by popular demand, illustrator mary hanson-roberts, creator of the hanson-roberts tarot, was commissioned to produce a more subtly and attractively coloured rendition of the rider-waite-smith deck. the universal deck first appeared in the early 1990s. the copyright held on the original deck appears only to be valid towards particular coloured editions, thus recreating from the original line art with new colouring has allowed this deck to grow in popularity based on familiarity and visual appeal. it comes in a standard large size and a minuscule travel edition in a keyring case.