The Rider Tarot Cards
78-Card Deck, instruction booklet and box
By Arthur E Waite, illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith
- 78-card Rider tarot deck in full colour
- Regular Tarot card size 7 cm x 12 cm (2.75 inches x 4.75 inches)
- Includes 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana cards
- High quality card stock, crisp, clear images. Superior varnish ensures durability and ease of shuffling
- Cards only, digital guidebook.
BACKGROUND
The Rider-Waite Tarot is a classic tarot deck, it is perhaps the most well-known in the Western world and a favourite of beginners as well as tarot enthusiasts. In 1909, artist Pamela Colman Smith, under the direction of Arthur Edward Waite, created 78 paintings described by Waite to be used in an innovative 78-card tarot deck. It is often called the first modern Tarot deck, as the cards drawn by Pamela Colman-Smith and commissioned by Waite, were the first to use detailed pictorial scenes. Once considered revolutionary, The Rider-Waite deck has set the standard for hundreds of other decks and has inspired a myriad of different versions.
OVERVIEW
This is the Classic Tarot Deck and named one of the Top 10 tarot decks of all time. It is also known as the Waite, The Rider and Waite-Smith Tarot. The 78 card tarot deck is divided into two sections: 22 Major Arcana and 56 minor Arcana cards. The Major Arcana are 22 trump cards numbered 0 through 21 and include the Empress, High Priestess, The Magician, The Hierophant and The Fool. The Minor Arcana consists of four suits of 14 cards – King, Queen, Knight and Page. The suits are Swords, Wands, Cups and Pentacles.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR & ARTIST
Arthur Edward Waite (1857 – 1942) is best known for his involvement with the Rider–Waite tarot deck, first published in 1910, with illustrations by Pamela Colman-Smith. The Rider–Waite tarot was notable for illustrating all 78 cards fully, at a time when only the 22 Major Arcana cards were typically illustrated. Waite also authored the deck's companion volume, the Key to the Tarot, a guide to tarot reading.
In 1909, artist Pamela Colman Smith (1878 – 1951), under the direction of Arthur Edward Waite, created 78 allegorical paintings described by Waite to be used in an innovative 78-card tarot deck. The designs published by William Rider and Son exemplify the mysticism, ritual, imagination, fantasy, and deep emotions of the artist.
