Shakespeare in the Tarot – Vintage 1967 BIZARRE Magazine • Tarot Studies Issue

A highly collectible double-issue (No. 43–44, June 1967) of the legendary French magazine BIZARRE, featuring Jean-Marie Lhote’s long, scholarly and unusual study:
“Shakespeare dans les Tarots et autres lieux” (Shakespeare in the Tarot Cards and Other Places).

This remarkable publication explores the connections between:
• Renaissance iconography
• Tarot de Marseille symbolism
• Shakespearean myth, folklore, and esoteric imagery

Across 100 pages, the reader is guided through black-and-white illustrations, medieval engravings, early tarot imagery, poetic texts, comparative mythology, and deep cultural analysis. A perfect item for lovers of tarot history, Shakespeare studies, occult literature, and French counter-culture of the 1960s.

🔹 Publication year: 1967
🔹 Publisher: BIZARRE revue trimestrielle
🔹 Format: Softcover magazine, square spine
🔹 Pages: approx. 100
🔹 Illustrations: Black & white tarot and medieval art reproductions
🔹 Language: French
🔹 Condition: Good used condition — cover slightly faded; interior pages clean; structurally solid.
🔹 Status: Out of print — extremely hard to find.

🪶 Collector’s Note

Issues of BIZARRE are highly sought-after, especially those containing major essays on tarot history.
The article by Jean-Marie Lhote is considered one of the earliest French attempts to link Shakespearean themes with the Tarot de Marseille tradition. Because this magazine was printed in limited quantities and never reissued, surviving copies are now prized by tarot historians, rare book collectors, and researchers of European occultism.