RWS Tarot deck

RWS Tarot - Pamela Colman Smith - the source of modern tarot

In 1909, Pamela Colman Smith drew a tarot deck at the direction of Arthur Edward Waite that changed the language of tarot for good. Before this, the minor arcana carried no narrative scenes. Smith drew one for each card: a man holding his head in his hands, a woman pouring stars, a child on horseback. Those images became the foundation on which most Western tarot decks have been built ever since.

This is a reprint of that original deck, published by Lo Scarabeo, measuring 66 x 120 mm, with a multilingual guidebook. The dimensions sit close to the 1909 original and feel comfortable in the hand.

What you see on the cards

The illustrations are figurative and concrete. Every minor arcana card shows a human figure in a recognisable situation: someone carrying something, losing something, celebrating or mourning. The major arcana carry the classic images that have since been reproduced in countless other decks, from the Fool to the Wheel of Fortune.

The colours are bold and flat, the lines clear. The print follows the original technique, which means that looking closely you will see a faint dot structure in the colour areas. That is not a print defect. It is a property of how this deck was originally produced and how it has been reproduced here.

Why this deck has kept its place

The strength of this deck lies in the concreteness of its imagery. When you draw a card and are unsure of its meaning, you can simply look at what is happening: what is the figure doing, how is the space arranged, what does the posture suggest. That makes reading without a guidebook possible in a way that more abstract decks do not allow.

Almost every book, course, and online resource on tarot refers to this deck or is built on it. Knowing these cards makes it much easier to pick up almost any other modern tarot deck.

The dot pattern you may notice in the colour areas belongs to the original printing technique. It is a feature of the reproduction, not a flaw.

About Pamela Colman Smith and Arthur Edward Waite

Pamela Colman Smith was an illustrator, writer, and theatre artist. She worked in the circles of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the occult society of which Arthur Edward Waite was also a member. Waite commissioned the deck and defined its symbolic content. Smith drew it, with an imagination and precision that made the result influential far beyond occultist circles.

Specifications

• Number of cards: 78
• Guidebook language: Multilingual
• ISBN: 9788883959110
• Publisher: Lo Scarabeo
• Card dimensions: 66 x 120 mm
• Author: Arthur Edward Waite
• Illustrator: Pamela Colman Smith

Questions we often get

Is this the same deck as the 1909 original?
This is a reprint of the original Rider-Waite-Smith deck. The dimensions and imagery follow the original. The printing technique also reproduces the characteristic dot structure of the first edition.

What language is the guidebook in?
The guidebook is multilingual. English is one of the included languages.