Maniere de se recreer avec le jeu de cartes nommees tarots, by Etteilla, the pen name of Jean-Baptiste Alliette, published in Paris in 1783, is the primary text itself, one of the founding documents of tarot as a divinatory practice, in which a working card colorist and grain merchant turned occultist laid out his own system for cartomantic reading, years before tarot's now more famous occult reinterpretation by figures like Eliphas Levi. Its strength is that it is the actual original source for cartomantic tarot's own earliest systematic method, useful for any claim about how tarot divination specifically began rather than a later account of it. Its limit is that Etteilla's own historical claims, including his assertion that tarot descended from ancient Egyptian wisdom transmitted through a fictional priest named Hermes, are themselves invented rather than historical, so a claim treating Etteilla's own origin story as fact rather than as his own contribution to tarot's occult mythology gets the history backward.
Facts
Citation
AuthorEtteilla (Jean-Baptiste Alliette)
PublisherChez l'auteur; Segault and Legras, libraires, Paris
The volume 3 imprint per Gallica's BnF digitisation and the Morgan Library's printed-books catalogue: "A Amsterdam, et se trouve a Paris: Chez l'auteur ... Merigot l'aine, libraire ... Legras, libraire ... Segault, libraire," 1783 to 1785, four cahiers with the bookseller names varying by volume. Not self-published alone, despite the "chez l'auteur" imprint; real booksellers were also named on the title pages. Publication Year1783
Source Typebook
Assessment
Reliability Tier3
Maniere de se recreer avec le jeu de cartes nommees tarots, published by Etteilla (Jean-Baptiste Alliette) through his own printer in Paris, is the founding text of cartomantic tarot in its own practitioner's voice, hence the lower tier, though it is the primary source for what Etteilla himself originated. NotesThe first published method of divination by tarot. Etteilla had published on cartomancy with ordinary playing cards in 1770, assigning meanings to cards both upright and reversed, and issued a tarot deck designed for divination in 1789.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Ancient Egyptians directly: "Maniere de se recreer avec le jeu de cartes nommees tarots, by Etteilla, the pen name of Jean-Baptiste Alliette, published in Paris in 1783, is the primary text itself, one of the founding documents..."
This source names Hermes directly: "through a fictional priest named Hermes, are themselves invented rather than historical, so a claim treating Etteilla's own origin story as fact rather than as his own contribution to tarot's occult..."
Paris, Cities This source names Paris directly: "Jean-Baptiste Alliette, published in Paris in 1783, is the primary text itself, one of the founding documents of tarot as a divinatory practice, in which a working card colorist and grain merchant..."
Claims Backed By This Source (19 claims)
This source backs 19 claims across the atlas. As facts: 12 well-attested. As cited relationships: 4 holds. Plus 3 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 10 claims: 7 well-attested, 3 holds.
- Tarot Decks, 7 claims: 5 well-attested, 1 holds, 1 general references.
- Disciplines, 1 claims: 1 general references.
- Tarot, 1 claims: 1 general references.
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