I received the Blue Bird today. I really rather like it. I suspected I would.
It is totally fake - and with the twee verses too - but I find that's part of its charm. Disparate parts have been assembled - details from paintings, Kaplan's 70s verses, the playing card inserts, the faux 1900 backs - but there is something charmingly harmonious about the whole thing. "We have published these cards in their original full colour". But these cards don't really exist - they were invented circa 2016. Surely the original colour is this first edition?
This is going to be the U.S Games Lenormand. Being a philistine, I much prefer this to the dowdy Blue Owl which I have got rather tired of over the last few decades. The Imagery is big and clear on this one, the card borders are lightly off-white, unlike the LoS Dondorf which, although I love it, has these glaring white borders which spoil it a little.
I do like this deck. It is a lovely size, lovely imagery. I like my Lenormands gentle and soothing and with a mood of 19th Century salon cartomancy. This one fits the bill perfectly. Not too keen on the booklet though, but I don't really need it. Regurgitates all the invented myths about Lenormand that some want to believe. Was tortured and abused for her "budding sorceress abilities", left for Paris penniless and rose to great heights, predicted the death of Louis XVI etc etc, risked her life to save Marie Antoinette etc etc. Big gaff; Marie Antoinette was NOT an Empress (as she is refered to twice here), she was a Queen. The material is taken from that 19th Century account of her life by Girault which is notorious for its embellishments.
But it is a beautiful deck. In my opinion, one of the most beautiful mainstream / mass market / easily available Lenormands.