Tarot of the Thousand and One Nights [Cards]

Lo Scarabeo (Author), Léon Carré (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2005

Adventure, magic, poetry, and love come to life in this Tarot deck based on the classic 1001 Arabian Nights folktales. Bursting with rich imagery relating to the Arabian renaissance, the exotic allure of these fairy tales bestows timeless wisdom to those who seek it.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Since 1987, Art Publisher Lo Scarabeo has published over 100 Tarot decks that have been acclaimed all over the world for originality and quality. Only the best Italian and International artists are selected for our new decks, and the result is that Lo Scarabeo's decks are all recognizable as an exceptional artistic value.

Tradition
One of Lo Scarabeo's goals is the preservation of traditional Tarot decks.

Development
New decks and ideas are continually gathered from all over the world. This allows Lo Scarabeo to produce some of the most innovative decks available today.

Quality
Lo Scarabeo is committed to ever increasing quality and beauty of their products.

Distribution
*Llewellyn is the exclusive distributor of Lo Scarabeo products in North America.

Product Details

• Cards: 78 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; Cards edition (August 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738707643
• ISBN-13: 978-0738707648
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 3.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #488,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tarot of a Thousand and One Nights is a visual feast, August 25, 2005

By 

Lynne Crandall "Renaissance Woman, www.whiter... (Okemos, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarot of the Thousand and One Nights (Cards)

These beautiful miniatures were originally paintings done by Leon Carre for Sir Richard Burton's late nineteenth century translation of 1001 Arabian Nights when these stories were published in twelve volumes in the late 1920s. They were published more recently as the 1001 Nights tarot deck, which may be why they have more depth than many decks. I am a collector of tarot decks and have taught tarot at community colleges and in small groups that often include artists and poets as I live in a university community, so I have many decks and I often recommend decks to my students that I think are uniquely suited to them. This one is romantic, exotic, and exquisite.

Few tarot decks are this beautiful, even if they have more specific tarot symbolism. While this may be a bit difficult for a beginning reader to manage, if the student is past the beginning stage, some decks can be too simple to fire the imagination, and this one remains a joy to use. After years of doing tarot, I believe the more beautiful the deck, the richer the impact on the creative imagination of the reader.

The small book that accompanies it is fine but I would have liked a fuller explanation although that may have made for a very large book. The cards are small enough to fit comfortably in my hands when doing the different spreads.

I recommend that my students keep a tarot journal and use them daily and I find that these illustrations help connect with the truth of the heart. Other decks that are also beautiful are the Fairytale Tarot, the Golden Tarot, and if you like "arty" decks, the Klimt Tarot, which was designed around Gustav Klimt's Art Nouveau paintings.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Why are these cards so SMALL???, February 14, 2006

By 

ILONACAT (WIRRAL, ENGLAND) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarot of the Thousand and One Nights (Cards)

This Tarot deck is a lesson in frustration. The title sounds very promising, and scans of the images by Leon Carre made my mind up-they are magnificent. But therein lies the problem. This kind of art, depicting elaborate carpets and intricate textiles, is chock-full of detail, and these cards are just too small to do it justice.I find myself squinting a lot!

Another major gripe is the images. Most of them don't correlate with the traditional Tarot meanings. Others "kind of" correlate-like the Empress. The image IS of an Empress, grandly-dressed and
sitting on a throne, but she is so far away she is impersonal, also she appears to have none of the natural attributes-leaves, fruit, flowers-usually depicted with that card. Most of the cards appear to have been selected at random.

Perhaps most damning of all, but connected to the imagery problem,is the total lack of information about the pictures and the stories they depict. There is the paltry little white booklet that Lo Scarabeo seems to include with all their decks, and that is all.

A Thousand and One Nights is surely a gift to anyone interested in tying Tarot imagery up with story, but it just hasn't been done. It's a pity, because this could have been a great deck.Bigger cards would have been a good start.

If you do want a Tarot that unites the images-more or less-with fairy tales, not just Arabian ones but European, Chinese and Japanese ones too, may I suggest the newly-published Fairytale Tarot. It is first-class.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intuitive deck, September 25, 2005

By 

Romance62 (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarot of the Thousand and One Nights (Cards)

This is a beautiful deck! I have just started using it for readings for myself and others, and it seems that I am able to make intuitive connections about relationships with this deck. The pictures are sensuous and detailed, and not frightening at all, and the readings I have done so far seem accurate in the issues they bring to light.