The Fleurs du Mal tarot?

[bookshop]

Hi, guys! (I haven't been here in ages, but I've lately been getting slowly back into deck collection, and this deck summoned me. Hope you're all doing well!)

 

This is Les Fleurs du Mal tarot listed at Tarot Garden.

 

 

Does anyone have any information about this deck? The Tarot Garden has no information on the artist, no information at all other than this one photo. There's absolutely nothing I can find about it online, apart from a listing at Adam McLean's website that says it's a Taiwanese deck.

 

After digging around, I also managed to find this cached Pinterest thumbnail which shows a few more cards from the deck:

 

 

...but I was unable to find the actual Pinterest page/listing anywhere. Sigh.

 

And that's it. Does anyone know anything about this one? At a glance, it looks a lot like Stephanie Law's early art style, but there's nothing on any of her pages about a deck like this. Because it seems to be Chinese-themed, I wondered if it could be related to a specific C-drama or webnovel? If so, it's not one that I recognize.

 

Thank you all!

[PathWalker]

Actually Adam lists it as a tarot book, rather than a deck, and it doesn't come within his database, this may never have been available as cards? Just as illustrations.

Also  Tarot Garden list is as majors images, so not 78 cards.

 

Whilst we all sometimes fall  in love with images, you may never unravel and find them- "voice of experience"

 

 

[DanielJUK]

I've moved this to the main Tarot Decks area because I don't think it's specifically RWS but might turn out to be, it's a mystery 😀

[gregory]

It's in book form. Majors only. I own it. I have the artist listed as unknown, but I can get it out tomorrow.... What did you want to know ?

[gregory]

Hm. WELL - I WILL keep looking, but (to be remedied shortly) my database doesn't include storage details for my tarots in book form as there are only 6 of them.... Thus far I have found the other 5, but.... I have a LOT of books.

[gregory]

OK - found it. I would call that a waste of half a day, but I guess not. It has an email address, if you wish to give that a shot: 1mjump@yahoo.com tw

And a website which doesn't work:

home.yahoo.com.tw/1mjump/index.html

 

It is from 2002. It is basically a book with each image on one page and a facing page with text in Taiwanese. It is rather lovely and I'm honestly not inclined to break the spine to scan cards

Here's front, back and inside the cover in case you know anyone who can read it. It doesn't look like Law to me - but what do I know. Maybe ask her ?

 

Edited August 7 by gregory

[gregory]

Adam's site has a blog entry that might be useful: https://www.alchemywebsite.com/tarot/tarot_weblog_archive4.html

 

Quote

 

I now have another tarot as illustrations in a book. This one is self-published but beautifully printed as an A4 sized book (11.75 by 8.25 inches). It was produced in Taiwan, and the artwork is beautifully drawn and coloured. I know nothing about the creator of the image, but the style is similar to Les Fleurs du Mal, another art tarot issued in Taiwan a few years ago. I don't want to damage the book by forcing it flat on the scanner to provide an image for the weblog, but I do have the cover illustration in colour and the provisional uncoloured sketch for the Chariot. Copies of this seem difficult to source and it may be difficult to find in a few years time. The artist has a weblog on blog.yam.com/lmclubs
Chialing, the tarot dealer who obtained this for me, confirms that it was produced by the same designers as issued the Les Fleurs du Mal.

 

 

Chialing was always helpful. I have an old email address for her if you want to try that; I've not been in touch for years, and she has nothing listed on ebay, which would be very unusual for her back in the day.

[bookshop]

oh wow! this is all incredible! thank you all! @gregory this is incredible, thank you so much for spending half a day on this treasure hunt! I think you found gold, that is lovely. And I agree, that cover art looks nothing like Law. 

 

I'm not finding anything online with a search of "1mjump" or "imclumbs" and neither of those websites are still online. It might be nice to email Chialing but it could also be that this is a mystery we're not meant to solve, haha. 

[gregory]

You're welcome - and actually if I lose a deck - when I KNOW it is in the house - it drives me wild. I once "lost" my precious very limited tarot of Montreal for literally months. I had put it in a cigar box, as its own box is flimsy. It was exactly where it was supposed to be - but didn't LOOK like itself so I just kept missing it. ! It had never occurred to me to mark up my database for where the 6 book format decks are stored; BIG mistake; they NOW have a note on them !

 

I might get around to asking Chialing - but not right now.

 

ETA I have asked her. No response yet - but at least the email hasn't actually bounced. If anyone here can read Taiwanese - seems to me there was someone ?

Edited August 8 by gregory

[_R_]

The title is: Les Fleurs du Mal 《惡之華漫想》 .

It looks like it could be related to a manga series or some such, possibly 《霹靂爆笑江湖》.

You'll find some more images by searching for both of those titles.

 

There is also a page by the artist here. 

 

The artist published a second tarot set entitled 《風行雷霆》in 2015; some images are available on Adam McLean's website.

Both seem to be quite rare, although I note a couple of copies for sale on Taiwanese websites.

[gregory]

Oh wow - well done. Both the e-mails bounced - and Chialing hasn't answered..

 

So that page is the artist ?

Edited August 8 by gregory

[bookshop]

1 hour ago, _R_ said:

The title is: Les Fleurs du Mal 《惡之華漫想》 .

It looks like it could be related to a manga series or some such, possibly 《霹靂爆笑江湖》.

You'll find some more images by searching for both of those titles.

 

There is also a page by the artist here. 

 

The artist published a second tarot set entitled 《風行雷霆》in 2015; some images are available on Adam McLean's website.

Both seem to be quite rare, although I note a couple of copies for sale on Taiwanese websites.

