There exist creations that are born but once in a century — works in which mastery holds converse with magic, and history itself inclines toward eternity.

Imperial Vignettes is not merely a deck of cards. It is the manifesto of an age, arrested in the golden hush of an autumnal Saint Petersburg. It is a quiet dialogue between you and the very soul of the Silver Age. It is the art of foresight, clothed in the raiment of perfection.

We have fashioned that which cannot be repeated. Every detail — from the choice of paper to the final stroke of the illustration — has passed through the careful hands of true craftsmen. For authentic luxury does not cry aloud. It whispers.

And those who understand — they hear.

In the eighteen-nineties, the Russian Empire lived through its final flowering. The gas lamps of Nevsky Prospekt, the soft susurration of silk within the imperial salons, the peal of church bells drifting over snow-laden Moscow. A world that knew — its days were numbered. And therefore cherished every passing moment.

Anton Chekhov wrote of great tragedies through the histories of little people, discovering philosophy in the simplest scenes of daily life.
We have rendered these very traditions in the language of the Tarot.

Imperial Vignettes is the moment when the archetype of the Emperor appears not upon a throne, but as the head of a household beside the samovar. When the Devil is but a reckless gambler in a smoke-laden tavern. When each card is a novella — one in which you quietly recognise yourself.

For true wisdom is never estranged from life.
It is life itself.

THE MAJOR ARCANA
The soul’s passage through the archetypes

From the Novice, who ventures his first step into the unknown, to the World’s Triumph, wherein all things at last find their rightful place. Two-and-twenty stations of a grand pilgrimage, embodied in visions of the Russian Empire upon the very threshold of change.
Here, the Magister appears as an Illusionist, captivating the salons of Saint Petersburg.
Death is the Great Turning — the quiet succession of generations.
The Moon is a midsummer dream, where reality dissolves into reverie.


THE MINOR ARCANA
A symphony of the four elements

Wands — the fire of enterprise and ardour, from the tender shoot of spring to the heavy sheaf of responsibility.
Cups — the waters of feeling and affection, from a cordial greeting to the contentment of a happy household.
Swords — the air of thought and conflict, from the keen decision to the utter fall, from which something new is born.
Pentacles — the good earth of the material world, from a fortunate coin to the inheritance of an ancestral estate.
Six-and-fifty cards, six-and-fifty histories.Your own among them.

BOOK I: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF SYMBOLS
This is not an instruction. It is a journey.

Each of the seventy-eight cards has been granted its own chapter — not mere meanings, but histories, contexts, and subtleties. How a card speaks in matters of love. How it offers caution in affairs of finance. What counsel it gives for one’s health. What temperament it describes. In which season of the year its influence most readily declares itself.
We devoted three years to the writing of this volume. We consulted historians, psychologists, and practising readers of the Tarot. For superficiality is the very antonym of luxury.

Exclusive spreads:
“The Country Tea” — for the understanding of social situations.
“The Imperial Council” — for decisions of consequence and fate.
“The Bridge of Saint Petersburg” — for seasons of transformation.

BOOK II: SECRETS FROM PRIVATE ARCHIVES
Authentic texts of the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries.

There exists knowledge that cannot be purchased — knowledge passed in whispers, preserved in monastic archives and in the worn notebooks of hereditary fortune-tellers.
We were granted access to these treasures.
Authentic rites for the purification of cards, recorded as early as the sixteenth century. Charms once murmured by the ladies of Saint Petersburg society. The practices of village wise-women. And the French traditions brought to Russia by Papus himself.
Each text has been carefully adapted for modern use, yet retains its original strength and spirit.
This is no mere supplement. It is an initiation into a tradition four centuries old.

There are things remembered forever.

You open the box. Before you lies linen of ivory hue. You catch the faint scent of fresh paper and typographic ink — that very aroma which quickens the heart of the bibliophile.

You take the deck into your hands. You feel its weight, its presence. You reveal the first card. And time stands still.

For Imperial Vignettes is not a mere purchase.
It is an event.

The first issue: 500 copies.
This is not marketing. This is reality.

Each box is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity bearing the unique number of its copy. No. 001 remains in the archives of the creators. Nos. 002–500 are destined to find their owners across the world.

When this series is sold out, there shall be no successor. Not this year. Perhaps not this decade. For the creation of Imperial Vignettes is no assembly-line affair. It is a meditation. It is an obsession with perfection.

60% of the first edition has already been reserved.

Some gifts are soon forgotten.
And some become a family legend.


Imperial Vignettesis a gift for:
*The person who possesses all things,
for they will assuredly lack this.

*The connoisseur of history and art,
for here both reside in perfect union.

*The seeker of meaning,
for 78 cards are 78 mirrors of the soul.

*The practising reader of the Tarot,
for this is an instrument worthy of a master.