ISBN 0-7387-0245-5 78 full-color cards and instruction booklet
Price $19.95
I was just starting to believe
that I simply did not like the Tarot decks put out by Lo Scarabeo since I
had found almost none that seamed to have any life in them. "All
style and no soul" was my basic impression. FINALLY by encountering
the Durer Tarot, I can enjoy one of Lo Scarabeo's works.
Based
on the artwork of German painter, woodcut designer and mathematician,
Albrecht Durer, this Tarot employs the gentle, pastel works of Durer's
style (not actually his work, the art is by Giacinto Gaudenzi) with the
standard (Rider-Waite) theme of Tarot suit progression to create and
amiable (if sometimes aggressive by art style) and symbol-laden deck.
In each card, there is much to take in without the reader being overloaded
(as in the Haindl deck) and overwhelmed.
The turn of the 19th century
imagery has a pleasant feel to it and invites the reader to explore subtle
new twists on the standard Tarot ideas while keeping the standard themes
intact sufficiently as to not require a complete re-education of the
reader. I was eager to get to the little book that accompanied the
deck, thinking I could get some good insight into the development of the
deck, who the complete hell Giacinto Gaudenzi is and the application of
the artwork to the interpretations. The book was a chubby little
thing, so I figured I could settle down to some good reading, but alas!
(my ass!) it was not to be. The little book was chubby because the
extremely brief interpretations are given in several different languages!
God help the poor bastard who doesn't know how to throw a spread because
there is no help for them here! I would have truly enjoyed reading more about this deck, but the imagery
itself sets up off well into an intuitive place, so I will likely be using
this deck rather than simply putting it in my collection (which is high
praise).
It is a big distracting
having the words (still in several languages) run up the side of the deck
rather than the top or bottom; however the backs are very, very tasty,
showing a sage-looking Hermit image on top and a skeletal death imagine as
its mirror.
I've got to give it to Lo
Scarabeo... I've finally found one I enjoy (fix the book!!).
I give it:
(Losing one for
the book!)
Reviews by Delena Rasbold
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Based
on the artwork of German painter, woodcut designer and mathematician,
Albrecht Durer, this Tarot employs the gentle, pastel works of Durer's
style (not actually his work, the art is by Giacinto Gaudenzi) with the
standard (Rider-Waite) theme of Tarot suit progression to create and
amiable (if sometimes aggressive by art style) and symbol-laden deck.
In each card, there is much to take in without the reader being overloaded
(as in the Haindl deck) and overwhelmed.
The turn of the 19th century
imagery has a pleasant feel to it and invites the reader to explore subtle
new twists on the standard Tarot ideas while keeping the standard themes
intact sufficiently as to not require a complete re-education of the
reader. I was eager to get to the little book that accompanied the
deck, thinking I could get some good insight into the development of the
deck, who the complete hell Giacinto Gaudenzi is and the application of
the artwork to the interpretations. The book was a chubby little
thing, so I figured I could settle down to some good reading, but alas!
(my ass!) it was not to be. The little book was chubby because the
extremely brief interpretations are given in several different languages!
God help the poor bastard who doesn't know how to throw a spread because
there is no help for them here! I would have truly enjoyed reading more about this deck, but the imagery
itself sets up off well into an intuitive place, so I will likely be using
this deck rather than simply putting it in my collection (which is high
praise). 
It is a big distracting
having the words (still in several languages) run up the side of the deck
rather than the top or bottom; however the backs are very, very tasty,
showing a sage-looking Hermit image on top and a skeletal death imagine as
its mirror.