The Fountain Tarot mass produced vs independently produced edition

cynthea

Does anyone know the differences between the new edition vs independently produced edition of The Fountain Tarot ? Searching and cannot find any information.
 

Charlie Brown

I just was in touch with them.

I emailed them about this recently. Here is the response I got:

"The deck on our website if the 1st edition of this deck. Roost Publications will be re-printing and releasing this Fall a second edition of the deck. In general, it will be VERY close to the original. We have made a few edits to the book and added some different visuals to the box, but the quality will be the same and the card images will be the same. I think very few people will be able to tell the difference if you're new to the deck. Does that help? That being said, a first edition is always a first edition and is worth having. :)

Jason"
 

Charlie Brown

I haven't decided which deck to get (I'll probably wait for the fall since it's will less than half as much on Amazon), but I'm very much looking forward to exploring this deck.
 

cynthea

Thank you

Thank you :) !
 

lantana

I hope that Roost will do a good job on the deck, seeing as they aren't a huge publisher that'll try and cut corners. That being said, I am concerned that some of the flaws noted in the mass produced Wild Unknown deck will happen here, namely slightly thinner cardstock and cards being printed off center. We can only really speculate until fall. Either way, the price drop and (hopefully!) the availability in other countries will probably make up for any issues.

I'm interested in what the new boxes will look like. Are they getting rid of the iridescent text?
 

Charlie Brown

There's definitely a price drop. It's already available for pre-order on Amazon.
 

Carojulie

I remember hearing the same type of things about the mass market edition of the Wild Unknown before it was released, that it would be true to the artist edition.
And, thought it is true that the mass market edition has made no significant change to the deck, is true to the general atmosphere, has kept all the art intact from the second artist edition, and has kept the same presentation.... there still is a difference in the cardstock quality, and I do not remember hearing beforehand that the cardstock would be cheaper.
The cards are the same size, the cardstock is the same "type" (mat) but the quality is lower and you can really feel it.
Possibly people who only have the mass market deck will never know, but someone who has handled the artist version at some point, will make the difference. That was a disapointment for me.

For the Fountain, I hear that "the quality will be the same" and I really hope that it will turn out to be exactly true, because the quality of the Fountain deck is really something, especially this somptuous cardstock, and it makes for a huge part of the charm of the deck (for me at least).

Can a mass market editor achieve the exact same quality if they are not using the same printing company ?
I hope they can ; Iam only just wondering, and strongly hoping they will be able to match the quality.
 

G6

I have the mass market Wild Unknown and although I had to return the first one I received because it was missing a World card the second one contained a full deck and was free from printing errors. At 23.99, which is about the price of the Fountain mass market edition on Amazon, I think that is the best you can hope for at that price point. It's great to have a lower priced edition with similar quality to the indie version. If the Fountain mass market is similar to WU mass market quality that'll work.
 

Carojulie

I am always so charmed by indie products versus mass culture. I always feel like encouraging small enterprises, small family business, and artists.

But of course, when an artist gets picked up by a large company, it's usually financially beneficial for the artist, wich is great (they might loose some freedom along the way, wich is not great, but that depends largely on the company that picks them up, and on the contract they manage to negociate...)

And on the plus side, in the case of the Fountain, a mass market edition will not only be cheaper in the end, but also it will be stocked by bookstores worldwide, therefore easier to obtain for people outside US.
 

Le Fanu

I guess the main thing for any artist creating a tarot deck is that their art gets more widely known. Tarot is such a minor, peripheral thing in the marketplace - much as we love it - but if it directs people towards their originals and prints and the like, it's great for them.