Opinions on: Tarot Publishers

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 26 Jan 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

mercenary30	26 Jan 2005
I am wondering what your opinions may be regarding "The Big Three" tarot publishers, and any smaller ones that you may be aware of. US Games: Lo Scarabeo: Llewellyn: Who else? I personally find that my favorite decks are self published or published by a small company. As far as the big three are concerned, my favorite is Llewellyn. It seems to me they put more thought into a tarot project and try to produce each pack as a unique piece. Lo Scarabeo to me is one of the biggest cookie cutter producers of tarot decks. Although I own a few of their decks, and enjoy them, I find that the standard format across packs, and similar art work styles really limit my interest in their new offerings. US Games is one company I really have nothing to say about. There is nothing to me that stands out for good or for bad.

tarotbear	26 Jan 2005
Llewellyn has been around longer than any of them; they can be choosy when they wwant to be and lax when they want to be. US Games is the largest printer and distributor of cards in the world; Tarot cards are only a section of what they carry or sell. Although tarot carries a lot of weight and profit for them, tarot is only a part of their focus. Lo Scarabeo is the new kid on the block and eager to become better known; they will probably make a lot of mistakes as they learn. Truthfully, I don't buy a deck by who printed it or distributed it. I buy a deck I like.

Grizabella	26 Jan 2005
I choose decks based on what I like and what I feel I can read with best, so I haven't really paid attention to who has published each one. Lo Scarabeo decks I've had have been way too big for my hands and I don't read with them very well. I got their one of Fairies and the Gnomes ones for the grandkids, but those ended up in my own collection, so I guess the kids didn't connect with them, either. They're cute, though. I got the Lo Scarabeo paper catalog and was disappointed to find that there aren't any prices listed in it. In looking through my decks, I seem to have a lot of US Games decks. The rest are Haindl, Merryday, Buckland, Wild Spirit-----I guess Llewellyn is yet for me to try. I do like the quality of the US Games decks.

VisionQuest	26 Jan 2005
My Gay Tarot decks have both Lo Scarabeo and Llewellyn logos on the box... ?

Gwynne	26 Jan 2005
Llewellyn is the U.S. distributor for Los Scarabeo. I like the artwork of Los Scarabeo decks, but beyond that I find them difficult to read. The symbolism may be meaningful to the creator, but I am often lost. My husband has the Celtic Tarot, a L.S. deck and I've tried to read with it, but the readings just seem too harsh, way too on edge. U.S. Games is ok, I've got a couple of decks from them, and of course you won't find an RWS anywhere else. Llewellyn is.... eh.... some good, some not so good, and some downright bad. I like independently published decks, or decks published by small time publishers. They tend to put a LOT more thought and care into the decks becaue they aren't making a lot of money.

April	26 Jan 2005
I looked at this questions from the angle that if I had a deck that all three companies were dying to publish who would I choose? I don't know much about any of them to pass adequate judgement, but I'd have to pick Llewellyn first or Lo Scarabeo second. I also don't like the "cookiecutter" approach Lo Scarabeo has to every deck. There is little thought for the backs and none at all for borders. But maybe they'll grow out of it. All of my reasons are pretty petty, actually. 1) Llewellyn's HQ is not far from Chicago and thus closer to my heart. :) 2) I like the bottoms of the Lo Scarabeo boxes. Somebody really used their head there. 3) I just bought 7 Lo Scarabeo in Llewellyns recent $5 sale so that that put them both way ahead. Nothing is ever on sale at U.S. Games. 4) U.S. Games puts the copyright info right on every card, blech! 5) But all that aside, my very first and favorite deck was a U.S. Games, so that brings a tear to my eye. *sigh* Alway happy for a chance to rant. Peace, April

Kissa	26 Jan 2005
Nothing equals the upper-class italian Il Meneghello and Dal Negro (available in the US by Tarot Garden?). Kissa Edited to add: like you, mercenary, many of my favourite are self-published decks (Tarot of Prague, Sakki-Sakki, Mountain Dream etc.)

Fulgour	26 Jan 2005
tarotbear wrote: US Games is the largest printer and distributor of cards in the world; Tarot cards are only a section of what they carry or sell. Biggest is not U.S.Games Systems Inc., but U.S. Playing Card Co., which it seems is now owned by an even bigger company, Jarden: Jarden to Acquire U.S. Playing Card Co. http://boardgames.about.com/b/a/069254.htm And then there's the possibility U.S.Games is up for sale too...

