Just received my Giant Rider-Waite...

Le Fanu

rwcarter said:
The printed in Belgium deck has the Sun on the front of the box while the printed in Italy version has the Magician on the front of the box.
I recently bought a sealed Giant RWS, Sun on the box, same isbn as my hand-lettered belgium deck. "Printed in Belgium" on the box.

I bought it, arrived home, opened it up; glossy cards, typeset titles. Bought on a Saturday, traded here on the Monday. The box can deceive! Good news about the printed in Belgium cards now though. thanks rachelcat. How's the cardstock? Is it like Deviant Moon/Pauline/ any of the other printed in China decks?

Some printed in China cardstock is good (PCS Commemorative set, Paulina), other is baaaaad (Brotherhood of Light reissue, Sun & Moon..)
 

The 78th Fool

This really is fantastic news! Maybe it might spell a U-turn on other editions of the Rider Waite too. It would be so wonderful to see Pixie's calligraphy titles restored on the standard and pocket editions as well. Even better, it's great to hear the print quality and image reproduction has been restored to its former glory on the new Chinese printings

Ironically, I've just acquired a second Belgian copy as a spare and I had to scour ebay for it for weeks! Never mind !

Chris. xx
 

Le Fanu

The 78th Fool said:
It would be so wonderful to see Pixie's calligraphy titles restored on the standard and pocket editions as well
I could be wrong but - weirdly - they never removed Pixie's calligraphy from the pocket version AFAIK...Only the standard & giant.
 

Lee

Le Fanu said:
I could be wrong but - weirdly - they never removed Pixie's calligraphy from the pocket version AFAIK...Only the standard & giant.
I have a pocket version which I bought about three years ago which has typeset titles.
 

Le Fanu

Lee said:
I have a pocket version which I bought about three years ago which has typeset titles.
oh wow! That's a first! I didn't know that. And where have you been Lee? You haven't posted in ages...
 

The 78th Fool

Le Fanu said:
I could be wrong but - weirdly - they never removed Pixie's calligraphy from the pocket version AFAIK...Only the standard & giant.

Are we talking pocket or mini? My spare pocket version is typeset like Lee's (Thankfully I've got an older one with calligraphy!). These are both playing card size. I've also got a mini which is the same size as the LS minis. Again, this is an older copy (calligraphy titles) with the World card on the box. I know there's a newer version with the High Priestess on the front of the box but I can't comment on this one as I haven't seen the cards.

Chris. xx
 

Le Fanu

ahh. I was thinking mini. I always forget there is one between the standard and the pocket. I have never in my life seen one. But the pocket - to my knowledge - has calligraphy titles.
 

rwcarter

My new China print RWS arrived yesterday. I have all three versions sitting before me now - Belgium print with Sun on the cover of the box, Italy print with Magician on the cover and China print with smaller Sun on the cover.

My first thought upon hefting the China print was that it's heavy. One very nice thing about the China printing - it's not a brick! Laying out all three decks next to one another, the Italy is thicker than the Belgium and the China is thicker than the Italy. So I was right when I thought that it was heavy.

The LWBs in the Belgium and Italy versions were almost the same size 94mm x 149 mm (Belgium) vs 95 mm x 150 mm (Italy). The LWB for the China version is quite a bit bigger at 94 mm x 163 mm. All three are 24 pages though.

USG has apparently made enough changes to the deck to warrant adding 2010 to the copyright on each card, which now reads "1971, 2010 U.S. GAMES SYSTEMS INC."

OK. Now I'm not so sure my Belgium-boxed version is actually printed in Belgium.... :mad: I bought it used from eBay. Only just now noticed that the title card says printed in Italy. And the LWB shows the same printing info (5th printing) as the Italy version's LWB. The China version says it's the 6th printing if anyone is keeping track. But the Belgium boxed version is definitely thinner than the Italy boxed version. The colors are very close. The first real difference I see between the two decks is that Justice's robe is a slightly darker red in what's supposed to be the Belgium printing than the Italy printing. I also think I see slight differences in the titles, but either way both are still typeset and not handwritten. So something's definitely up with my Belgium printing of the deck.... :mad: The China printing is definitely handwritten calligraphy though.

The change in color in the China print is noticeable from the first card, the Fool. (My China print came with the Fool after the World, but I moved it back to before the Magician.) The greenish tint on his tights and the ground beneath his feet has shifted to more of a mustardy yellow. Oh, and the title boxes of the China print have been shortened so that more of the image shows. On the Magician, you only see the PC of Pixie's initials, but on the China version, you see the whole thing. On the Empress, I can see that the greens have definitely been shifted towards yellow while the yellow of the sky has been softened.

The tartan plaid back on the China printing has also changed. While the sets of three black lines went diagonally from right to left in the Italy printing, they are much thicker and go from left to right in the China printing. The sets of three blue lines are also thicker and also go in the opposite direction. The China back is much more 3D while the Italy backs look more like one of those Magic Eye things where you have to look at it a certain way in order to see the hidden picture.

Justice's complexion has cleared up. The orange triangle on the angel's robe in Temperance is now red and his complexion has also cleared up. The Devil's face is redder. Complexions are generally clearer in the China printing.

Rodney
 

Le Fanu

rwcarter said:
So something's definitely up with my Belgium printing of the deck.... :mad:
Like I said before, you cannot judge this deck by the "Printed in Belgium" boxes.

Thank you rodney, though, for these observations. I have a printed In Italy edition and (definitely) printed in Belgium edition. There are many differences, most noticably in the pixelation of the Italian printing. My vintage Belgium one (I got it from Red Queen), is beautiful. I don't think I shall be buying a printed in China one though. Two Giants is quite enough.