Trying to Put a Date to a Deck
Posted: 08 Mar 2010, 22:10
Hello All,
I am new to the forum. I have been digging around in it off and on for a few days, and I have been very impressed with what I've found. My own study of the tarot and its history has just started.
I'm going to take a very 'new world' perspective on what constitutes a historical tarot deck, so please forgive me.
I have recently acquired a deck of 'De Laurence's Tarot Cards' (pirated RWS) with its companion 'The Key to the Tarot.' I have been trying in vain to put a date to this deck and book. It seems there are at least four variants of the deck: monotone yellow with square corners and plain back, monotone yellow with rounded corners and orange-dot back, monotone orange, monotone red with blue instead of black ink, and possibly a full-color version. The pirated book has that many variations or more--most of which list only the date 1918 inside. The copy I have is one of the yellow/rounded corner variants and the book is blue fabric bound with no color in the illustrations.
You can see three of these variations here: http://home.comcast.net/~vilex/ShipofFools.html There is also a c1938 advertisement for the cards here: http://home.comcast.net/~vilex/images/A ... rt1938.jpg (advertising a five-color variant that I've never seen).
I have seen various online sources listing the dates of these as ranging from 1916 all the way to 1960 and 1980. I find it hard to believe that De Laurence, Scott & Co. was still operating more than 40 years after the death of L.W. de Laurence. Certainly, I have seen no De Laurence books dated after the 1930s. So when were these cheap, pirated copies of the RWS deck produced and marketed in the US?
Any light you can shed would be most helpful.
I am new to the forum. I have been digging around in it off and on for a few days, and I have been very impressed with what I've found. My own study of the tarot and its history has just started.
I'm going to take a very 'new world' perspective on what constitutes a historical tarot deck, so please forgive me.
I have recently acquired a deck of 'De Laurence's Tarot Cards' (pirated RWS) with its companion 'The Key to the Tarot.' I have been trying in vain to put a date to this deck and book. It seems there are at least four variants of the deck: monotone yellow with square corners and plain back, monotone yellow with rounded corners and orange-dot back, monotone orange, monotone red with blue instead of black ink, and possibly a full-color version. The pirated book has that many variations or more--most of which list only the date 1918 inside. The copy I have is one of the yellow/rounded corner variants and the book is blue fabric bound with no color in the illustrations.
You can see three of these variations here: http://home.comcast.net/~vilex/ShipofFools.html There is also a c1938 advertisement for the cards here: http://home.comcast.net/~vilex/images/A ... rt1938.jpg (advertising a five-color variant that I've never seen).
I have seen various online sources listing the dates of these as ranging from 1916 all the way to 1960 and 1980. I find it hard to believe that De Laurence, Scott & Co. was still operating more than 40 years after the death of L.W. de Laurence. Certainly, I have seen no De Laurence books dated after the 1930s. So when were these cheap, pirated copies of the RWS deck produced and marketed in the US?
Any light you can shed would be most helpful.