Before Tarot (Corinne Kenner, artwork by Eon and Simona Rossi)

This is a really cute take on the standard Rider/Waite/Coleman-Smith deck; the whole deck has been redrawn to show "one minute before" and it's all well done, both in concept and art. There are a few cards where the new art has kind of undermined the original meaning, and the Before Tarot would be a puzzle for someone who isn't familiar with the  RWS deck--it's a 100% inside joke. There is a book to help the befuddled, though:

With a pun in the title. :D The box is a standard Llewellyn-style magnetic flip box, with the cards in a pit in the center: (Llewellyn is apparently the US distributor of Lo Scarabeo products, so some of the packaging is similar).

And the card backs are reversible, which I think is important.

Here's a sample. It makes me laugh, but it trivializes the meaning of the card a bit.

But I think this is charming, and fits well with the Hermit as a seeker of truth--you could read this
as a bit of divine inspiration/ help for his search.

In case you wondered where that fish came from....

I like this one a lot-- because while it's all the items being brought together for the "photo", but it also hints that the magician is a bit of a showman and con artist, along with the "command of all the elements" part of him. Pay no attention to the monkey behind the curtain. :D This card is also associated with Hermes, the trickster of the gods, as well as the messenger.

"I don't think the heavy stuff's going to come down for quite a while"

Yikes! But this card actually means "This subject/thing is over and done and dead, including ideas and illusions." It's not "CSI: Tarot".

It is a good size and as you can see from the shine, a well-coated, somewhat slippery deck; which makes it easy to shuffle. Overall I like it, though I probably won't use it much. It's not hugely expensive if you know a tarot reader and want to give them a cute gift, but maybe they could use a nice tablecloth instead?

 I will say the version of the Rider/Waite/Coleman-Smith deck I am using for the comparison deck is really, really nice--it's the classic deck, but with brighter colors and with strong outlines, so it's good for reduced light or older eyes, and it's a pleasure to hold and deal out the cards. It's another Lo Scarabeo deck and also comes in a nice box with a slide top:

It's the Radiant Wise Spirit Tarot, "radiant" because of the brighter colors, probably :D This is the deck I would buy someone who was interested in Tarot and just starting out. The Little White Book included with the deck is very basic, but there is a potload of books to help newbies read the Tarot, including the classic 78 Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack, which was one of the first books to toss the "divination" part of tarot practice to focus more on self-examination and self-improvement.