Comparative exercise

Le Pendu THANK YOU for all those links, info and suggestions! I have yet to acquire Kaplan's Encyclopedias...another addition to the wishlist!

I find the various decks portrayal of Le Fol/Mat's Unda-pants vs bare bottomed to be another headscratcher, too. (In this case, my personal Victorian sensibilites take precedence over historical accuracy: I don't mind his naughty bits being out of view!)

jmd - is the book you're refering to "A Wicked Pack of Cards?"

It is indeed Dummett, DePaulis and Decker's A Wicked Pack of Cards to which I referred to in my earlier post.

If someone can of course get hold of some other and earlier classics (such as D'Allemagne - which I believe also has some pertinent details), it would be fantastic.

With regards to Kaplan's Encyclopedia of Tarot - again another essential reference - perhaps volume II is sufficient to begin, being the most oriented to some of the considerations in this thread.

Cool beans, thanks! I am tracking down as many much (!) of these resources as poss now!