mikeh wrote: 10 May 2023, 12:16 Guglielmo Murari and his cards are mentioned on the internet, just not in anything readily accessible.

The most accessible is William Keller's Catalogue of the Cary Collection of Playing Cards, online at https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/17389206; see his entry for Murari in vol. 2, p. 33, bottom of the page.

The database "Ask Alexander" yields 19 results, all online at that site, for the card maker Murari. That is not a free site, I don't think - unless someone here knows a way. I access it with my membership (10 Euros a year) to the International Playing Card Society. (After you join, you can access the "member's area", where there is a link.) The majority of the articles mentioning Murari are from its journal, The Playing Card.

Not on the internet is Andrea Vitali and Terry Zanetti's Il Tarocchino di Bologna, pp. 97-104, reproducing something very like your deck, including a card with "MURARI / CAV. GUGLIELMO / BARI" on it, with what seems to be a tax stamp (I make out the word FINANZE). If there is a date, I can't make it out, nor do I see one on any other card. The cards they show have cartomantic meanings handwritten on them. They date their deck to 1920, without any "ca." in front of it, so probably the date is on one of the cards somewhere.

There is also Stuart Kaplan's Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol. 2, p. 223. It gives Murari's dates as 1910-1912; but that is based on older information than Vitali and Zanetti. It references Keller and "Stanley Gibbons Currency, Ltd. Playing Cards: Lists 1 & 2, London. (2 auction catalogs.)"

Thanks for showing us your beautiful cards, many of which I have not seen before.

mikeh wrote: 10 May 2023, 21:27 One more thing: Vitali and Zanetti do show the Stars and the Queen of Cups from their copy of Murari's deck. They look essentially the same as versions of the two-headed deck on the internet. The Stars is pictured in Wikipedia's entry on tarocchini at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarocchini, and the Queen at https://www.pagat.com/tarot./ottocento.html.

I suspect that your copy is from the same woodblocks as Vitali and Zanetti's, because Death's mouth has a similar expression, not precisely that seen in other two-headed versions. There are probably other small details that would confirm or deny that impression.

kukushka wrote: 11 May 2023, 07:23 I can't open the Queen picture!

Huck wrote: 11 May 2023, 08:24

kukushka wrote: 11 May 2023, 07:23 I can't open the Queen picture!

Possibly MikeH meant this ...
https://www.pagat.com/tarot/ottocento.html

La Manifattura delle Carte da Gioco di Guglielmo Murari.
By Nicola A. De Giorgio and Sergio Mastromarino, Veglie: Amici della Fotografia, 2005. 63 pp. A4
(Submitted by Peter Endebrock)

This is a catalogue that was originally published to accompany a playing-card exhibition A Carte Scoperte shown in Veglie, Italy, but it is very interesting for collectors independent of the exhibition:
It gives a complete description of the history and an overview over the production of the manufacturer Murari in Bari.

After a short editorial note it starts with an introductory article by Alberto Milano about collecting playing-cards. Then the history of the playing-card factory founded in Bari in 1867 by Guglielmo Murari and his father Luigi is described, with a lot of material, some of it just recently discovered. The company existed
until 1937, and the previously unclear time after 1927 and the circumstances of the end are explained.

Following is a catalog of 18 packs made by Murari, with descriptions, and with all relevant cards llustrated in colour. Most of the packs show Italian standard patterns, but there are also three non-standard packs, together with a Cuccù and a Mercante in Fiera pack.

The final part is devoted to the games played with such cards. The history and the principles of the games and their variations are shortly described. This is completed by a discussion of the Murari packs in relation to each game.

The catalogue is written in Italian. I myself do not really read Italian, but with the help of a little holiday experience and of a dictionary I think I have understood the text. And in any case the catalogue of the
packs with its colour illustrations is excellent and easy to understand. I can recommend the publication to anybody interested in Italian cards and games.

The catalogue is available from Cartorama (Jean Darquenne) or from the publisher for Euro 25 + P&P.

mikeh wrote: 12 May 2023, 00:49 Sorry about the link. Yes, the Queen of Cups and the Stars on those sites are present-day, only approximately like the cards made for your deck. I will make jpgs of the ones in Vitali and Zanetti, which probably is closer. Since I use the scanner at my public library, it will be a few days. I can include other cards of their deck if you tell me a few where you find the mirroring differences to be most pronounced and characteristic.