if I am only to own one Marseille...

I have a special fondness for the facsimile editions. Some of them are too fragile for practical use but I love the way they retain the historic feeling, warts & all. The Grimaud's my daily driver but the deep history of the Marseilles style stimulates me.

For a pack that holds up to regular use...either a Grimaud, CBD or the Camoin-Jodorowsky would be fine.

Some of the facsimiles are thin plastic film images glued to cardboard & they will separate after hundreds of shuffling's...& those square corners will be the first to go.

Hope you find your good ol' go too pack.

shaveling said:

I don't know what pictures you might be looking at, but with the actual cards, I haven't found a way to pretend that the angel on the viewer's left isn't wearing sunglasses. I'm used to that, and even look forward to it. But some folks might find it too, maybe "whimsical" is the word. Perhaps the creators didn't intend that all. But having seen the sunglasses once, I can't make them go away.

ETA
Aha! I looked it up in Jodorowsky's book. He says, "The one on the left, who is blind, is suggesting to us that the choice of the beloved object is not made by the intellect but by reasons of the heart."

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lol never noticed that before. Looking at it now, it is pretty funny.

littlespiritsdancing said:

We must have like tastes, Lokasenna! I had never seen the ISIS (took a tarot break for a few years) and when I read your post and viewed the deck--I ordered it, no questions.

I know I am a newbie to TdM. I know my choices in TdMs probably aren't knowledgeable or proper...I just go with my eye and my heart!

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And that's the way it should be, methinks, regardless of whether one is a fan of RWS, Thoth, Marseille or little green men from Mars. Don't worry about whether your tastes are "proper" or "knowledgeable." That's not the point. The point is YOUR eye and YOUR heart enjoying YOUR deck. The rest is accessory and unnecessary.

Having already spent my June Tarot allowance on another purchase, I must exercise patience and wait another month or two before buying the ISIS. Would love to hear your two cents about the deck once you get it.

shaveling said:

Tarot Garden usually has the French-only, but they're currently "SOLD OUT / Reorder pending."

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Beware! I ordered the French-only deck from Tarot Garden a few years ago, and received the French-English one. A polite follow-up e-mail from me went unanswered.

Lee said:

Beware! I ordered the French-only deck from Tarot Garden a few years ago, and received the French-English one. A polite follow-up e-mail from me went unanswered.

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Thanks for the tip. If I get the Grimaud I'll have a friend in Montreal get it there and open it to verify it's the French-only before I pick it up.

It took me another look to realize that the light blue on most of these decks isn't entirely blue in itself but can represent white or silver in the subjects, like the blades of swords, wings of angels, white hair, to set off from the pure white background. After that, all the decks just exploded for me and now I have even more trouble deciding!

Nobody here has recommended Dodal yet. I don't plan on holding out for a Dussere, so I'd get the newer one. Does this deck have boons, or are the different words and images too jarring?

Aeric said:

Nobody here has recommended Dodal yet. I don't plan on holding out for a Dussere, so I'd get the newer one. Does this deck have boons, or are the different words and images too jarring?

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I work with Flornoy's Dodal from time to time, because I have it and it's an old pattern. But I've learned I don't fancy Dodal's artwork. So if I were buying my last deck ever, a Dodal wouldn't be on the short list. It has its fans, maybe they'll chime in.

Speaking of Dussere: if you have a friend pick up the Grimaud in a store, you might consider having him or her check to see if they have Dusserre's version of the Marteau deck. Basically it's the same deck as the Grimaud, the big difference being that the blue is slightly lighter. Not at all a "light blue," but light enough you can readily see the black line work in the blue areas. I read about that version here but I don't think I've ever seen it for sale online. I got my copy at a store in Montreal.

Another thing your shopper may need to know is that what we all still tend to call the Grimaud is now published by France Cartes, and that's probably who will be listed as the publisher, as in LRichard's link. Just to confuse things, France Cartes also owns Dusserre, but they still publish the other version of Marteau's deck under the Dusserre name. Or they did the last I heard, anyway.

You're right. The Dodal figures are all depicted like they've got bags under their eyes, or else they all just smoked something really good. It was the art style of the time, but occasionally my modern sensibilities giggle at it. And I imagine if I read for someone they'd make the same remark.

Aeric said:

You're right. The Dodal figures are all depicted like they've got bags under their eyes, or else they all just smoked something really good. It was the art style of the time, but occasionally my modern sensibilities giggle at it. And I imagine if I read for someone they'd make the same remark.

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The Noblet has some of the same heavy lidded-ness going on, the Noblet Empress looks like she may have done a few bong hits.

shaveling said:

It has its fans, maybe they'll chime in.

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Chiming in here! I absolutely adore the Dodal. I think the faces are quirky and fantastic. Love the size and the card stock. I have both this and the Noblet from the Flornoys, and even though people consider the Noblet to be the more important of the two, I feel a stronger connection to the Dodal.

That being said, I'm a pusher for Fournier's Spanish Tarot based on the Giuseppe Ottone deck from 1736. To me it feels like the people's Tarot (not too 'blingy' and light on religious symbolism), and if i had to have only one, this would be it!

I;ve never seen the ISIS, but the ones I turn to the most are Dodal and the Spanish