Madame Le Normand Fortune Telling System

Cerulean

http://www.schifferbooks.com/newschiffer/book_template.php?isbn=9780764328534

This was at an independent bookstore (East West Books)--they said it was received last weekend (June 29-30th) and they immediately sold out that weekend the one or two sets they ordered.

I got a peek at the demo set and found the cards looked old-fashioned, like the box cover. It's a set with a softcover book of 148 pages and it looked like many charts of meanings based on the 52 cards...it said it combined French, English and other variations...a kind store employee read the blurb in the inside cover of the book and gave me the ISBN information after I called a few minutes ago...

Here's the info copied from the link I gave above:

Book Details
ISBN: 9780764328534
Size: 10 1/4” x 7 1/2”
Illustrations: 22 b/w photos, 52 color playing cards, dice, 1 foldout sheet
Pages: 148
Availability: Now Available
Binding: Hard Cover

Barnes and Noble did not have it in the store, but the website has the same information.

UPDATE: Barnes and Noble is out of stock, but enter the ISBN number and Amazon.com has two left
:
http://www.amazon.com/Madam-Normand...30/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1215062463&sr=11-1



http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=madame+le+normand

Since it's a holiday weekend in the U.S., I'm not certain when the independent bookstore might carry it again--they are going to call me. They said it's backordered, so it may be a few weeks before a real set emerges locally.
Some people who like using the $1-$15 small Gypsy Witch or similar small card decks without books probably would suggest lower cost options...

Sorry I don't have the set yet...but if others do see and evaluate it, I'm all ears. The writing was in English and the set looked reasonable for the price...I'd like to hear what others think.

Best,

Cerulean
 

Gavriela

Napolean's Oraculum and Book of Fate (Dreams? - can't remember the exact title) is usually floating around Powell's or other used bookshops for a couple dollars. As is Cornelius Agrippa's Ladies Oracle, which I think is a lot more fun, and comes with 100 questions that cover just about everything.

If you want nice old-style playing cards and some dice, you can get them from Mr Somerville.

IOW, you can probably do better for the price. But it might be a fun set nonetheless - I'm a sucker for camp, too.
 

Bernice

Saw the book & cards at the Amazon link - thank you for posting it Cerulean.

If anyone is interested in the old card deck - not the book - there's a shop here in the UK with 16th cen. and 18th cen. decks. The decks are £5 each.

http://www.gothicgreenoak.co.uk/cards.html

Bee
 

Freder

I have what appears to be a (badly damaged) first edition of the book. It is a toy, really, a novelty item, not a serious divination tool. I thought about scanning it and publishing it cheaply, but I see Schiffer has already done that, and it's really not good enough or interesting enough to warrant the time and effort to put out another version. Lovely campy vintage ads in the front and back pages, though, and the casting chart is fun.