Fulgour said:
I think the point here is that Pamela Colman Smith never mentions A.E.Waite ~ a good indication that he was a 'minor' consideration.
Having done primary research for the biographies of four women I can tell you that such a short mention is not proof for or against anything other than what it says. Given another piece of primary material and suddenly you're down another track entirely. There is some information (currently mere rumor but I'm trying to track down the source) that Waite first developed the tarot designs in 1898 (based on materials he received from the third GD founder - Woodman).
Even if every detail of the Majors and the general outline of the Minors was dictated by Waite (which I'm not saying it was), still, there is something extraordinary about the way PCS rendered the data that makes the deck into an enduring work. At this point, the only primary materials we have from PCS are the mention in the letter and the evidence of her other art works. From these we can see that she drew on a certain image bank that's reflected in other works. Perhaps the main repeating themes are that of a watery shore, a distant tower, and the fantasy-medieval clothes.
Among Waite's works we find precise explanations of most of the symbols that appear on the cards. See my article in Llewellyn's 2006 Tarot Reader where I demonstrate that Waite used specific grail myths and masonic themes in the Minor Arcana. Then find anything even remotely that close in the works of PCS.
Mary
that the work of Pamela Colman Smith