2018 is 50th Anniversary of the Albano Waite - time for a Remastered edition?

Wheel of Fantastic

The Albano Waite is not everyone's cup of tea but it is one of my all time favourite decks. It has also been popular enough for US Games to keep it in print for, what, 26 years?

I originally got the US Games version in 2014 and immediately connected with it. As time went by I started to become a little disappointed as I discovered how different it was from the original 1968 edition.

Recently, I got hold of a vintage 1968 edition and the differences are pretty clear. The colours of the US Games version are a darker shade and thus not as 'vibrant'; the US Games version is blurry which has affected printing quality (the Page of Wands' staff has a green outline not present in the original); the colours of the Pentacles Court cards have been changed - the Knight of Pentacles is now the same muddy brown as the horse and the lavender skies have become a blah greyish blue.

But now even worse things are afoot. Out of curiosity to see what cardstock the deck is currently being printed on, I bought a new copy of the deck. Same heavily laminated cardstock as before. But now printing errors are creeping in - the King of Pentacles has a scratch in the upper right of the sky which is very noticeable. It could be taken to be a comet but it should not be there.

Next year is the 50th anniversary of the deck and this is the 21st century. The current printing of the deck really is not fit for purpose anymore; it would be to US Game's credit if they obtained a more accurate and faithful imaging/scan of the deck and released it next year. It's the least the company could do for one of their best selling evergreen decks.
 

peaceablepaths

Oh yes I would LOVE that! Mine is a vintage old version and I chopped the borders (because they bothered me). It feels like a well-loved stuffed animal kind of deck. I would really like a re-released version with more of a linen style cardstock that is more matte and less shiney/sticky than the new version. Also, why not something beautiful on the back and no borders?
 

Wheel of Fantastic

I guess a linen feel deck would be more of a limited edition thing as it might be too pricey for a regular release; I don't even know if US Games have ever done a limited edition deck.

The backs have to stay the same I think otherwise it wouldn't be the Albano.

What I am now wondering is how that King of Pentacles defect crept in. Does US Games not have quality control systems in place?
 

gregory

I guess a linen feel deck would be more of a limited edition thing as it might be too pricey for a regular release;
Considering that printerstudio has very nice linen stock, I don't think so.
 

Wheel of Fantastic

Update:

I contacted US Games customer services and sent them a picture of my faulty King of Pentacles. They got back to me pretty fast and said they would look into the matter and offered to replace my King with an error free one.

Looks like I may have one of a faulty batch, they checked a couple of the decks in their warehouse and they were error free.

I certainly can't fault US Games' customer services, they've been REALLY fast at responding to the problem

@Gregory

I'm not familiar with the printers you mentioned - what 'regular' release decks have they printed?
 

Abrac

I'd love to see an updated and improved reproduction, but, if it comes from US Games I'm not that confident it would be very good. They'll want to use new "anniversy" backs and other "improvements" that'll just make it worse; and of course it'll have copyrights. :(
 

Wheel of Fantastic

Hmm,

If AG Mueller can release an improved version of the Thoth (twice I think) with a sharper picture and better colouring then there's no reason why US Games can't do the same without 'unnecessary' alterations.

Actually, I would have thought that altering the deck would drastically affect it's appeal - it's supposed to be a (not quite) reproduction of the original after all.

When it comes to cardstock, I personally feel the Albano is one of the very few decks that is suited to heavy lamination - it makes the colours pop. The vintage '68 Albano I own has pretty decent lamination which is why I believe it's in such good condition now.
 

Abrac

I only have a couple of minor irritations with the original. To me the stock could be a little heavier, but not much. The US Games Belgian version has great stock imo. And in some versions of the original there's bleeding of some of the colors. I wouldn't mind seeing this corrected.

But the colors of the original are great; a new reproduction should try to match these as closely as possible. If I remember right, the US Games versions are slightly different in size, smaller as I recall; but it's been a while since I've had the two for comparison so I could be imagining that. Any new version should be the same size as the original.

I agree lamination wouldn't hurt anything, but please, lamination not waterproofing. :laugh:
 

gregory

@Gregory

I'm not familiar with the printers you mentioned - what 'regular' release decks have they printed?
They are POD printers, not publishers - but if they can do nice linen stock - and when you print there a deck kicks in at a sensible price - then USG and others could use that stock too. It CANNOT be expensive if I can get my own deck done there for a regular sort of price.
 

rif

Albano was my first tarot deck, in the early 90s. I think it's better than the ones printed nowadays from what I've read, but I'm not positive, since I haven't compared directly. I've avoided buying a spare due to the reputed blurriness of the current decks though.

I still have and love mine, and I'd enjoy a crisp, updated edition if one were produced that did it justice.

I'd also welcome a new production of the pocket sized, if we're wishing. :) I tend to use my pocket WS a lot due to its compact size and would prefer the Albano if it were available in that format.