Greyling	26 Jan 2005
I'm with you, April--it drives me absolutely crazy that U.S. Games prints their copyright information on Every. Single. Card. It can be extremely distracting, especially on a lighter border. However, the richness of color and clarity of detail in the actual pictures is quite admirable. I don't have much of a problem with Lo Scarabeo, really. I find their use of color--generally dreamy, muted, and veiled--to be intriguing. Sometimes the keywords can be something of a distraction, but not so much so as a "Copyright 2001" right next to the High Priestess' face. (Tears hair, rends garment.) I don't own enough Llewellyn decks to be able to give an objective opinion about them. I do covet several of their decks, so they can't be all bad, right? I love self-published decks the most--my only complaint with self-published decks is that you never know the quality of the cardstock you're getting, and sometimes the cards flake or split. But no one's making their decks out of chewed newspaper or discarded tearaway pants, so it's not that great a concern for me. The best you can do is good enough for me.

WolfSpirit	26 Jan 2005
I also have a soft spot for self-published decks, the quality is not always as good as that of the big publishers, but you can feel the love with which they were made. I don't always pay attention to who published a deck so I cannot be too harsh about the big publishers - I think all three make good quality cards but also have their drawbacks. What bothered me about Llewellyn as that for some decks they make this big book + deck set, all in one box (no separate box for the deck), and when the book could have been made much smaller - with a giant print of a card on one page and a few lines of meaning on the opposite page, all this could have been made in a smaller and more practical package. LoScarabeo has the annoying habit of making a big border with the card meaning in 6 languages on most of their cards, and already the cards are fairly small as it is (considering that in many of their decks the artwork is important) US Games...someone mentioned the copyright logo, but I had to go look for my cards to see it, LOL. This is something I don't really notice. And it drives people mad that they keep delaying publication dates - but as I am not really in eager anticipation of any deck, I just wait - but they should do that better really.

April	26 Jan 2005
WolfSpirit wrote: What bothered me about Llewellyn as that for some decks they make this big book + deck set, all in one box (no separate box for the deck), and when the book could have been made much smaller - with a giant print of a card on one page and a few lines of meaning on the opposite page, all this could have been made in a smaller and more practical package. Exactly! Why can't they package them all like The World Spirit? If I remember right Legend particularly dove me nuts, something about a to much cardboard inside the box. At least with the Victoria Regina they included a pretty bag (that I keep the Legend deck in). That was nice. Peace, April

BlueLotus	26 Jan 2005
For me the overall quality and excellence of decks at are unsurpassed. However, I would also go overboard at times and pay a fortune for self-published companies' decks if I really like them. When I started with tarot I was ever so grateful for the books that came with the decks , mostly from LLewellyn, and other self-published ones, and read each and every word in those hefty books. However, in time, I got more into collecting and enjoying tarot decks for their own sake, and for the artwork, and I was doing fine with that LWB. Thus, I would be interested in tarot decks whoever publishes them, but I look to the new decks that are published by US games as ones ,as long as I connect with them. Lo Scarabeo deck quality and artowork are excellent, but as someone else mentioned earlier, they may lack variety and tend to have a repetitive style. But I do cherish the ones I have though I may not be interested in adding every new deck that comes out from them.

Kit	26 Jan 2005
April wrote: IU.S. Games puts the copyright info right on every card, blech! Greyling wrote: I'm with you, April--it drives me absolutely crazy that U.S. Games prints their copyright information on Every. Single. Card. It can be extremely distracting, especially on a lighter border. You guys do realise that I am now going to be uncontrollably distracted by the copyright stuff now? Just kidding! I never payed that much attention to it before...I'm sure I'll get over it. :) I've never payed huge attention to the publisher, either, when buying a deck. So long as I can find the deck I want...It's the deck that matters most, the individual, pernickitty ways publishers present the decks is a secondary consideration for me. Kit

Shade	27 Jan 2005
A couple of years ago I didn't think much of Lo Scarabeo at all but now most of my top reading decks are from them. I also wish they would get away from the uber-borders. There are several cards in the Fey tarot that felt as if they had parts of them chopped off to incorporate the borders. I would prefer that the titles just be in Italian at the bottom of the card and the rest of us can just learn what a Regina de Batons is. I think there decks have been some of the most creative to come along. Is it just me or has U.S. games been slow to produce new decks, it seems as though they come out with the fewest new titles of the Big Three. An argument could be made about the others publishing anything that comes along willy nilly but I would like to see a bit more from them. Llewellyn has some interesting decks, especially the various neo-pagan ones, but I think their bigger contribution has been the Special Topics in Tarot series of books. The titles from that series have all been "thinking outside of the box"

