Conver reconstructions

xaphoo

Over the last two weeks, for reasons unknown, I've suddenly become deeply interested in the historical Tarot, not as a divinatory device, but as an artifact of late medieval and early modern popular culture, richly clothed in allegorical meanings from the moment of their invention - and beautifully open to modern-day poetics that can populate this world that has been vacated by symbols and angels. By profession I am a historian of the pre-modern period, so meditating on the images of the cards helps me approach their object in both an inner and outer sense.

I have the Flornoy Dodal on the way and also a Soprafino, because I find both of them beautiful. However, I really want a Conver as well, and unfortunately with the passing of Y. Ben-Dov I cannot order his deck. I have been warned away from the Camoin-Jodorowsky deck (though I like Jodorowsky's book), and can't find an affordable Grimaud or Hadar, so I don't know what other historically-minded Conver reconstructions are available.

For someone like me who wants a faithful Conver reconstruction (not a facsimile) for study, meditation, "open reading", and possibly a little game-playing, what is left?
 

Lee

Hi xaphoo, welcome to Aeclectic! :)

The Conver TdM is categorized as a TdM 2, and the earliest TdM 2 deck I believe is the Madenie. Yves, an AT member, sells a very highly-regarded Madenie reproduction, here is a recent thread about his latest edition, including a link to the store on his site. Edited to add: Here is a link to Yves' store where you can purchase. Here is the Aeclectic entry for Yves' first edition.

Another Madenie reproduction, this one newly-drawn, is the Mary Packard one available on Amazon.

The Fournier Marseille has colored backgrounds and is newly-painted, but it's based on the Conver/Grimaud. That link is to third-party sellers on Amazon but I'm sure it's available from European online sources as well. Here is the Aeclectic page for the deck.

Yves sells a 22-card Conver reproduction that looks very nice, discussed in this thread.

The Grimaud is still in print, now published by Frances Cartes. It's not on Amazon but here is a link to Amazon France's page for it.

You may also be able to get used Grimauds on eBay. I bought a Grimaud from the 1970s on eBay that has wonderful thick cardstock.

Good luck and let us know what you end up with!
 

Philippe

Deleted Lee has said it all
 

xaphoo

Thank you all for your help! This is a great community.

All of these decks seem absolutely beautiful, and I will no doubt get one of them in the near future. For now the one that's appealing to me most is the Robledo, because I like its redrawn clean style (this is why I had really wanted the Yoav Ben-Dov's CBD), but the more I stare at Yves' Madenie the more lovely it becomes.

...checking the mailbox twice a day...
 

Barleywine

I bought my present Marseille decks with an eye toward reading with them, so I got the recolored Fournier and Hadar, but if I were going after an historical TdM with no intent to use it for divination (those historically-accurate square corners put me off), I would go for Yves'.
 

Terrapin

I was just at the CBD tarot website. Looks like it's available to order. I don't think his passing affected the ability to buy the deck.
 

Barleywine

I was just at the CBD tarot website. Looks like it's available to order. I don't think his passing affected the ability to buy the deck.

I did the same thing right after he passed, and I believe this is true. I think I saw here that someone had bought a deck since then.