Side by Side: Wirth, St. Germain, Waite and Knapp-Hall decks

Lee

Thanks Rusty, it was nice to see up close the 1889 Wirth.

-- Lee
 

Ross G Caldwell

Thanks for finding that Russian site - can I assume you read a bit of Russian?

I like the Papesse of the 1889 better - only because she is more beautiful. The differences with all of the cards are interesting.

Kaplan I bibliography says 100 copies were printed of the 1889 edition; I read a website that said 350. Kaplan says they were hand-coloured - I can imagine Wirth colouring each book himself, what a labour of love!

The Catalogue Collectif de France (CCFR) http://www.ccfr.bnf.fr doesn't list a copy among scores of French libraries.

If anyone finds a copy near them, please scan the pictures in high resolution and post them - or at least notify us that you have it, and make arrangements.
 

Hedera

Oh, the one in the top right hand corner looks lovely!
Is that the Manley-Hall?
The style reminds me of the illustrations in one of the books I had as a child, very friendly.

I did a Google on it, but couldn't find anything - can someone give me more information on that deck?
 

Rusty Neon

Hedera said:
Oh, the one in the top right hand corner looks lovely!
Is that the Manley-Hall?

Yes.

Top (from left to right): Wirth 1889, Knapp-Hall
Bottom (from left to right): St. Germain, Waite
 

Rusty Neon

Lee, thanks for pointing that out; you're absolutely right. The deck was a joint effort of John Knapp [art] and Manley Hall [conception] and is generally known as the Knapp-Hall deck.

I'll amend my posts above so as to not confuse others.
 

Hedera

Ah, that explains why the search yielded no results....

Thanks!
 

kenji

As to 1889 WIRTH on the Russian Webpage

Hi:)

The picture of the FOOL shows that these Wirth
cards are derived from Manly P.Hall's book
"The Secret Teachings of All Ages".
Making the pictures black-and-white, and comparing
them with the pictures of 1889 cards in Kaplan II
(p393) or "A Wicked Pack of Cards" by Decker,
Depaulis & Dummett, you can see that they're not
in the same colouring.

I suspect Hall may have had someone to colour the drawings in Papus' "The Tarot of the Bohemians"...

Well, I'd really like to see the genuine 1889 cards in colour, too! :(