacco dietro le spalle tiene i suoi difetti, ma il rimorso sotto figura di una tigre lo arresta. Questo mistico Zero alluderà forse alla scienza umana, che secondo gli ignoranti però, non è che stoltezza e vanità.

O. Zero, the Madman Mat, brainless. This card has no number, but nevertheless it completed the sacred Alphabet of That, and corresponds to Tan which means fulfillment or perfection. It can also be called the Zero of mystical numbering, and the Zero, which in itself is worth nothing, since it then serves to give value to the other numbers. This Mat in a bag behind his back keeps his defects, but remorse in the guise of a tiger stops him. This mystical Zero will perhaps allude to human science, which according to the ignorant, however, is nothing but foolishness and vanity.

"Brainless" corresponds to de Mellet's "cracked brain." That the bag contains his faults and the tiger is his remorse is in both Gebelin and de Mellet. The language about zero as nothing when alone but giving value to other numbers is Gebelin's, but the correspondence to "Tan" is that to Tau articulated only by de Mellet, and in a different part of his essay, not as a sign of perfection, but "just a sign, a mark." That science is nothing but foolishness and vanity according to the ignorant is this account's own innovation.

There is then a long paragraph on the suits. I put in bold what seems in neither French writer.

Questo libro venne anche in antichissimi tempi ampliato, reso più misterioso, e più conforme agli oracoli, e agli enigmi, e la divisione delle quattro classi, in cui erano partite quelle popolazioni, nobili o militari, sacerdoti, agricoltori, mercadanti ed artisti trovarono luogo nel libro di That ciascuna delle quali ebbe immagini, tessere, o numeri j e così il mistico sette ebbe l’assoluto primato in quel libro per eccellenza misterioso, e le sue immagini significative furono dieci volte sette, ossia 77 numeri per eccellenza misteriosissimi, ai quali aggiungendo il Matto^ che come fu detto, è lo Zero del calcolo divinatorio, completasi il numero del mazzo di Tarocchi universalmente conosciuto, e composto di 78 carte. Li quattro nuovi segni introdotti nel libro di That furono Spade, Coppe, Bastoni, e Denari. La spada contrassegnò anche qui la prima classe de’ nobili e militari, la potenza regia, la vittoria, eie sue conseguenze, e nel linguaggio mistico la verità scoprivasi colla spada. Le coppe o tazze di cui facevasi uso nelle divinazioni e nei sacrificj indicarono il sacerdozio, o la seconda classe. Il bastone ossia la mazza d’ Ercole o il serpente di Osineo, mostrò le arti dell’agricoltura. L’oro fu il segno delle arti e del commercio, ed era il talismano o l’amuleto del giuoco che veniva consultato più di ogni altro segno. Il XVIII. e il XIII. dei Tarocchi presagivano eventi funesti : nelle spade l’asse era di buon augurio, le coppe erano indizio di felicità, i bastoni indicavano mescolanza di bene e di male, e l’oro o la moneta dinotava ricchezza. Questi segni già per loro stessi emblematici e misteriosi uniti ai misticissimi Tarocchi, con tante e svariate loro combinazioni, provocavano facilmente occasione di risposta agli Oracoli, che i Magi, i Sapienti, o Sacerdoti sapevano interpretare come decreti del destino; la quale interpretazione a poco a poco divenne il retaggio delle donnicciuule, ed ora divide fra queste ed anche fra qualche eletta matrona il diritto di presagire le umane avventure. E non è rado che sia talvolta ritroso Morfeo de’ suoi papaveri con qualche lamina elegante, che incolpa delle spine, e delle veglie moleste l’infausto augurio, che nella tarda sera le presagirono sul tavoliere le fallite combinazioni delle solitarie pazienze.

