This is the deck I used to do readings for clients with for several years, after learning with the Rider-Waite. When I finally found this deck, after doing quite a bit of searching for just what I wanted, I was thrilled.  The artwork in this deck is highly intuitive, evoking subtle but strong mental connections with the meanings of each card.  Rendered in colored pencil, there is a familiarity that almost everyone might associate with.  I personally love the soft subtle imagery and the small, comfortable size of the cards.  This deck was a really big help when I was trying to learn to read the tarot, because that long ago, there weren't a lot of decks to choose from, and not a lot of good books to go with them, and I didn't have the benefit of classes and online courses like there are today.  And I worked with the Rider-Waite, and learned some, but it wasn't until I switched to this deck that I really got my "breakthrough."

A nice feature of the Hanson-Roberts deck is that the titles of each card are printed at the bottom in five languages.  The English is in the center, surrounded by the German, Italian, French and Spanish titles for each card.  This means that most people will be able to use them, without having to translate to whatever language you are most comfortable with.  The numbers and titles follow Rider-Waite standard form, with Strength being 8 and Justice 11.  In the Minor Arcana, traditional suits of Cups, Rods (instead of Wands), Swords, and Pentacles are used.  Court cards are still King, Queen, Knight and Page.  The Pages in this deck are a lot more androgynous in my opinion, really almost looking like girls at times.  I think this is done to help with the male-female balance in the Courts.
 
The Temperance card has always been my favorite.  I don't mean my favorite card in this deck, I mean it's my favorite Temperance card ever, no matter how many decks I review or buy.  I love this one so much.  I want to get a poster print of it to hang in my office!  Many of these cards just have a very gentle feel that makes for an excellent deck for reading for clients because none of the pictures feel threatening to anyone.  Some of the more pagan decks are scary to non-pagan clients, and the decks which deal with specific cultural factors often are too limiting to work with a wide variety of customers.
 
The back design of this deck is kind of bland but in a nice way; it's more or less reversible, with swirly patterning against a blue color.  Since it's done in the same gradient colored pencil, the shading on the design means it's not 100% true when reversed, but has subtle differences.  Still, it's *meant* to be reversible!  I've also copied here a scan of the "blank" card which comes with this deck.  Tarot cards are printed on blanks of 80 cards and the two extra cards are often left blank, but in this case they're used for a "title card" and an illustrated "blank" card which shows a woman holding the edge of a heavy draped curtain, and she seems either to be pulling it closed or opening it to reveal the words "To All Believers."  This card can be removed, or it can be left in the deck to operate as a card to indicate that you've asked something that is unknowable at this time.  I leave mine in the deck, as I like it a lot and like the idea of giving the deck a way to signal "you can't go past this point."
 
I highly recommend this deck for anyone who is looking for a nicer-looking traditional deck.  Since it is Rider-Waite based, you can use it with most books, although there was a phenomenal book written for it several years ago, by Laura Clarson, and now US Games has published an official companion guide to it as well.  So you have many choices for learning with this deck.
 
You can also buy poster prints of this deck now!  Frank Roccanova has been officially licensed to reproduce the images from this deck in glorious full-color poster prints!  Check out his site here for more information!
 
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You can see purchase information here on the deck, or the deck/book set here
 
Books to go with this deck:
 
Tarot Unveiled: The Method to its Magic by Laura E. Clarson
Hanson-Roberts Tarot Companion by Susan Hansson and Mary Hanson-Roberts
 
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also by Mary Hanson-Roberts:
Universal Waite Tarot

Review Copyright 1998, 2001 by Gina M. Pace
 
Hanson-Roberts Tarot by Mary Hanson-Roberts, 1985
published by US Games Systems, Inc.
ISBN 0-88079-079-2