“Egyptian Tarot” or “Book of Thoth” decks: the Etteilla tradition

Preamble

This post is an appendix to The Beginning of the Egyptian Tarot Myth. Part 2. Here I will review the historical and modern Tarot decks that:

(1) claim to restore or recreate the mythical ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth (or Thot), and

(2) belong to the tradition found by Etteilla.

 Jean-Baptiste Alliette, or Etteilla, has created in 1788 and published in 1789 the first deck of this type, which he himself named Book of Thoth (Livre de Thot). A fair reproduction of the colored version of that deck (with Ukrainian captions) was published in 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine, under the commercial title The Real Tarot of Etteilla (Справжнє Таро Еттейли):

Absolutely all other decks in the Etteilla tradition were created after his death. Many of them had the title “The Book of Thoth.” Many of them also had the title or subtitle “The Egyptian Tarot.”

Within the Etteilla Tarot tradition three distinct types of decks are distinguished by Tarot scholars: Etteilla I, Etteilla II, and Etteilla III. There are also decks beyond these three basic types.

Etteilla I

The Tarot deck created by Etteilla himself belongs to the type I. If I were asked to give just one feature by which a deck can be unmistakably attributed to the Etteila I type, I would turn to the pip cards. Take any pip card of the suit of swords or cups. Does it have an upper panel and a lower panel? If it does, is the lower panel empty? If it is, then you have one of the Etteila I decks in front of you.

Empty lower panels are sure features of the Etteila I type

The German “Book of Thoth” (1793)

In 1793, two years after Etteilla’s death, in Leipzig was published the book,

Theoretical and practical instruction on the Book of Thoth

(Theoretischer und praktischer Unterricht über das Buch Thot).

 It is the anonymous German translation of the Course on the Theory and Practice of the Book of Thoth (Cours théorique et pratique du livre de Thot, 1790) by Etteilla. The book was published by Adam Friedrich Gotthelf Baumgärtner (1759–1843), a lawyer, bookseller, publisher and writer. It was accompanied by a complete Tarot deck engraved on metal, the graphics of which were very close to the 1788 Etteilla deck.

See more in British Museum

The “Book of Thoth” of d’Odoucet (ca 1804)

Etteilla died in 1791. Between 1804 and 1807 his disciple Melchior Montmignon d’Odoucet published a monumental book of three parts, entitled

Science of Signs, or Medicine of the Mind

(Science des signes, ou medicine de l’esprit).

It is devoted to different aspects of the Tarot as the Book of Thoth. The author introduced himself on the title pages as “the interpreter of the Book of Thoth, a collaborator of Etteilla and a continuer of his works.”

In the second part of the book, all 78 cards of the Etteilla Tarot were described in detail and illustrated with woodcuts. There are preserved copies in which the illustrations of the cards were colored under the stencil:

D’Odoucet also released a separate colored Tarot deck, which was also entitled Book of Thoth. Today it is a very rare thing. I wasn’t able to find even a photo of a single card.

“The Grand Card Deck for Telling Fortunes” (1826)

The next Tarot deck in the Etteilla tradition was published in 1826 by the Parisian publisher and bookseller Pierre Mongie l’aîné (senior) (1766 (?)–1858). He managed to acquire Etteilla’s original metal printing plates, but he modified them somewhat, adding cursive inscriptions to most of the cards. The deck was entitled

The Grand card deck, seventy-eight tarots, for telling fortunes

(Le grand jeu de cartes, soixante-dix-huit tarots, pour dire la bonne aventure).

 

Photo courtesy John Choma

The additional inscriptions are on major cards, court cards, aces, and tens. The remaining pips received small numbers corresponding to their suit values:

For this deck a book was published,

The Art of Drawing Cards and Tarots, or French, Egyptian, Italian, and German Cartomancy

(L’art de tirer les cartes et les tarots, ou Cartomancie française, égyptienne, italienne et allemande).

 Listed as the author was “Aldegonde Perenna, a Polish sybil”, аnd as the editor, the famous French writer Jacques Albin Simon Collin de Plancy (1793– 1881). Aldegonde Perenna is the pseudonym of Collin de Plancy’s cousin, Gabrielle de Paban (1793–?). By that time, she was already the author of several works on occult topics.

“Grand Etteilla” of Arnoult

Around the 1830s–1850s, the Parisian card printer Alphonse Arnoult (he had been in business since 1748) produced the first lithographic edition of the “Etteilla I” type deck, which was entitled Grand Etteilla, or Egyptian Tarots (Grand Etteilla ou Tarots Égyptiens).

Photo courtesy John Choma

See another copy in British Museum

The graphics were based on the original Etteilla deck of 1788, but Arnoult reworked several cards.

The sticker that was attached to the box for Alphonse Arnoult's Tarot: “Grand Etteilla, or Egyptian Tarots, consisting of 78 cards, or 118 symbolic pictures, with instructions on how to do fortune telling”:

(These “118 symbolic pictures” are a story in itself to be discussed in another post.)

“Grand Etteilla” of Grimaud

The rights to publish the Grand Etteilla deck changed hands several times, and in 1891 they were purchased by Baptiste-Paul Grimaud (1817–1899). He released a further version of the deck.

See the deck in BNF

Included with the deck was the booklet entitled

How to Draw the Grand Etteilla, or Egyptian Tarots, Composed of 78 Cards and 118 Tables

(Manière de tirer le Grand Etteilla, ou Tarots Égyptiens, composé de 78 cartes et 118 tableaux).

Since the second half of the 20^th century, the Grimaud company has been publishing a bilingual French-English version of the deck, which in French is called Grand Etteilla, or Egyptian Tarots (Grand Etteilla ou Tarots Egyptiens), and in English, oddly, Grand Etteilla, Egyptian Gypsies Tarot.

Booklets to all editions of Grand Etteilla published by Grimaud, though not cards themselves, contain the additional titles/meanings introduced by Mongie and Paban. Here are some examples:

Card #	Original French	Translation	Explanation
2	Maçonnerie d’Hiram	Hiram’s Masonry	This title is apparently based on the stone structure depicted on the card. Hiram I the Great is considered the founder of Freemasonry, but the French word maçonnérie originally meant stone masonry. According to the Bible, Hiram assisted King Solomon in the construction of the temple, including sending in his builders.
5	L’Évangile	The Gospel	The angel, eagle, bull, and lion depicted on the card are traditional symbols of the four evangelists.
9	Salomon	Solomon	This is the card of Justice, and the biblical King Solomon was famous for his just judgment.
12	Moїse	Moses	See Exodus 4: 2-4: “And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand.”
19	Le Capitole	The Capitol	It has nothing to do with the United States Capitol.The card depicts a building with columns, which may be a temple, and a lightning. The Capitoline Temple in ancient Rome honored the main deities Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva; Jupiter, as the thunderer, would throw lightnings.

 

 Etteilla II

The design, which Tarot scholars call “Etteilla II”, appeared in Lille (France) in 1838 under two titles: Deck of 78 Egyptians Tarots and Book of Thoth (Jeu des 78 tarots égyptiens. Livre de Thot).

See the deck in BM

The deck’s author was listed on the box as “Z. Lismon.” This is one of the many pseudonyms of the famous Lille publisher Simon François Blocquel (1780–1863).

The deck came with the book by Julia Orsini entitled The Grand Etteilla, or the Art of Drawing Cards (Le Grand Etteilla, ou l’art de tirer les cartes). It became popular and was republished many times. The first edition featured a portrait of Julia Orsini as a beauty in a feathered hat, but, as John Choma recently discovered, the name was a fake (just another pseudonym of Blocquel’s) and the portrait was a forgery. Blocquel clearly had little respect for his readers to fool them so brazenly.

Portraits of “Julia Orsini” and Marie-Amélie de Bourbon (1782–1866), 

Queen of France and wife of Louis Philippe

 

Etteilla III

The third variant of the Tarot in the Etteilla tradition, referred to as the “Etteilla III”, was printed in Paris in the late 1850s by Aimé-Oscar Delarue (1812–1876), a business partner of Simon François Blockel and son of his son-in-law.

See the deck in BNF

These cards were entitled The Grand Deck of the Ladies’ Oracle (Grand Jeu del’oracle des dames). The subtitle explained, that this were 78 Tarot Cards (78 cartes tarots) or, in another edition, 78 Egyptian Tarots (78 tarots égyptiens).

The name of the deck’s author is printed on the box: G. Régamey. In my opinion, this may be Guillaume Régamey (1837–1875), hereditary French painter and engraver.

The Etteila III deck has recently been published by the Italian company Lo Scarabeo and the American Llewellyn under the commercial name Book of Thoth. Etteilla Tarot. This version can be purchased quite easily and inexpensively. 

Decks not belonging to I, II, III types

Deck of Princess Tarot (1843, 1864)

Historically, the first of these decks had a double title: Book of Thoth and Deck of Princess Tarot (Jeu de la Princesse Tarot). Its pictures were first published in 1843 as illustrations for the book entitled

The Art of Drawing Cards: Complete Revelations on Destinies by Means of Cards and Tarots According to the Most Certain Methods, Followed by a Game of Patience

(L’art de tirer les cartes, révélations complètes sur les destinees au moyen des cartes et des tarots d’après les méthodes les plus certaines, suivi d’un jeu des patiences).

The author was the Parisian occultist Lorambert, who wrote under a pseudonym Johannès Trismégiste. The artist took the design of Etteilla I as a model, but departed from it in many ways. “Tarot” in the title is the proper name of a person, the ancient Egiptian Princess.

In 1864, a new book by Johannès Trismégiste was published entitled

The Art of Drawing French Cards Followed by the Explanation of the Book of Thoth or Game of Princess Tarot (the Egyptian Tarots)

(L’art de tirer les cartes Françaises suivi de l’explication du Livre de Thot ou jeu de la princesse Tarot (les tarots égyptiens)).

 A full-fledged Tarot deck was this time added to the book.

Courtesy Tarot Museum Belgium

See the deck in BNF

See another edition in BM

Deck of Princess Tarot has been published by the French companies Passard (1864), Watillaux (late 19th – early 20th century), Dusserre (1983) and the Italian Lo Scarabeo (1996). The Lo Scarabeo edition changed the colors, cut out all the original captions, and added completely new divinatory meanings ​​in five languages. ​​The deck was presented as Esoteric Ancient Tarots. The Most Famous Cards, Unusual and Rare.

The 1996 edition

In 2019, Lo Scarabeo in collaboration with the American Llewellyn released a good reprint edition of the Deck of Princess Tarot entitled The Egyptian Tarot (Tarots Egyptiens).

The 2019 edition

The “Book of Thoth” of Dr. Moorne

This very interesting Tarot deck in the Etteila tradition is sometimes called the “Catalan Tarot” because its creator, the Spanish lawyer Teodomiro Moreno Durán (1864–1933), was Catalan.

He was also the author of a number of books on the occult, and—which may seem strange—of the 12-volume work Christian year and lives of the Saints (Año cristiano y vida de los Santos). He also translated (from Italian into Spanish) Giovanni Rosadi’s monumental work The trial of Jesus (Il processo di Gesù), in which the story of the life and execution of Christ is analyzed from a legal point of view. He wrote and translated Christian books under his real name, and occult books under the pseudonym Dr. Moorne.

We are interested in his Tarot book, the earliest edition of which I know of dates back to 1903:

The wonderful secrets of playing cards. The complete art of reading cards according to the Egyptian system of 78 Taros and the most used and well-known methods in France and Spain

(Los maravillosos secretos de los naipes. Arte completo de echar las cartas. Según el sistema Egipcio de 78 Taros y los métodos más usados y conocidos en Francia y en España).

Since 1906, it has been published under a different title:

The Supreme Art of Card Reading by all systems and especially by the Egyptian one of the 78 tarots or the book of Thot

(El supremo arte de echar las cartas por todos los sistemas y especialmente por el egipcio de los 78 taros o sea el libro de Thot).

 

The Supreme Art became a bestseller. It is still reprinted in Spanish-speaking countries; there have also been several Italian editions under the title The Supreme Egyptian Art of divination with cards (Suprema arte egizia per la divinazione delle carte / con le carte).

Some Spanish editions

 

Italian editions of different years

What made this book so popular? I think part of it is the very special deck of Tarot that it describes and fully illustrates. The earliest edition of these cards is unknown to me. It can date back to the late 19^th or early 20^th century.

Left: Etteilla III. Right: Dr. Moorne

In the Tarot of Dr. Moorne, four panels can be distinguished in each card: one occupies the entire right half of the card and reproduces the corresponding Etteila III card. The remaining three panels are arranged vertically in the left half of the card.

At the top and bottom left of the major cards are Hebrew letters. At the top, the letter is upright; at the bottom, it is inverted. Both positions are given divinatory meanings in the book.

At the top left of the minor cards are playing cards in the Catalan style. At the bottom left of the minor cards are playing cards in the French style.

In the center of the left half of all of Dr. Moorne’s cards are their main feature: strange drawings in a pseudo-Egyptian style. Each of them is given an interpretation in the book.

Like Dr. Morne’s book, the cards described in it are very popular. Since the end of the 19^th century, they have been published many times in Spain, Italy and Latin American countries: for example, in Mexico and Argentina. The graphics of the cards always remained unchanged (however, with a tendency to simplify), while the colors vary.

The Spanish editions may be entitled Tarots Egipcios or El supremo arte de echar las cartas, while the Italian decks come as Tarocco Egiziano or Suprema Arta Egizia.

The “Egyptian Tarot” of Laura Tuan

An unconventional Tarot in the Etteila tradition was created in Italy and first published in 1995 in Milan. It is titled The Egyptian Tarot (I Tarocchi Egiziani, Le Tarot des Egyptiens in French editions).

The author of the deck is Laura Tuan, who has written a couple of dozen books on esoteric topics, mostly about Tarot, runes, and other oracles. The artist is Antonina Taccori, a staff illustrator for the publishing house that issued the deck. As I understand it, the purpose of this work is to show what Etteilla’s Tarot as the Book of Thoth might have been like if Etteilla had had access to real examples of ancient Egyptian art.

The “Etteilla Tarot of Thoth-Hermes” of Benebell Wen

Benebell Wen is a Taiwanese-American author who has written three books on Tarot, Yijing, and the Chinese art of talisman making. She also created and published a Tarot deck called Spirit Keeper’s Tarot (2018). Benebell is currently (2024) working on the Etteilla Tarot of Thoth-Hermes, a “21st century re-drawing of the Etteilla deck, closely following key design elements reconciled from Grand Etteillas I, II, and the various iterations of the IIIs.”

Rendering the card 20. Courtesy of Benebell Wen

 Conclusion

This was a glimpse  into the history and diversity of the “Egyptian” Tarot decks that belong to the tradition of Etteilla. There are many other “Egyptian” Tarot decks that belong to other traditions. 

To be continued.