Atavist

The 256-page companion is the point here, not the accessory. Rowena Shepherd's text runs to book length on tarot history while Sally Annett supplies the images, and the deck was sold both with the book and separately, which tells you the publisher knew which half carried the weight. That is an unusual admission for a tarot product. Thoth-system decks tend to arrive assuming you have already done the reading. This one supplies the reading, which makes it a different proposition from most of its shelf neighbors: a study object rather than a working deck you learn by handling. Whether the images repay attention on their own is a separate question from whether the scholarship does. It suits readers who came to tarot through its history, Thoth students who want context rather than another restatement, and anyone who buys decks in order to read about them. As a deck to learn by handling, it is the companion that holds you up, not the cards.