From Amazon.com
For the serious collector of tarot comes this elegantly redesigned version of the Minchiate deck originally created in the 1500s. While artist/tarot expert Brian Williams titles his 1999 version "tarot," he is quick to point out that it is more a "sister to" than an actual tarot. To those familiar with the standard Ryder version that most of today's decks seem to be based on, the distinction is most immediately evidenced by the fact there are 97 cards instead of the more familiar 78. Cards 16 through 35 in the Minchiate are "missing" from the standard. They include four virtues (hope, prudence, faith, and charity), four elements (fire, water, air, and earth), and the 12 zodiacal signs. While Williams did design and illustrate this deck himself, it has a Renaissance period feel. He followed the original designs fairly closely so that the same graphic elements and even postures of the figures are maintained.
--P. Randall Cohan
Review
"Williams has taken the ancient Minchiate designs and re-visioned them for our own time with incomparable grace and delicacy. This is the artist's finest work to date, showing a master's fluidity with both concept and execution. The Minchiate Tarot reaches back to a time when Tarot was more diverse, and designers made dramatic experiements in the symbolic system. The Minchiate was waiting to be heard; thanks to the artistic talents of Brian Williams, it now sings to us with clarity and profundity across the span of centuries."
