Knapp-Hall Tarot
a guest review by Jason Carr
 
The most obvious distinguishing feature of the K-H tarot pack is it's 1930s pulp fiction or comic book looking artwork.[0]  I rather like the cereal-box look, but understand how others might not.
 
It has other quirks:  It has odd little mandalas in each Major and Court card (Hall instructs these are for meditational purposes, and steadfastly refuses to give any meanings for them).  And the Court cards are abbreviated oddly:
 
K  king
Q/G queen (I remember "gween")
W  knight (I remember "warrior")
S  page (I remember "servant")
 
The pack fits well in the hand, which I like.  One of my pet peeves is packs that are so stiff, thick, or wide that they defy shuffling.
 
The pack contains a bit more esoteric content than most ordinary (exoteric) packs, and a good deal less than the BOTA, Thoth and Golden Dawn packs.  With the addition of the Hebrew assignations to each Major and the occasional astrological and alchemical sign, I'd say it's about even with the Rider-Waite pack.  It is pips-only, which may discourage some readers.
 
I like the quaint little pack enough that it's the one I travel with (small size makes it easy to stuff in a pocket) and I usually draw my Card for the Day from this pack, or the Transformational Tarot by Ando.
 
[0] I have read that the Rider-Waite original editions had similar coloration.
 
Bonus trivia:  this pack was referenced in Waite's Oracle of the Tarot, a short treatise on tarot divination.   A text copy is available online at
 
http://www.mousetrap.net/~mouse/tarot/txt/oot/
 
Review Copyright 1998 by Jason Carr; used with permission
http://www.mousetrap.net/~mouse/tarot