Premium German Rider Waite with Pam A crackle brown back and 1909 colouring

Wheel of Fantastic

What a lovely tarot this is, l had hoped that l would find an RWS that was right for me. Last night l did some comparing with the RWS l had, what a joy to not have the perma-tanned faces of the yellow box or the dull washed out colouring of the Cenntenial.

The colouring is so beautiful on this tarot, in fact just right for me. What l like is to be able to look at the faces in a deck and hear them speak to me. Well l certainly heard the voices, the faces are so much better defined, they looked out at me with meaning. At last! Instead of static cold uncaring glares l got a warmth and a welcome. Spent the evening shuffling, comparing and then doing a reading for myself. It all went very smoothly and l am delighted that now l have a RWS that l can really work with, one that actually speaks to me. This Tarot is by far the best RWS that l have seen for colour, and as well as having that beautiful sheen to the cards the shuffling is so smooth and silky, have l said that before :laugh:

So happy that the frustration of not being able work with RWS is over. Long live Von Waite and thank you again WOF the poster who started this thread.

Heh, WOF - I like that.

I'm really glad people are discovering this RWS; it was a fluke I spotted it on Amazon.de. At least now the word is out.
 

Lee

I'm glad people are happy with this deck. After looking at the photos that folks have kindly provided in this thread, I'm not seeing any major differences that would inspire me to buy it. I'm sure there are differences, but perhaps too subtle to show clearly in the photos.

I'm at the point in my tarot life where I don't feel like I need to own yet more editions of RWS and TdM than I already have. Particularly TdMs, I already own more editions than I could ever possibly use or even look at, most of them are gathering dust on my shelf.

I remember when the USG Centennial came out, many people here looked forward to it eagerly and loved it when they got it. Now it seems its luster has faded with some. Personally I still like it and use it. I've also got a USG Pocket from about ten years ago which I like, as well as some older yellow-box RWSs.

A few years ago I bought a new copy of the Universal Waite because it had more vivid colors than the original Universal. I took it out yesterday and tried reading with it and found I didn't like it! I suppose I could get used to it if I had to, but right now I'm digging my Centennial and my Pocket RWS.

It is true that at least as of a few years ago, the regular yellow-box RWS (printed in China I think) was pretty bad, so if that was all I had, then I'd certainly be looking for an alternative.
 

Thoughtful

I'm glad people are happy with this deck.

It is true that at least as of a few years ago, the regular yellow-box RWS (printed in China I think) was pretty bad, so if that was all I had, then I'd certainly be looking for an alternative.

l am very happy with this RWS edition and find l am getting along wonderfully with it. Have also dug out my book 'Secrets of the Waite Smith Tarot' by Marcus Katz & Tali Goodwin. Bought the book some time ago to help me get into RWS, but the dreaded yellow box was giving me a hard time. Now with this new edition RWS l can read the book and learn so much more. The book is absolutely perfect, it's 458 pages of sheer magic with lovely old pictures of how Pamela C created the images, where she lived, her association with Waite, and of course a mine of information on Waite himself. Their knowledge of the history is second to none, and together with their teaching of the RWS is invaluable.

Sold the Centennial it was too dark in colouring for me. Still have the yellow box with the perma-tanned faces, makes a good comparison deck, of what l do not want!
 

Sumaya

My standard deck arrived today. I don't know how to attach a photo, so I uploaded it elsewhere.
In the first row is the "Von Waite" and in the second row the Universal Waite (colored by Hanson-Robert):
https://anonm.gr/5111.jpg

Really a lovely old-school deck. I'm not very fond of the RWS but this version is quite charming.
 

Thoughtful

Glad you received and like the Standard Premium Von Waite. l never got on with the RWS until l bought this particular deck. Am having a lot of fun and learning with it.
Those pictures are great Sumaya it really shows the lovely colouring and detail of the Von Waite.
 

Laura Borealis

I received mine a few days ago and I really like it. The colors are a bit subdued in comparison with my other RWS, but not vastly different. Some are almost the same, while others are less saturated, especially blues, reds and oranges. Some are darker (the Hermit's sky for instance) and some are lighter. The deck I'm comparing to is a 70's era US Games, similar to this.

I had thought the Von Waite would be warmer in tone, but in fact it feels cooler overall to me. My other deck is printed on slightly cream-colored stock, while the Von Waite is on bright white. I feel like the bright white stock lends to the cool feel.

I did notice a smell, probably from the lacquer, but it's already fading off and I'm sure will go away completely soon.

I went through card by card and did note a few small differences. For instance, on The Lovers, there are minute differences in the cross-hatching, but the main thing I noticed was the highlight on the mountain, present in the US Games deck but not the Von Waite. Since the Von Waite is a repro Pam A (yes?) I assume that detail was added in a later printing.

http://imgur.com/a/Wgn8T <-- The Lovers and some other cards.

I still prefer my other version, but this one's a really nice edition and I love having one with those crackle backs :D Plus I can take it to the coffeehouse and not worry about upsetting a mug of tea on it or whatever.
 

Lee

Thanks Laura for those photos!
 

Laura Borealis

You're welcome! I'll take some of the minors tomorrow.

ETA: I translated this out of the booklet:

Die vorliegende Premium-Ausgabe basiert auf einer behutsamen Reproduktion von Karten der erstausgabe.

The present premium edition is based on a careful reproduction of first edition cards.

There's also something about how they correspond to the more subtle coloring of the original cards and it mentions the brown pebble backs. I don't read German, I just pushed a couple sentences through a translator.
 

Sumaya

You're welcome! I'll take some of the minors tomorrow.

ETA: I translated this out of the booklet:



There's also something about how they correspond to the more subtle coloring of the original cards and it mentions the brown pebble backs. I don't read German, I just pushed a couple sentences through a translator.

I'm German, so here it is (loose translation, English is my second language):

"This Premium edition is based on a careful reproduction of the cards of the 1st edition from 1910. The original lithography was replaced by offset printing whenever feasible.

The card fronts match the subdued color scheme of the original cards; the card backs show a reproduction of the brown pebble design."

So nothing really interesting except that they use a modern printing technique.
 

Laura Borealis

Thank you, Sumaya! :)

Edit: I added a few more pics to my Imgur album: http://imgur.com/a/Wgn8T

Scroll down. I didn't do comparisons this time, just took pics of the cards laid on a big sheet of paper. I took these in bright indirect sunlight, with my phone's camera -- please be aware that between my camera and the differences in monitor color calibration, they might not be 100% true. But they look about right to me.