 

oh WOW. you're incredible, thank you! how ever did you find all this? i tried to translate the images Gregory uploaded but i got zero info from them other than the email (which i emailed but it bounced back for me also). I couldn't even find the other tarot mentioned on Adam's website, is it in the database? I guess I'm not super familiar with the way that website works.

 

It looks like the manga could be Onmyouji? https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=417753485230878&set=a.417753638564196  

[_R_]

19 minutes ago, bookshop said:

 

oh WOW. you're incredible, thank you! how ever did you find all this? i tried to translate the images Gregory uploaded but i got zero info from them other than the email (which i emailed but it bounced back for me also). I couldn't even find the other tarot mentioned on Adam's website, is it in the database? I guess I'm not super familiar with the way that website works.

 

It looks like the manga could be Onmyouji? https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=417753485230878&set=a.417753638564196  

 

You're welcome. I read Chinese and had a quick search is all.

 

Adam McLean's entry is found here, on 10 January 2010. I don't know whether it was ever catalogued in his online database.
https://www.alchemywebsite.com/tarot/tarot_weblog_archive4.html

 

You could always try sending the artist a message and enquiring about it.

[_R_]

2 hours ago, gregory said:

Oh wow - well done. Both the e-mails bounced - and Chialing hasn't answered..

 

So that page is the artist ?

 

Yes，that's what it looks like, although it hasn't been updated in some time. 

No name is given; the artist used this Flowers of Evil as a pen name, apparently.

 

[gregory]

But the title on the cover is Les Fleurs du Mal. In VERY BIG ! I can't find the artist - I have tried every email in the book....

[gregory]

59 minutes ago, _R_ said:

Adam McLean's entry is found here, on 10 January 2010. I don't know whether it was ever catalogued in his online database.
https://www.alchemywebsite.com/tarot/tarot_weblog_archive4.html

 

No it isn't in his database, I assume because none of his "book" ones are.

[bookshop]

It occurred to me that I hadn't run the second website, the one Adam mentioned, through the Wayback Machine, and that one came up with results. Aku no Hana (Flowers of Evil) does indeed seem to be the name for the art collective behind the cards. Looks like they also did some cosplay and mostly sold their books at regional fan conventions. https://web.archive.org/web/20130225062503/http://blog.yam.com:80/lmclubs

 

They haven't been active since 2012 though. The Facebook page might still be worth a shot! Thank you both again!

 

 

[gregory]

I have never seen a deck where the creator's/artist's name covered half the cover, but..... I do love the wayback !

Edited August 9 by gregory

[_R_]

 

13 hours ago, gregory said:

 

No it isn't in his database, I assume because none of his "book" ones are.

That makes sense. I also wondered how non-Latin scripts might have been entered in the database, absent an English title or translation. 

 

13 hours ago, gregory said:

But the title on the cover is Les Fleurs du Mal. In VERY BIG ! I can't find the artist - I have tried every email in the book....

The email on the book cover is lmjump , beginning with the letter L, not 1. It could be out of date, and a more recent one is lmclubs@googlemail.com.

5 hours ago, bookshop said:

They haven't been active since 2012 though. The Facebook page might still be worth a shot! Thank you both again!

 

You're welcome. It might also be worth sending the curator of the Tarot Museum in Taipei an email to enquire about the deck(s) & artist.  https://www.looktarot.com

[DanielJUK]

I wonder if the title / collective name was inspired by the French Poetry Classic "Les Fleurs du mal" by Charles Baudelaire which was published in 1857. It described strong symbolism (especially of decadence and eroticism) and inspired many later poets and modernist artists. Could it have been an inspiration? I seem to remember it's very into the concept of original sin 🙂 .

[gregory]

Of course it was - no-one ever doubted that. Chialing even pointed out the connection when I got mine.

[bookshop]

14 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

I wonder if the title / collective name was inspired by the French Poetry Classic "Les Fleurs du mal" by Charles Baudelaire which was published in 1857. It described strong symbolism (especially of decadence and eroticism) and inspired many later poets and modernist artists. Could it have been an inspiration? I seem to remember it's very into the concept of original sin 🙂 .

 

"Flowers of Evil" was the name of the art collective, but I think there were at least 3 members who each had their own handle. One of them was called Xiao Hua ("Little Flower") and i think they called him "Little evil flower" at one point, so they may have been cheekily playing off their own nicknames as well. 🙂

[gregory]

Chialing responded, and concurs with _R_ in every detail. So some kind of collaboration, or the GROUP does individual projects among themselves. If anyone wants to email the group or make contact on facebook (I can't; I am not there and refuse to be !)

 

 

Chialing has left ebay, but still has copies of a rather splendid cat deck, which I will post about elsewhere.

[_R_]

On 8/9/2025 at 2:29 PM, DanielJUK said:

I wonder if the title / collective name was inspired by the French Poetry Classic "Les Fleurs du mal" by Charles Baudelaire which was published in 1857. It described strong symbolism (especially of decadence and eroticism) and inspired many later poets and modernist artists. Could it have been an inspiration? I seem to remember it's very into the concept of original sin 🙂 .

 

I think the Baudelairean influence is self-evident, but what strikes me is the wording in Chinese - where one would expect 花, we find 華 (although to be fair, my dictionary also gives 'bloom' as a possible reading). The latter part, 漫想, also strikes me as slightly odd, and perhaps either a play on words for the homonym 慢想, or an adaptation of 漫畫 ？ 

Perhaps a native speaker/reader could clarify this?

[gregory]

I'll see if Chialing would be OK showing up......