Royal Fez Moroccan - why is this still OOP?

Wheel of Fantastic

O.k, I know this deck regularly gets mentioned whenever a thread on 'decks you'd like to make a comeback' appears. But, really, why is this still OOP?

Up until last year I'd never paid attention to the Royal Fez. I'm a big fan of the RWS and a variety of clones but online pictures of the Fez left me cold. Last year I got the opportunity to get a copy on EBay in excellent condition for a reasonable price - I thought 'what the heck, why not?'

As soon as laid eyes on the physical deck, I was struck by the charm of the thing, something I'd seen other people comment on. The deck has been a huge favourite ever since to the point where I've acquired another 3 copies (2 x Rigel Press Slipcase editions and a very funky 1975 Rigel Press edition in a tuck box with a REALLY lurid picture on the the box) to add to my US Games copy.

I recall Stuart Kaplan stating somewhere that he disliked seeing tarot decks reaching high prices on the secondary market and would try to put them back into print. So, why not the Fez? The demand is there and the deck has been OOP for a long while. If the Barbara Walker deck can come back then isn't the Fez due (on lovely matte cardstock please)? Is there a copyright problem?

So ends my lovingly crafted spiel on an outstanding deck. One issue though, would a reprint live up to the magic of the vintage versions - that old AG Mueller cardstock and those old slipcases are a large part of the appeal, along with the artwork.
 

Wheel of Fantastic

This is a somewhat related question regarding a reprint of the Royal Fez.

Baba Studios is currently probing to gauge interest in a reprint of the Victoriana Romantic. Do/have any of the major tarot publishers - US Games; Lo Scarabeo for instance - done anything similar? How did US Games know that now was the time to reprint the Barbara Walker deck?
 

Debra

Kaplan reprinted the charming Whimsical Tarot in response to a campaign led by our very own Sar.
 

Le Fanu

I have a secret theory - just something rumbling in the back of my brain - that the participation by the guy from Mensa (Roland Berrill) dates from a time which is not quite out of copyright.

By my calculations - I remember reading that the conception of the deck was 1957 - the deck dates from 60 years ago - not 70, which is what is stipulated by copyright. I bet that has something to do with it. I have no evidence or insider information whatsoever, but this is my own private explanation as to why this deck isn't in print.

I adore this deck. I have 6 or 7 (can't remember - must check) incarnations of it.

That fine lined sketchiness is pure hermetic, mystical occult-ness for me. Somebody here once said the artwork was "not very good" - something I have never quite been able to shake off - it tarnished my love (because it was someone I respect here).

But I love it, truly love it. I love the fake concept and would forgive it anything - tarot? Twelfth Century Fez? Really? I first bought a copy early 80s and found it a bit bland. But like all the best decks, it slowly unfurled into a favourite, across the decades, overtaking all those clever fad-ish ones and leaving them far, far behind.

Never trust a deck you like immediately :D I have had to learn this lesson time and time again.
 

Wheel of Fantastic

I have a secret theory - just something rumbling in the back of my brain - that the participation by the guy from Mensa (Roland Berrill) dates from a time which is not quite out of copyright.

By my calculations - I remember reading that the conception of the deck was 1957 - the deck dates from 60 years ago - not 70, which is what is stipulated by copyright. I bet that has something to do with it. I have no evidence or insider information whatsoever, but this is my own private explanation as to why this deck isn't in print.

I adore this deck. I have 6 or 7 (can't remember - must check) incarnations of it.

That fine lined sketchiness is pure hermetic, mystical occult-ness for me. Somebody here once said the artwork was "not very good" - something I have never quite been able to shake off - it tarnished my love (because it was someone I respect here).

But I love it, truly love it. I love the fake concept and would forgive it anything - tarot? Twelfth Century Fez? Really? I first bought a copy early 80s and found it a bit bland. But like all the best decks, it slowly unfurled into a favourite, across the decades, overtaking all those clever fad-ish ones and leaving them far, far behind.

Never trust a deck you like immediately :D I have had to learn this lesson time and time again.

Very true. I didn't rate the deck online but it clicked when I had the physical item in hand.

Someone must know the copyright situation with the Fez. Did the rights to publish the deck pass from Rigel Press to US Games in the 70s? I could be wrong but my understanding is that Rigel Press stopped publishing when US Games started.

Do US Games still have the rights or have they reverted to the creator's estate; that would explain a lot.
 

Le Fanu

My hunch is that U.S Games don't have the rights. Otherwise, I think they'd republish it. I can't imagine there is more demand for the Chinese Tarot and Barbara Walker when you have such a retro RWS delight in the Fez.
 

Barleywine

I haven't looked at scans of this deck in a while, and I just found better ones on Albideuter. My initial reaction was that the contrast between the foreground colors and the monochromatic backgrounds is kind of unsettling. But the more I look now, the more I like. Coloring in the backgrounds would probably destroy the charm. The primary and secondary foreground colors have a "Marseille" immediacy to them.
 

Michellehihi

I bought a Fez on ebay some time ago at a reasonable price, but there was no box so I don't know which edition it is. Of all my deck, this is the most fragile, it has no varnish at all, it is plain carton. I am even afraid to touch it because our hands are always a little greasy, right? And it look very "absorbant".
 

Le Fanu

The way the coloured figures emerge from the sketchy monochrome backgrounds is part of the charm and works better in some cards than others. This monochrome samey feel, with unnumbered, untitled cards, was one of the reasons why I didn't really like it that much when I first bought it circa 1982. It took me a while to love it.

This is a deck that was never laminated and - again - one of the reasons I love it so much. This really is card, these really are cards - you can feel the texture. There is often a sense that unlaminated cards are like "oh-god-put-them-in-plastic-sleeves-QUICKLY-laminate-to-high-heaven-something-anything-to-protect-them". Because unlaminated cards really won't survive beyond a month or so. It's so not true. We still have unlaminated RWS decks from 1910 and they have survived. Or 18th, 19th Century Conver decks. And then this sense that we all walk around with hands dripping with grease (ok, "a little greasy" lol). I mean I wouldn't put handcream on before shuffling or massage my hands with pig lard but - really - unlaminated cards survive!
 

Barleywine

The way the coloured figures emerge from the sketchy monochrome backgrounds is part of the charm and works better in some cards than others. This monochrome samey feel, with unnumbered, untitled cards, was one of the reasons why I didn't really like it that much when I first bought it circa 1982. It took me a while to love it.

This is a deck that was never laminated and - again - one of the reasons I love it so much. This really is card, these really are cards - you can feel the texture. There is often a sense that unlaminated cards are like "oh-god-put-them-in-plastic-sleeves-QUICKLY-laminate-to-high-heaven-something-anything-to-protect-them". Because unlaminated cards really won't survive beyond a month or so. It's so not true. We still have unlaminated RWS decks from 1910 and they have survived. Or 18th, 19th Century Conver decks. And then this sense that we all walk around with hands dripping with grease (ok, "a little greasy" lol). I mean I wouldn't put handcream on before shuffling or massage my hands with pig lard but - really - unlaminated cards survive!

If one were really anal about it, there is artist's dry-film acrylic spray fixative that I used to have for protecting charcoal sketches. It won't make them slippery but it could protect against spotting or staining to some extent. But if it screws up the cards, I certainly didn't recommend it! ;)