Hoi Polloi - The Tarot 1973 edition (OOP)(RARITIES)(Preloved/used)

Hoi Polloi - The Tarot

This is a really special collector's rarity. Hoi Polloi has its own chapter in the history of the new arrival of the Tarot. !972 published deck only years later became a sought-after collector's rarity due to its "cool" coloring and extreme 60-70 vintage feel.

The 1972 set can be recognized by the different case, it is brown and horizontal. This one in question is the purple one changed to the 1973 version.

There will also be a version of these with just a tuckbox and a small guidebook. We also have the corresponding cards and instruction manual. The purchasing department has never seen Tuckbox even in pictures!

The condition of the packaging is good for its age. The long side of the outer case is slightly torn on one side, but still intact. Additional photos are available upon request. The pictures are of this set for sale.

Tarotpuodi's procurement department has hunted down these special treats in the dark of the night and is bringing them easily available for the first time right here in Finland's home chamber! Because we can!

Hoi Polloi Tarot Review by Lynda Cowles

The year is 1972; the place, New York City. And as the Giant of the Tarot world we now know as US Games is busy trying to obtain copyright for the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) tarot, one small, independent company is releasing its own version of the deck. Named simply “The Tarot”, it is the last commercially-produced Tarot to use Pamela Colman-Smith's drawings before the US Games becomes the only company legally allowed to do so.

Thirty-five years on and the Hoi Polloi Tarot, as it is now known (after Hoi Polloi Inc., the company that made it), is an acid-bright reminder of how times have changed. The colorful graphic style of the Hoi Polloi couldn't be more different to Pixie's detailed illustrations but there's no doubt that the composition and contents of each card were lifted directly from her work under Arthur Waite's instruction in 1909. Try that now, and you' d most likely find yourself in court.

But despite the obvious copying, there are subtle differences between the two decks, mainly in what the Hoi Polloi lacks. There is no stained glass window in the 4 of Swords, for example, and no garden leading to distant mountains in the Ace of Pentacles. The figure in the 5 of Cups is crying over spilled nothing, and the Hierophant appears to have mislaid his keys. If you intend to read with the deck and are familiar with the RWS, these changes may bother you, but otherwise the sparse imagery gives the deck a clean, uncluttered look. More intriguing, perhaps, is the switching of Strength and Justice (in this deck, Justice is VIII and Strength is XI), pledging allegiance to the Marseille tradition over the RWS.

As a deck in its own right, the Hoi Polloi is vibrant and appealing. The gum-drop colors - mainly turquoise, orange, raspberry, lime green and purple - are accentuated with heavy black outlines and the sometimes uneven coloring makes it seem as if the deck was drawn using felt-tip pens. Some cards are spectacularly attractive, Strength being one of them; a few others seem either brash or muddy, but thankfully these cards are in the minority. One feature of note is the wide range of skin tones featured: intentional or not, it's an improvement on the RWS and one that gives the deck a multi-cultural feel.

The card titles are printed in an ornate, calligraphic font which looks a little out of place next to the stylized artwork. Each title sits in a colored frame, which for the Minor Arcana is colour-coded: orange for wands, red for cups, blue for Swords and green for pentacles (for the Majors it seems anything goes). The colors used for the wands and cups are very similar and because of the variations in printing Occasionally look identical but this is only a minor annoyance. The card backs are non-reversible, featuring a key design on an orange background.

At 4.25 x 2.5cm, the cards are a good size, easy to handle and shuffle. The dry varnish means the cards grip well but also have a tendency to stick together at times. However, this does make the cardstock feel thicker and more substantial than that used for most modern decks. The print quality is generally very good, with only a few cards suffering from minor blurriness caused by misalignment.

The Hoi Polloi is a rare thing: a collector's deck which is also very readable, and one which will hopefully continue to stand the test of time.

Complete Details of Hoi Polloi Tarot

Publisher: Hoi Polloi Inc 1972
Deck Type: Tarot Deck
Cards: 78
Major Arcana: 22
Minor Arcana: 56
Deck Tradition: Rider-Waite-Smith
Minor Arcana Style: RWS-Based Scenes
Suits : Cups, Swords, Wands, Pentacles
Court Cards : Page, Knight, Queen, King
Major Titles : The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Justice, The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Strength, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgment, The World
The Fool is Not numbered
Strength is 11
Justice is 8
Card Size : 0.98 x 1.67 in. = 2.50cm x 4.25cm
Card Language : English
Card Back: Non-reversible
Back Design: golden ocher color with drawn skeleton key, white edge beyond a two-lined black border.

This deck is rare or out of print and isn't easy to find.