This book was also expanded in very ancient times, made more mysterious, and more in conformity with oracles and enigmas, and the division of the four classes, in which those populations, nobles or soldiers, priests, farmers, merchants and artists had started, found place in That's book each of which had images, tiles, or numbers and so the mystical seven had absolute primacy in that quintessential mysterious book, and its significant images were ten times seven, i.e. 77 quintessential mysterious numbers, to which adding the Fool, by which, as has been said, is the Zero of the divinatory calculation, the number of the universally known Tarot deck, Batons, and Coins. Here too the sword marked the first class of nobles and soldiers, royal power, victory and its consequences, and in mystical language the truth was discovered with the sword. The cups or cups used in divinations and sacrifices indicated the priesthood, or the second class. The staff, that is, the club of Hercules or the serpent of Osineus, showed the arts of agriculture. Gold was the sign of arts and commerce, and it was the talisman or amulet of play that was consulted more than any other sign. The XVIII. and the XIII. Tarot cards foreshadowed disastrous events: in swords the ace was a good omen, the cups were a sign of happiness, the batons [or staves] indicated a mixture of good and evil, and gold or coins denoted wealth. These signs, already emblematic and mysterious in themselves, combined with the very mystical Tarot, with their many and varied combinations, easily provoked an opportunity to respond to the Oracles, which the Magi, the Wise Men, or Priests knew how to interpret as decrees of destiny; which interpretation little by little became the legacy of the little women, and now divides between them and also among some chosen matrons the right to foresee human fortunes [literally, adventures]. And it is not uncommon for Morpheus to sometimes shy away from his poppies with some elegant leaf, blaming the thorns and the annoying vigils for the unlucky omen, which in the late evening foreshadowed on the table the failed combinations of solitary patience.

This again combines Gebelin and de Mellet. Its account of the four classes of society represented by the suits is closest to Gebelin, but how they figure in fortune telling comes from de Mellet. For the Ace of Batons, Cicognara's Club of Hercules is in Gebelin, while the "serpente di Osinio" is a garbled recollection of "Ophion," the name reported by de Mellet; it is just Greek for "serpent." (Did some Aces of Batons have snakes around the baton?)

Some observations in this last paragraph are in neither writer. That the arts are included with merchants in coins is not in either writer, although common enough later on. That truth is mystically discovered by the sword is new to me: perhaps it is an anticipation of the modern identification of swords with thinking. That the XIII foretells disastrous events is in de Mellet, but that the XVIII does so as well is not in either writer, although it is common enough today.

That the use of the tarot for divination devolved from priests to "little women" (donnicciuule) and "chosen matrons" (eletta matrona) is not said by either. If peasant women are doing divination, that is quite a distance from the Freemasons and is an additional argument for the presence of cartomancy in Italy apart from an importing of French ideas. The reference to "Morpheus and his poppies," unknown to either author, however, strikes me as post-1796 Italy. Before the French invasion, my impression is that opium was not promoted as a medical treatment in Italy, as it was in France and England, before then. On the other hand, these remarks, about the women and the poppies, and patience, might be Cicognara's own comments, suitable at the end of a presentation.

So what the "research" since 1796 has produced is primarily the inclusion of de Mellet's way of presenting the cards as the three ages, with some of his characterizations but more of Gebelin's, both selectively, and with various misspellings. They have also added a few things. Besides what I have just mentioned in the last paragraph, there is the part about the "great genius of darkness" in XV, about Mercury in trump XII, an allusion to Pope Joan in II, a defense of "human science" in 0, and of course expanding de Mellet's brief mention of the bronze age in VII into its being the general theme of the lowest section of the cards.

After this presentation, Cicognara states what he said earlier, that people playing the game liked to find moral meaning in its cards.

Questa e simili altre interpretazioni furono date alle carte de’Tarocchi, giacché un senso morale doveva pur darsi di qualche fatta a questi emblemi o geroglifici che voglion chiamarsi, indipendentemente dalle combinazioni che si sono accozzate ne’varj giuochi, secondo le varie costumanze dei paesi diversi dove queste carte servono di trattenimento sociale.

