The c. 1890 Frankfurt deck that fixed the visual conventions of the Lenormand tradition for the next century. Almost every modern traditional Lenormand is a Dondorf descendant.
The Dondorf Lenormand — also known as the Mlle Lenormand 1890 — is the historical deck that sits at the headwaters of almost every traditional Lenormand printed today. Dondorf was a German printing firm based in Frankfurt that published a hugely influential Lenormand around 1890; that 36-card chromolithographic edition fixed the visual conventions other publishers have followed ever since.
The Dondorf is the deck modern reprints (the Blue Owl, the Piatnik, the Old Style) all descend from. If you've used any traditional Lenormand, you've used a Dondorf grandchild.
Period chromolithography at its peak: small detailed scenes, careful colour layering, period costuming, and the slightly aged off-white field of late-19th-century German print culture. The 36 symbols are rendered in the lithographic style that defined Lenormand iconography for the next century. Each card carries the number, the playing-card inset, and (on most editions) a four-line German verse.
Readers who want the deck as it stood at the end of the 19th century, before any modern reinterpretation. The Dondorf is the historical artefact of Lenormand visual tradition, and reprints (currently published by various European houses including Lo Scarabeo and AGM-Urania under different branding) bring that artefact back into print for working use.
Strongly recommended for anyone studying Lenormand seriously — this is the deck the books describe.
Standard 36 in classical numbering and playing-card associations, exactly as the tradition was crystallised in the 1890s.
Several publishers issue Dondorf reprints; quality varies. Lo Scarabeo's reprint is a popular modern option; AGM-Urania publishes related editions. Original 1890 Dondorf decks are collector's items and trade in the antique cartomancy market at significant premium.