Borderless Vintage Tarot Decks

These are the decks built on the 1909 classic illustrations — the pictures almost every tarot book written in English since has described. Borderless means we print them without the white frame, so the image runs to the edge of the card and the figures are the size the artist drew them. $34.99 to $59.99, 78 cards and a printed guidebook in every option.

Why 1909 matters when you are buying, not just collecting

In 1909 a complete 78-card tarot was published in London with a full scene painted on every card, minor arcana included. Before that, the numbered cards of most European decks were plain pips — five cups, five cups, nothing to read but the number. After it, they were stories. That one decision is why a beginner can look at a card and say something about it, and it is why the entire modern teaching tradition — every book, every course, every free meaning page, including our own guide to all 78 cards — is written around these images.

The practical consequence: if you buy a 1909-based deck, every resource you find will match the card in your hand. If you buy an art deck with reinvented minors, half of what you read will not. The artwork is in the public domain, which is why many printers use it; what differs between printers is the scan, the colour, the stock and whether they keep the border.

What taking the border off does

Three things. The image is roughly a fifth larger on the same card, so faces and hands read without leaning in. The spread looks continuous — laid out side by side, borderless cards make one picture rather than a grid of framed ones. And there is nowhere for a white edge to show wear, which on a framed deck is the first place handling becomes visible. The trade: a borderless card is slightly harder to pick out of a tight fan, and if you shuffle with heavy thumbs the artwork takes the contact. Our borderless decks are laminated for exactly that reason.

The decks

Borderless Vintage Tarot Cards — Light Edition, 1909 Classic Art

The 1909 artwork printed without white borders, so the image runs to the edge of the card, on eco-linen-textured stock. The closest thing we make to looking at the original plates. $34.99 for the deck and its printed guidebook; up to $59.99 for the set with the box, the reading cloth and the velvet bag.

Gold Rainbow Foil Tarot Cards — 1909 Classic Art

The 1909 Pamela Colman Smith illustrations with gold rainbow foil on the linework, under anti-scratch lamination. Almost every tarot book and beginner course in English is written around these pictures, so whatever you read about a card describes the card in your hand. $34.99 for the deck and its printed guidebook; up to $59.99 for the set with the box, the reading cloth and the velvet bag.

Holographic Crystal Foil Tarot Cards — 1909 Classic Art

A full diffraction layer across the whole card face, so colour moves across the spread as you lean over it. The strongest visual effect we print, over the 1909 illustrations. $34.99 for the deck and its printed guidebook; up to $59.99 for the set with the box, the reading cloth and the velvet bag.

The EU and UK editions

Four more 1909-based editions are printed and stocked for our European and UK customers and are not sold in the United States: the Borderless Vintage Dark Edition, the German Edition, and the two learning decks with the meanings printed on every card, in German and French. There is also a Tarot de Marseille vintage edition for the older French tradition. Each of those pages shows the live EU price and links to the deck’s European storefront.

What is in every box

Every deck on this page is a full 78-card tarot deck — 22 Major Arcana and four suits of 14 — printed by us, not resold. Every order includes a printed guidebook with the upright and reversed meaning of all 78 cards, so you can read on the first evening without buying a book first. The larger options add a rigid card box, a cotton reading cloth, a velvet bag, or all three; the option list on each deck's own page shows exactly what each one contains before you pay.

Shipping and returns

• Shipping inside the United States is free on orders over $59. Below that it is $4.90, shown at checkout before you pay.
• US orders ship from our Florida and Pennsylvania warehouses; most arrive in 5 to 7 business days.
• 14 days to return a deck, counted from the day it reaches you. Return shipping is paid by you unless the deck is faulty or we sent the wrong one.
• Full terms: shipping policy and refund policy.

Frequently asked questions

What does borderless mean on a tarot deck?

The card is printed with no white frame, so the artwork reaches all four edges. The image ends up about a fifth larger than the same art inside a border, and a laid-out spread reads as one continuous picture.

Is this the same artwork as the classic deck everyone learns from?

Yes — the 1909 illustrations, which is the tradition every English-language tarot book and course teaches from. That is why a beginner guide will describe the exact card you are holding.

Vintage colour or bright colour?

Both exist here. The Light Edition keeps the muted, aged palette of the original printing. The foiled and holographic editions put the same drawings under a metallic or diffraction finish, which is a modern object built on an old picture.

Which should I buy to learn with?

Any of the three on this page. If you want the plainest reading surface, take the Light Edition; if you want the deck to also be an object, take a foiled one. The full beginner shortlist, with the reasons, is in tarot decks for beginners.

Do you print vintage decks for other brands?

Yes. Custom and wholesale runs, including borderless and foiled 1909 editions, are on wholesale and custom printing.