The major arcana in this complex Italian deck are packed with symbolism, with Hebrew, Sanskrit, and Celestial letters, Vulgar Latin, Zodiacal correspondences, and the Path of the Tree of Life on each card.

The minor arcana of the Stairs of Gold Tarot are unfortunately very plain.

Excellent first edition set of the “Tavaglione Stairs of Gold Tarot,” made by Muller in 1979. It features the very beautiful and complex designs of Italian artist Giorgio Tavaglione.

“Giorgio Tavaglione made seventy-eight Major and Minor Arcana and a title card for the Stairs of Gold Tarot. . . . .

The back design has in the center a cat and a white mouse. Each cards has an ornate border. Titles and descriptive words on the cards are in Italian.

“The artist compares the tarot to the golden stairs described by Dante in Paradise: I saw a stair the color of gold, on which shone a ray of Sun, which raised itself so high that my eyes could not see the top. . . Like the Enoil Gavat Tarot, by the same artist, the cards are enriched by symbols from diverse sources.”

The set has 80 cards – the usual 78 cards, plus a gorgeous title card and a card with advertising for U.S. Games Systems. The cards are accompanied by an 80-page booklet in English, written by Mr. Kaplan, describing the deck in considerable detail. The cards are a typical tarot size, measuring 132mm x 71mm, and the cards and booklet come in the original box.