Le Fanu
Yes, the mice card is another funny one but I can make out dark blotches scuttling and that's mice for you. It's as good a mice card as you'll get this size. I just this deck. I'm using this more than the Mertz right now simply becaue it will fit in a gorgeous little Art Nouveau Belgian Chocolate tin I have (though sadly I had to clear out the chocolates first). So this is officially the Gluck then is it? After Alexander Gluck? Do they know who the original 1850 publisher was?My current theory (formulated yesterday) is that the artist actually did intend to show a whip on the table.
You can see a somewhat clearer version of the card here. Still ambiguous, but I take as a clue that the mouse on the Mice card is also very difficult to make out. I'm wondering if the original artist miscalculated the size/quality of print and drew designs for those cards which ended up not reproducing very well.
I really like this deck. I agree that the cardstock is great. Also I feel the drawings on the whole are more refined than those on the Mertz deck, as is the coloring. I'm glad I have the Gluck from a collecting point of view, but yesterday I decided to go back to using the Mertz deck, simply because the imagery on Whips and Mice is clearer and cleaner.
Such heavenly cardstock. Yes my corners are rounded because I found it prickly and unshuffleable as it was. I de-cornered them and now they are perfect! You can tell the anatomy is more accomplished than in the Mertz deck (which has what looks like a stunted armless lady on the female significator), but I do like them both. For the moment, though, this is my favourite *period* Lenormand.