This interesting little deck comes in two sizes: small, and miniscule!  The miniscule version of the deck comes attached to a little tiny hardcover book, the kind you buy in card stores as novelty gifts.  The little book is actually quite good, and the cards come attached on the end of a satin ribbon that hangs out of the book spine much like old satin bookmark ribbons.  The ribbon is actually attached to the little box, and the cards are inside.  When you buy this set new, the cards are all still attached to one another, though they are perforated so you can detach them if you like, and they are then folded accordion-style and fitted inside the box.

I had the devil's own time of it trying to get the little cards out of the box the first time!  However, I eventually figured out that if you pull gently on the ribbon, the cards will ease out slowly, since the ribbon goes underneath them.  It is easier to remove them later if you put them in so that they are facing up instead of sideways; that way you can grab the top card and pull and they will unfold out of the box.  However, the first time is a b**ch.

The other version of the cards that I referred to is part of a set that is being sold in bookstores like Waldenbooks, Barnes and Noble, Borders, and B. Dalton.  It is called the Fortunetelling Kit.  It has a tiny hardcover book the size of this one, only the book is on palmistry not tarot.  A large thin pamphlet on tarot comes with the set, and the deck of Tarot Nova cards which is provided is roughly the size of a smallish poker deck.  Much better than this deck, which is more a novelty than anything else.  But, it's so cute!  I liked what I saw in the teensy tiny miniscule version so much I went and got the Fortunetelling kit so I could have a working copy of the deck.

The Tarot Nova, in both versions, has 78 cards which have solid black backgrounds, and the images float against the black, no borders, which gives it a luminous feeling.  I am reminded somewhat of the Russian Tarot of St. Petersburg, in its use of colors against black, though not in the style itself.  All traditional titles and ordering are used here, in both the Major and Minor Arcana.  Justice is 8 and Strength 11, following the Marseille tradition.  Suits are Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles.  Court titles are King, Queen, Knight and Page.
 
Something else I'd like to add, since the deck is attached to the book on a little string, my cat has decided he has a newfound interest in tarot.  He can't resist chasing the tiny deck around!  If you are a cat owner, and you want to get this deck, you wil want to have a safe place to keep it.  Cats can not resist strings, let alone things on strings!

This deck is widely available, don't let anyone tell you different!  Any of the large chains, including Barnes and Noble, B. Dalton, Waldenbooks, Borders, and the online chains, Amazon.com, Books.com, Borders.com, and Barnesandnoble.com, will have this deck and book set.  And the miniscule set only costs five dollars.  All of the Running Press miniature hardbound books cost that price.  You can find it online for less than that, but the shipping will offset it so you end up the same either way.  Just make sure, when you're at the bookstore, to look in the gift book section, that's where they have this little gem hiding, not in with the tarot books like you'd suppose.  The Fortune Telling Kit is about $20 and is more likely to be found in the tarot and oracle divination sections.  Be careful cause it is easy to overlook; it doesn't look like anything you'd actually be interested in, unless you are specifically looking for it.  I highly recommend it for any collector, though it is mainly a novelty.  Enjoy!

Click here for miniscule pictures
 
or here for scans from the full-sized deck
 
or here to return

Please use your browser's back button to return from pictures

Review Copyright 1999 by Gina M. Pace

Tarot Nova by Dennis Fairchild and Julie Paschkis, 1999
Running Press Book Publishers, Philadelphia, PA
www.runningpress.com