fairytale tarot= deck vs set

scorpiana

i am going to break down and buy this..from those of you who have it, is it worth having the set with the book or is the deck alone sufficient?
 

Apollonia

I would definitely spring for the set, because the fairytales and why she chose a particular tale for each card are important for the interpretations.
 

Eco74

The Set!!!! I got the set and definitely feel that the deck wouldn't be quite the same without the book.

It's so great to be able to read all the stories that go with the cards, and since they're so spread out around the world, the chances of being familiar with them all or finding them without a bunch of searches on the web is fairly slim.
Granted, the book gives the short version of the story and for the full extended version, one will still have to search but atleast one will have the basic rundown of the story the card is illustrating and the moral of it.
And it's easy to have at hand too, in a nice illustrated format.
 

jackdaw*

I second (er, third?) the recommendation to get the whole set.

Many book and deck sets are not worth it - either the book is a pointless generic rehashing of the info you can find everywhere else, or it's TOO specific. But baba prague's books do not fall in that category! They are charming and well-written, full of information about the deck and about Tarot in general. But even by these standards the Fairytale book is a necessity.
 

Umbrae

Ya gotta have the book...gotta.
I remember reading a review over on another site where the reviewer wrote (about the book);" It is nothing but brilliant content that is scholarly without being pedantic, entertaining and presented by a master printer…a book nonpareil.
It is a wonderful stand-alone book. If you’re a student of tarot, love fairy tales, wonder, oral histories, Gnostic thought, and/or good cognac, you have to have this book."

Although I dislike the reviewer (he tends to be pompous), I have to agree with him here.
 

baba-prague

Umbrae said:
Ya gotta have the book...gotta.
I remember reading a review over on another site where the reviewer wrote (about the book);" It is nothing but brilliant content that is scholarly without being pedantic, entertaining and presented by a master printer…a book nonpareil.
It is a wonderful stand-alone book. If you’re a student of tarot, love fairy tales, wonder, oral histories, Gnostic thought, and/or good cognac, you have to have this book."

Although I dislike the reviewer (he tends to be pompous), I have to agree with him here.

GASP! You recommended a companion book ????????????????
Careful, careful Umbrae, your fearsome reputation as a flinger-outer-of-companion-books is in danger. Next thing you know, you'll be writing reviews just like that pompous chap :D

Big grin - thank-you all. I am in the last throes of the Victorian Romantic Tarot book and I just needed this pick-me-up. I don't like doing the very last bits of editing when the draft is covered with red ink and comments from our (very nice and very kind) editor saying things like "why is that a semi-colon?" and I have to sort it all out. Arrrrgghhhh!
 

RubyV

Umbrae said:
Ya gotta have the book...gotta.
I remember reading a review over on another site where the reviewer wrote (about the book);" It is nothing but brilliant content that is scholarly without being pedantic, entertaining and presented by a master printer…a book nonpareil.
It is a wonderful stand-alone book. If you’re a student of tarot, love fairy tales, wonder, oral histories, Gnostic thought, and/or good cognac, you have to have this book."

Although I dislike the reviewer (he tends to be pompous), I have to agree with him here.

(Ruby peeks out of cubicle, looks out window, for signs of the apocalypse. Heaves sigh of relief)

OK, now I HAVE to get the deck and book, cause I have never seen Umbrae recommend a book that came with a deck.

(looks around to confirm lack of world endage)
 

fairyhedgehog

I agree with everything that has been said about the book. I particularly like the way that Karen has kept phrases like 'Once upon a time', 'Now she went a long way or a short way' and 'They lived happily ever after' in stories that are so abbreviated. The stories really have that fairytale feel and I don't want to read the longer versions!

Out of curiosity, how much detail do you get if you only get the deck? I'm assuming that there is a LWB, so how much have you managed to get into it?
 

baba-prague

Oh, it really is a LITTLE white booklet. We packed in as much as we could - intro, some spreads and lots of keywords - but there was no room for the stories themselves. However, I have put links to most of them on the website, the only problem being that reading the entire story sometimes takes quite a while - often it's worth it though, but many people will find it quicker and easier to read the summaries in the book.

Thanks for noticing the "fairytale" style of the summaries, I really wanted to achieve that, so that the magic and atmosphere is retained as much as possible.

As an aside, I hope this deck has a study group at some point (I know one person here was trying to start one). It's very distinctive - in many ways it works as an oracle as well as a tarot (or an oracle-flavoured tarot?) and it's very rich in readings. Lots to explore I hope.
 

Fulgour

1 of Each

scorpiana said:
i am going to break down and buy this..from those of you who have it, is it worth having the set with the book or is the deck alone sufficient?
If you only get the deck you'll soon wish you got the set,
but even if you get the set, you may want another deck!