Tell-Tale Typo: Rider copied University Books

Fulgour

University Books, Inc., was the American source for Tarots based on
the original 1909 card illustrations created by Pamela Colman Smith.

They have a typo in their Little White Book that was copied verbatim
by Rider & Co, London, in 1972 when they re-released their version.

Rider copied University Books. The typo stood until 1975.
How do I know? Very simple. I have a collection of both.
 

Lillie

A little while ago, I compared the USG RWS (from the early 80's) with a university books deck.

I noticed that on the 2 of Swords, the island, behind the woman, on the left of the card, is quite different.
A lot larger on the Uni deck.

Sadly that did not have the LWB with it, so I cannot look for any typos in it!

Is the typo also in early USG editions?
I have always thought that the USG and the Rider decks were prety much the same.
The 'Rider' decks which have the copyright on, have the USG copyright.
And the backs are the same.
You couldn't (or wouldn't) invent that back twice, could you?
 

Fulgour

USG re-did the LWB and moved the Divination methods
to the back of the book with many very odd changes.

I think SRK fancied himself a Master of the Celtic Cross
as Waite's original text is so strangely heavily modified.

The typo is on Page Seven of the University Books LWB.
 

lizziecat

Maybe someone could clear up a mystery for me....

My first Tarot deck was a University Books decks that mysteriously disappeared many years ago, and I recently got a "replacement" from ebay. There was no box with it, and the LWB sent with it doesn't seem to "fit". However, since my memory for LWBs isn't that great, I really don't know what the University Books LWB looks like. The one that was sent with my deck has no publication info, and its states the text is from the Pictorial Key to the Tarot. I've attached a scan of the cover.

So...what does the University Books LWB look like and could you also tell me what the typo is? There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of info on this particular publication (sometime even the dates conflict) so any info I can get is appreciated.

In case you haven't guessed already, I am very fond of this deck (misprints and all!) and I'm trying to get at least one "complete" set (deck, box, LWB).

Thanks!
 

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Fulgour

My "typo" now ~ the error is on Page 7

lizziecat said:
So...what does the University Books LWB look like and could you also tell me what the typo is? [...] In case you haven't guessed already, I am very fond of this deck (misprints and all!) and I'm trying to get at least one "complete" set (deck, box, LWB).
Hi lizziecat :) I hear what you're saying...this is a very nice deck!
In all my collection I only have one LWB but very significantly it
was reproduced verbatim by Rider and only slightly changed by
USGames...and since it's based on Waite, it's mostly a lot of piff.

The University Books Inc BOX ~ 6 sided view

Little White Book ~ Front & Back
Here too is Page 7 with the "typo" that was reproduced
for 5 years by Rider & Co. when published in the UK '71.

The "typo" has the word mase which should be made. :)
 

lizziecat

I checked my LWB and sure enough, on page 7 is the same typo, but obviously the covers are different. My LWB must have been one just thrown in with the cards as it can't be from the University Books publication.
I've attached a pix of the last two pages - very romantic story although not very accurate!

Thanks for the pix of the box. For some reason I seemed to think that my original deck came in a box with a lid instead of a tuck box, but I could be wrong. I purchased my deck in late August of 1969 for $5.00 second hand (yes, I really do remember buying the deck and I can also tell you it was about 7:30 pm - Tarot made a big impression on me when I was a child and this was the first deck I had ever seen!) It must have disappeared around 1970-71 after USGames started printing it, as I distincly remember buying a replacement deck shortly after and being very disappointed that the backs were the "ugly plaid" instead of the pink ankh.

I also found the longer thread about the University Books dates, etc. so I'm looking forward to reading through it!
 

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Fulgour

Tarot is not Kabbalah

lizziecat said:
My LWB must have been one just thrown in with the cards as it can't be from the University Books publication. I've attached a pix of the last two pages - very romantic story although not very accurate!
Tarot of the Bohemians: Part I. General Key to the Tarot,
Giving the Absolute Key to Occult Science: Chapter II.
The Sacred Word Yod-He-Vau-He
http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/tob/tob04.htm
Footnote 17:1
"It appears, according to the most famous rabbis, that Moses himself, foreseeing the fate which awaited his book, and the false interpretations which would be given to it in the course of time, resorted to an oral law, which he delivered verbally to reliable men, whose fidelity he had tested, and whom he charged to transmit it to others in the secret of the sanctuary, who in their turn, transmitting it from age to age, secured its preservation even for the most distant posterity. This oral law, which modern Jews still flatter themselves that they possess, is called the Kabbalah, from a Hebrew word which signifies that which is received, that which comes from elsewhere, that which passes from hand to hand."
--FABRE D'OLIVET, La Langue Hébraïque Restituée, p. 29.

*

For whatever reason, when the link between the Alphabet
and the Tarot was discovered the notion was it had to be
something to do with Kabbalah, but that's like saying that
spaghetti is something to do with noodles. It's the sauce!
 

Peredur

Yet another typo

In the LWB that accompanies THE ORIGINAL RIDER WAITE TAROT PACK (boxed set with blue rose and lilly back) The Hanged Man is said to be suspended from a gallows that forms a "tan" (should read "tau") cross (Page 77).
 

RichardG

That hard-to-find University Books LWB.

In all my collection I only have one LWB but very significantly it
was reproduced verbatim by Rider and only slightly changed by USGames.

Little White Book ~ Front & Back

Fulgour, can I ask if you believe that UB's LWB was included with the original Red slip Box edition - or did it only appear later in the yellow box (Zip 1104?)

Thanks,
Richard.
 

RichardG

W-w-w-what...?

So Fulgour, if I understand you correctly, you believe it's beyond reasonable doubt that...

First came University Press - red 2 part slip case (USA)
Followed (copied) by Rider & Co - 2 part lift-off Blue Box - 3 Fitzroy Square London (UK)
And then last of all came USG's yellow box - 468 Park Street ?

Oh, after all these years, I need to shuffle pride of place positions of my RWS decks!

And where do the original 1968 Albano-Waites fit into this scheme of things, I wonder?

Fascinating! :thumbsup: