The Fools Journey the History Art Symbolism of the Tarot
Published to coincide with an exhibition of tarot art curated by the writer, The Fool's Journeying sits in a weird position. It'south a niggling too complex to be just an exhibition catalogue, but it'south likewise too slender to be a fully-considered work on the tarot. (Place is a respected creative person, tarot scholar and has written more lengthy works on the cards, lest it exist thought I impugn his credentials as a well-researched writer.) Part of the difficulty with the book is that I remember it'southward a fiddling user-unfriendly, at least every bit far equally the layout goes. Information technology'due south a larger-format book, which is first-class for the graphics, but the text pages are one-cavalcade and stretch the whole page, making navigation hard and reading a little tiring. I believe it's a self-published piece of work - the publisher'southward address appears to be the author's - and so that explains some of the errant typos that appear through the piece of work. It'southward not a bargain-breaker, though information technology does knock the faith in the piece of work a little. The adept, though, is the amount of graphical reproduction on hand. The major arcana are discussed (likewise equally general tarot history, correcting some errors commonly held to be true, such as the 'Egyptian' background of the deck) and plenty of related art are included, to illustrate at that place'southward more to the cards than the typically-imagined Waite-Smith imagery. Two of identify's own decks figure largely in the reproductions, though this is understandable - and they exercise provide stark contrast to other representations. Place'southward depth of cognition is easily apparent in this work. It'south merely at a weird crossroads - there's a lot of comparative detail in the pages that would confuse the neophyte and just whet the appetite of the more seasoned reader. The author'south groundwork equally an artist shines through, though, when he discusses the unlike bill of fare illustrators' piece of work - it'south an creative person on artists, and a delight to read. I've a couple of Place's decks, and though I detect them more to my meditative gustation than for reading, I do admire his work, and can't deny the reservoir of noesis he contains about non merely the tarot but cosmology and philosophy. I enjoyed this book for the larger-format presentation of cards, and for the fact information technology makes me keen to read some of his meatier works.
A catalog to accompany a museum exhibit on the Tarot, Place's book is full of his usual painstaking, deep-cut historical research and level-headed awareness of the traditions underlying his subject field. Profusely illustrated, it contains examples of all the trumps from a number of historical and contemporary decks. My only quibble is that it is badly in demand of editing for punctuation and spelling errors.
Very informative though very very piece of cake to fall comatose to
This unabridged review has been subconscious because of spoilers.
Robert M. Place is one of the great tarot scholars of our fourth dimension, perhaps of whatsoever time. It'due south a bold thing to say, but after xl years of working with and studying Tarot, I feel confident in saying it. He puts right the old, crusty myths and misinformation about Tarot propagated and so well by Papus and Etiella (which are sadly notwithstanding turning up in books today, then sad to see), and sets forth what we do know about its origins, while identifying his theories every bit just that - theories. If you lot read a lot of Tarot "history", you'll understand to begin that is infrequent on its ain. But and so to the theorizes, which is beautiful, logical, and lyrical at the same fourth dimension. Identify has a long and stellar foundation as a Tarot scholar, artist, lecturer, and historian. Interested in his theories? Go buy the volume. And pick upward i of his decks, as well. He'due south well deserving of your time and involvement.
Displaying one - iv of 4 reviews
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Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10052128-the-fool-s-journey
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