University Books editions from 19XX to 19XX

Fulgour

two zips: 1104 & 11040

Box:
orange sides with black lettering
cyclamen top and bottom flaps with black lettering on yellow field
"0 The Fool" in colour on front
solid yellow back with black lettering (as per Cerulean: 1104)

Little White Book with "X The Wheel of Fortune" on front:
Tarot Instructions
30 pages, 26 numbered, excerpted from PKT
with advertisement in back

*

Advertisement:
identical in back of little white book and on
special ankh back card included with deck

Copy, after stylised intro header for PKT, reads:

This book is the key which teaches you how to use this deck for
divination, fortune telling or games. The price is normally $7.50...
but, you may obtain your copy for $5.00 by simply returning this
card along with your check, cash or money order to

University Books Inc.
1615 Hillside Avenue
New Hyde Park, New York 11040

P.S. Don't forget to give us your full name and address.
 

coredil

Hello,

first I would like to shortly present myself as I am new on this forum and on Tarot.
I am composer and work with young people in a music school directing musicals and live in Germany.
Within a very short time I suddenly became passionated about Tarot and I follow attentivly all kind of threads on this forum where I found so much precious informations. So I would like to thank everyone who contributes here.

I recently purchased a University Books version of the RWS.
After reading severals threads on the forum and looked on Holly's site I thought the deck was printed in the 70s, but a remark from Cerulean about "advertisement for a five dollar tarot deck" on the Pictorial Key to the Tarot from 1959 made me more curious as this very price is written on the back of the box that came with the deck.
(I dont know if this 5 dollars price stayed from 1959 to 1970)
But as the zip number is 11041 so it is probably is from after 1963.

So just for curiosity I attach an image of the back of the box, maybe it can be from interest.
Otherwise the box (which came very damaged) has the fool on the front, the right side is black without text, the left side is black with an orange box and black text, the top is carmin with a yellow box with black letters.
The backside of the complete box is as the back of the cards: pink with the ankh.

Best regards

coredil
 

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Fulgour

coredil said:
But as the zip number is 11041
so it is probably is from after 1963.
University Books was bought by Carol Publishing Group
and they established a copyright on this deck at 1966.
 

coredil

Hello Fulgour,

do you mean that from 1966 the copyright should be: "Carol Publishing Group" (or "Citadel Press" or "Laine Carol Publishing Group" as you mention in 78th fool thread)?
So the deck would be from 1963-1966 because of the 5 zip digits and because of the "University Books, Inc." copyright?

Best regards

coredil
 

Fulgour

I have a set of "I Ching Cards" by University Books Inc. © 1972
and that works just as well as the $5.00 price for Waite's book
to mark certain limits. The Complete and Authentic Tarot Cards
were first printed when the zip code was only four digits (1104)
and Waite's book was selling for $5 (later $7.50 and then $8.50).

Carol-Citadel-Laine enter the picture and establish ownership by
specifying 1966 ~ but this was well after the first, earlier decks.
There was never any reason to re-set the printing plates so any
copyright for the Tarot would be on the box ~ but it isn't there.
 

coredil

Hello Fulgour,

thanks for these answers.
But I have to confess I am not able to make a conclusion with the informations you provide.
I must be somewhat dumb.
I also received the deck without any LWB or a special card as you mention for your deck.
Does the back of you box look similar to mine (except 1104 instead of 11041) and also with this 5 Dollar price on it?

So I ask another way:
According to the scan I have attached on my first post, what year would you suggest the deck has been printed?

Best regards
coredil
 

Fulgour

hi coredil

I have three copies of the "University Books" Tarot
at present, with a fourth on the way... Two have
1104 (etc) on the back, the other has on the side:

Carol Publishing Group
120 Enterprise Ave.
Secaucus, N.J. 07094

I have the instuction booklet with one of the older decks,
along with the advertising card, but there is no dating on
either... also, none of mine has the $5.00 price on yours.

So if we try guessing, yours has the 5-digit zip plus price,
and still says University Books (rather than Carol) so then
it's very likely from just before Carol began printing them.

I would say that if you can establish when books printed by
University Books began listing Citadel Press, it's the answer.
What year did Citadel Press begin printing University Books?
 

coredil

1963 to 1966

Hi Fulgour,

so following this "paperchase" (not sure if this is the right word, as french we say: "jeu de pistes", here in Germany they call it "Schnitzeljagd ") I would then conclude the deck should have been printed between 1963 to 1966.
But what about this 5 Dollar price?
According to Cerulean in the starting thread, his PKT from 1959 advertise for a 5 Dollars deck.
So the price would have stayed from 1959 to 1963 (or 1966)!
That was economical stability ;-)

Best regards
coredil
 

Fulgour

Z.I.P. Codes: Zoning Improvement Plan
from About.com

Over the years, a number of potential coding programs had been examined and discarded. Finally, in 1963, the Department selected a system advanced by department officials, and, on April 30, 1963, Postmaster General John A. Gronouski announced that the ZIP Code would begin on July 1, 1963. The Metro concept became the core of 552 sectional centers, each serving between 40 and 150 surrounding post offices.

The existence of postal zones in the larger cities, set in motion in 1943, helped to some extent, but, in cases where the old zones failed to fit within the delivery areas, new numbers had to be assigned.

By July 1963, a five-digit code had been assigned to every address throughout the country. The first digit designated a broad geographical area of the United States, ranging from zero for the Northeast to nine for the far West. This was followed by two digits that more closely pinpointed population concentrations and those sectional centers accessible to common transportation networks. The final two digits designated small post offices or postal zones in larger zoned cities.

ZIP Code began on July 1, 1963, as scheduled. Use of the new code was not mandatory at first for anyone, but, in 1967, the Post Office required mailers of second- and third-class bulk mail to presort by ZIP Code.

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmailus4.htm