Sloppy Meneghello

DeToX said:

Does this make the man who called himself Jacques Vievil(le) any more or less of an Artisan than Menegazzi? That's why I tend to be more tolerant of errors in facsimiles.

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Thats a Good point. And you're right. They both are sloppy artisans. Of course, vieville had only true woodblock technology and 342 years of printing knowledge disadvantage.

BSwett said:

Thats a Good point. And you're right. They both are sloppy artisans. Of course, vieville had only true woodblock technology and 342 years of printing knowledge disadvantage.

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At the end of the day, an error is an error. Stencils misaligned, skewed images, staining etc. Many independently produced decks are today poorly manufactured. I don't think we should be solely picking on IM in this regard.

Precisely 342 years? lol depends on which precise deck you are comparing it to. ;-) Your suggestions for centering and resizing are on point, but IM chose to do it this way, perhaps to keep it in line with 'tradition' in some sense, so it's really a separate issue. So there was more room for error in this methodology. The point is why they didn't take more care with the cutting. So we are not really comparing image processing technologies between IM and historical decks. Wooden block decks of course result in more skewed images and so the other main difference is really just the differences in manual cutting techniques between IM and historical decks - there hasn't been THAT much progress in this area.

I agree, your photos were a little disappointing. I think you were unlucky and IM should (have) honoured an exchanged based on these errors. They can't use the artisan line on every type of defect. However, put in context, if you compare all of the above images with say Lo Scarabeo's Classic Italian Tarot, the LoS images are all off centre anyway because of the titles, and so most of the above images are actually 'better', defects and all!

Just throwing in my two cents here. I have an IM Minchiate deck that is cut pretty crooked but it doesn't bother me. Like somebody else mentioned, it kinda adds to the charm. I also have an IM Vacchetta that is perfectly cut. So it's definitely hit or miss with the company. Personally I don't tmind any "flaws" or "inconsistencies" because those are actually the reasons I purchase from Il Meneghello. I like supporting a little shop over a large company that mass-produces tons of decks.