Emily	27 Jan 2005
The Lo Scarabeo decks I have are always the same quality card stock and laminate and usually the same size. I don't think I have ever had a badly cut card from a Lo Scarabeo deck - I have from LLewellyn and US Games. I'm not keen on the LLewellyn deck and book sets because you don't get a box for the deck - they used to put those useless plain white boxes in for you to use but they looked so cheap. I've had some nice boxed sets from US Games that contained the deck (in its own original box), book and a paper spread sheet so don't understand why Llewellyn don't do that or at least stick the deck in its box. :)

Majecot	27 Jan 2005
Not having dealt with any of the publishers on a personal basis except for Llewellyn, I cannot pass judgement on the others. But I find the customer service you get from Llewellyn is outstanding!! By any standards. I like the quality of their decks too. I have a couple by U.S. Games and Lo Scarabeo also but I do not buy a deck because of the publisher, I buy it for the deck. Most of the time I do not even know who the publisher is. However, all of Lo Scarabeo decks have the same long skinny look to them, which I don't really care for. Self published decks are usually out of my price range. *shrugs*

northsea	27 Jan 2005
Rating them by the deck quality (DQ) ;) and customer service (CS): U.S. Games: dq=8 (generally great but occasional card misprints), cs=2 (customer service man didn't reply to inquiry about replacement card ...and also about whether they had a deck in stock), Tarot World (AG Muller) : dq=2 (several decks have had defects including tiny black specks on the cards), cs=2 (didn't reply to request for card replacements)(HIGH shipping and difficult to determine beforehand), (online inventory out-of-date), Llewellyn: dq=7 (decks generally great and unique but sometimes have a warp/curvature) cs=9 (send replacements with courtesy)(customer service phone), Lo Scarabeo: dq=7 (decks are high quality but too small/thin and not very creative in back designs and many have the stupid multilingual titles) cs=? (haven't contacted them) So Llewellyn gets my highest rating since they're basically satisfaction-guaranteed though some of my favorite decks are from U.S. Games, and there isn't any Llewellyn deck in particular that I favor for readings.

M-Press	28 Jan 2005
Ouaow... what a topic, and what can I really say??????? First of all I agree with many poople here, and i buy decks according to whether i like it or not, and not depending to who published it... but, I think that all three, DO have some sort of "target market", and that makes their decks what they are? for example, Llewelyn is more mass market, meaning they do decks that appeal to MANY people, vs Lo Scarabeo, who are more artsy oriented, and have a more sophisticated, complex look. They also do things that are a bit more sexy, so that's a niche by itself too... Having only BIG-3, means that this is not a market that can have Big-30!!! I think that in order to run a business, especially of THAT kind you do need to identify your market and create having them in mind, to assure sales... which is NOT what is happening with the small publishers... I see that smaller publishers publish things that are in their heart, in their vison. They just have to do it! This is becasue the artists are usually the publishers themselves, and there is no "editor" in the middle to modify that vision too much, as to "that will sell better". This is good and bad, of course... Small publishers of that kind, do not consider the amount of work invested, and it's usually nearly impossible to pay back for it self.. Surely, labor of love... I have the 2 decks and books by baba (Magic Realist Press), and I think that the quality does not fall the big 3, (on the contrary) as they did a very professional job. My own deck, the Sakki-Sakki, was also done professionaly, using top quality card stock with 3 layers. On the other hand, smaller self published decks (less than 500-1000 decks), can not be easily done with the best materials becasue then the cost will be off hand. And i'm not discussing here the laminated ones, which are hand made, and you really can't even compare... It's a whole different game... Bottom line, i think we live at times than many intersting things happen in the tarot world. The need of artists to create a deck, and then of course, after all this work, wanting to get it out, does things. I'm also sure that it makes the big 3 be better. I owe a deck of those, and the cardstock is actually quite bad (no names...). When the market gets exposed to new packaging, new styles, new companion books, new "trends and tricks", and new LOVE, it brings the standards up... and makes things much more challenging... for everyone... but time will tell... ;)

The Opinions on: Tarot Publishers thread was originally posted on 26 Jan 2005 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.