I ordered a deck from the Sheridan-Douglas site on Sunday night and it was with me on Tuesday; so it is working and they are available, but I did notice today that it was out of stock on Amazon.co.uk!
I will post my thoughts on it compared to the original printing soon.
I've posted a bit more detail on the Sheridan-Douglas thread, but here's an abbreviated version with my impressions:
Well after much consideration I couldn’t resist updating my deck to the newer 2006 printing - especially knowing that it may not be reprinted again for a very long time! I love this deck; it was my second ever tarot deck and I read Alfred Douglas’s book so many times in my teens and since that I can quote parts verbatim. Not only that, but in all those years, it still holds up as one of the best out there. Usually - and I think a lot of us do this - we love our new decks and want to tell everybody that this is the one and the best we’ve owned, etc, but after a while things start to niggle, or we have to admit to ourselves that we can’t connect with it as we’d like, or readings are vague. Not so with the Sheridan-Douglas; it just gets better and better with familiarity.
Enough of why I love the deck, what about the reprint? I was surprised, despite checking online that the differences compared to the original were substantial enough to justify an update. As a former designer and artist I can see where the improvements and corrections were needed.
All in all there are enough changes to justify a new deck, but if you just had the old one you can rest assured you have a deck that is still a wonder. I do feel that although my old Sheridan Douglas is super thick and shiny, it does shuffle remarkably well, but that may be because it’s well used. There is a lot to love in my old deck, some of it may just be the comforting familiarity, some because of the mellowing due to age, but there are a couple of cards that I prefer in the older deck - despite their slight flaws.
David
