Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set--100 Years!

Ohhh... how wonderful. I know people asked Stuart Kaplan to produce a copy of the 1909 deck with the roses&lilies back. But that was back in 2002 at the Chicago conference and since then I never heared anything about it, so I thought it wouldn't happen. But it seems it is about to happen after all! Yahoooo!!!

I am first in line for this one

For what I saw, it look a lot like "The original rider waite tarot pack" 0880796863

Emporor and Temperance seems the very same.

6 of pentacle and 6 of wand have maybe a more textured sky.
Colors are a liitle more subdued in the 6 of pentacle, and the sky is less green in the 6 of wand, comparing to the tarot pack.

In fact I always wondered why people diliked to much this "original tarot pack" which I am very found off.

Very cool! I might have to get that.

I was looking at the samples in the link...

...all I could really see is that the grays, mauves and minty greens were not all blended in, they were truely soft tones that seemed as luminious as the gray hues should...and the whites were frosty white, not creamy or dingy... I think on early prints, I saw the Prussian blue-gray or serge in the eight of cups and Hermit as distinctly pretty for a kind of twilight shadow...I think there are online links to a Pamela A coloration to compare...

I liked the lightest lamination that I seemed to feel on a 1972 or earliest reprint from U.S. Games with the 'truest' colors...the modern decks with the waterslide slickness is okay, but I am hoping this nostalgic set has a softer, lighter touch that doesn't slip-slide...and I'd hate to have to roughen any edges...or nick the cards...

We'll see! This is a cross-finger, yes sirree for me!

Cerulean

I just found a link which show the "original waiter tarot pack" which sell around 12 dollars
and look so much as the coming commmemorative tarot deck

Original waite tarot pack
http://www.interhobby.net/tarot/viCard.php3?Code=506&divideID=AM

commemorative (few pics)
http://www.usgamesinc.com/product.php?productid=1069

Yes, I thought that it looked not unlike the "Original." Maybe not quite so measly... But it seems that the later "Originals" started being all glossy. I have a 1993 version, and I believe there was a later reprint. But I like these faded colours. At first I didn´t relate to it at all (after having used my 70s Rider &Co RWS for years). But now I like it.

Interesting that when you look at the other non-tarot stuff of PCS it looks so much sharper, crisper, the line more fluid and accentuated. You can feel that the RWS we use - whatever the edition - must be very removed from her original drawings. I can feel that Im looking at a copy of a copy. Or a copy of a copy of a copy. With thick lines, flaws in some of the lines, inconsistancies, a certain "blottiness". What Im hoping for from this edition is that - even though we no longer have the original images - there is a clarity and sharpness which all previous editions have lacked. Even if it means delicately restoring.

But I think everything - for me, anyway - is going to rest upon the surface finish to the cards. I can´t wait.

I'm not wondering if this is not just a way to repackage the Original RWS as an anniversary edition. Do we know if there were actually NEW scans done for this?

thorhammer said:

Do you know how they went about reproducing the card images, roppo? Did they rephotograph one of the A, B, C etc. decks?

\m/ Kat

Click to expand...

Honestly I don't know, but it seems they are going to reproduce Pamela A. I wish the color of the cards be more vivid and richer than the "Original Rider Waite Tarot Pack" (1999).

Well, from the images the show, it is sure hard to tell if they have repackaged the original or made new photographs of the Pam-A. But I do think the latter is the case. The "Original" was taken from a Pam B/C, which is why it was also greenish and grainy. The Pam-A will probably have this same look and grainy-ness too. But the faces on the Pam-A are different then on a the Pam B/C. More stern, more with straight lines. That is one of the first things I noticed when comparing the Pam-A to the Pam-B/C.
And I think from the images that these are the more straight lines of the Pam-A. I guess I will try and compare them to my own copies later. Fingers crossed!

Ok, well, here is my opinion. I just compared my own scans from the Pam-A and Pam-B with the images on the USGames website for this commemorative set. And they definately resemble the Pam-A. The differences between the B and this new one are small, but very noticible. Especially with the faces. And there are also a lot of small details differently. When comparing it to the Pam-A, the only difference I see is that the lines seem thicker (probably due to reproduction and different printing technique).
So my opinion is that this commemorative set will indeed be a preprint of the Pam-A.