I have had my Hanson-Roberts deck for at least 12 years now, and I still use it quite frequently. When I bought it, I knew little or nothing about the Tarot, and chose it simply because I liked the illustrations; they have a 'Renaissance' feel to them, and the clear, harmonious colors are lovely. Unless they've changed, the cards are also on the small side, making them easy to shuffle and handle for those of us with smallish or clumsy (or both!) hands. The imagery is strongly based on the Rider-Waite deck, but the illustrations have a charm all their own. A very pretty, appealing deck overall; I would definitely recommend this one for beginners as well as old-timers.