Choose Letter in the US and Canada, A4 almost everywhere else. Both hold the same cards at the same size. The first page says how to print, the second where the pictures come from. Then come 20 sheets of four cards, each followed by a page of backs.
The overview is not for cutting. It shows all 78 cards small on A4, each with its name, in deck order: something to keep beside you while you learn them.
How to print it
- Print at actual size (100%), with “Fit to page” turned off. The bar at the foot of page 1 should measure 50 mm.
- For backs, print double-sided and flip on the long edge. Print one sheet first (pages 3 and 4) to check that the backs line up. For the fronts only, print the odd pages from page 3.
- Use matte card of about 300 gsm (250 to 350) if your printer takes it. A copy shop will print on card for you if you bring the PDF. Or print on paper and glue it onto card.
- Cut along the lines the cut marks point to. Each card is 70 × 120 mm, the usual tarot size. The picture runs 3 mm past the cut, so a slightly crooked cut leaves no white edge. A craft knife and a steel ruler work well, and most copy shops have a guillotine.
- If you like, round the corners with a 3 to 4 mm corner punch, as on the old cards.
Free to use
The cards are in the public domain in the US, the UK and the EU. Print as many as you like, give them away, or sell them. A credit is kind but not needed.
The faces are scans of an early printing from about 1910, known as Pam-A, from Wikimedia Commons, at 300 dpi. The back is a scan of a 1909 card. We cut away the scanner’s edge and resized them, without retouching or recolouring. They are not the recoloured cards sold in shops today. Is the 1909 deck in the public domain? explains why, country by country.