This and similar other interpretations were given to Tarot cards, since some kind of moral meaning had to be given to these emblems or hieroglyphs which they want to call them, independently of the combinations that were put together in the various games, according to the various customs of the several countries where these cards serve as social entertainment.

Then he moves on to quote and discuss Aretino in Le Carte Parlante, whom he finds very "strange." But that is another topic.

I don't know, if this is interesting for you.
The name Isidoro Bianchi in an article about Benjamin Franklin, who was active in freemasonry. The name "Gobelin" (sic) and "Tarocchi" appear in the same article
https://www.grandeoriente.it/wp-content ... 3-2015.pdf
.... at pages 20/21

The Treccan.it article to Isodoro Bianchi (1731-1808) ....
https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/is ... iografico)
.... has as detail ...

Ripubblicò a Lodi, presso Antonio Pallavicini, nel 1779, le sue Meditazioni e riprese l'attività di pubblicista. A Cremona si legò strettamente con l'editore Lorenzo Manini, collaborando al Novellista patriotico e all'almanacco da questo pubblicato (con scritti sulla libertà del commercio dei grani, sull'"influenza del commercio sopra i talenti", sul "senso comune", "sul gioco del faraone" e "del tarocco"). Legatosi con Gian Rinaldo Carli, procurò, presso il medesimo editore, una riedizione delle Lettere americane, facendole precedere da una dedica a B. Franklin (1781) e seguire da un'apologia di quest'opera contro gli attacchi di Clavigero (prefazione nell'edizione delle Opere di G. R. Carli, XI, Milano 1785). Diede pure un'edizione degli Opuscoli eruditi di G. Allegranza (1781).
automatic translation
He republished his Meditations in Lodi, by Antonio Pallavicini, in 1779 and resumed his activity as a publicist. In Cremona he became closely linked to the publisher Lorenzo Manini, collaborating on the Novellist patriotico and the almanac published by it (with writings on the freedom of the grain trade, on the "influence of trade on talents", on "common sense", "on the game of Pharaoh" and "del tarot"). Having formed a relationship with Gian Rinaldo Carli, he procured a re-edition of American Letters from the same publisher, preceding them with a dedication to B. Franklin (1781) and following from an apologia of this work against Clavigero's attacks (preface in the edition of the Opere di G. R. Carli, XI, Milan 1785). He also published an edition of the Opuscoli erudi di G. Allegranza (1781).

Gebelin wrote about Tarot 1781 and the above passage sounds, as if Bianchi also wrote about Tarocco in the period 1779-81. Gebelin was also mentioned in the context of Benjamin Franklin. Franklin had a correspondence with Gebelin.
https://founders.archives.gov/documents ... 35-02-0019


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Added: reactions on Gebelin in German language

Oberrheinische Mannigfaltigkeiten: eine gemeinnützige Wochenschrift, Bände 2-4
Thurneysen, Basel 1782, pages 486-491
https://books.google.de/books?id=iNJGAA ... en&f=false

Versuch den Ursprung der Spielkarten, die Einführung des Leinenpapiers und den Anfang der Holzschneidekunst in Europa zu erforschen. Von Joh. Gottl. Imman. Breitkpf: Erster Theil welcher die Spielkarten und das Leinenpapier enthält. Mit vierzehn Kupfertafeln, Band 1
bey Joh. Gottl. Jmman. Breitkopf, 1784 - 136 Seiten
https://books.google.de/books?id=vtJbAA ... in&f=false

MikeH once quoted Dummett ...
viewtopic.php?p=15388#p15388

59. 'Uebcr den Ursprung und die Bedeutung der Tarok – Charten”, Gottingisches Magazin und der Wissenschaftcn Litcratur, 2ten Jahrgang, 1782, pp. 348-77.

I found the work ... http://ds.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/viewer/im ... /LOG_0015/

Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen: unter der Aufsicht der Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Band 3, 1783
https://books.google.de/books?id=SxEWAA ... ck&f=false Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek, Bände 53-54, 1783
https://books.google.de/books?id=SmEGAA ... &q&f=false