OK - I bit, and bought it. Bear with me - I have had it for about two hours. But for whoever asked - it has 78 cards.
They are good quality, large (as in the size of the Gutenberg version) cards, I have to say, with
lush backs. And the four missing ones are NOT any of the ones one knows already - she says in the book that they have been "re-created in a style consistent with the existing cards". So far I have NOT found these four images on line, and they are as OK as anyone else's, I'd say. When I get around to it I will scan them, so someone here can tell us if they are in fact ever so well known and I have missed something.
The book seems - harmless at least, and not at all bad, if not the WOW one we wodul all love to see !. It has a foreword by Robert Place, who I think is not stupid enough to write one for something trashy.
And she thanks him for reviewing her work while in progress. I have flipped through it and it seems accurate enough, and has some nice historical background. Her bibliography shows she's read the right books, too
As to where the cards were taken from (other than the redesigned ones) - no specific credit for the cards is given anywhere. On the book's front page it says "Card illustrations by Rachel Clowes" - this may refer to the replacements or to images in the book (there are a lot, not just from the VS) but where the rest came from I don't know. She credits several photo libraries - but the cards are good quality, and I cannot believe she took them from on line images. The edges, by the way, are nicely gold. not gilded, but definitely gold rather than yellow or brown or anything. I had assumed - before it got here - that she had got permission from an existing publisher to reprint their version - but as the four cards are new, I guess not.
Looking over and over them, and not yet having had time to get any other out (I have several and little time) I think it is actually just possible that these have actually been drawn and painted from ? the originals ? (I doubt it) or from a deck, by the artist. Some details are just that bit different. Colours of flowers, lines on a face, that sort of thing...
The purple satin reading cloth is - exactly what you might expect. If it is missing from your copy - don't worry about it - you will live. It is exactly like the one I got with my Thunder Bay deck, and others !
If you have no VS deck - this wouldn't be a bad one to get, and it is nice and big. They ARE much better big !