How can you tell.....

I hear and read all the time how a deck is a first or second edition. I have no clue as to how to figure this out. How can you tell what edition a tarot deck is?

Often you have to look inside the printed materials (LWB or companion book) that accompany the deck. Sometimes the info is on the back of the box (for example, the Merrill-West printings of the Voyager Tarot list the printings on the back of the box), but more often it's where you can't see it until/unless you buy the item.

In printed materials there are often a series of numbers in the inside cover. Sometimes they're in the form 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 and sometimes they're in the form 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. So if you see 5 7 9 10 8 6 4, you would know that you have the fourth printing of whatever edition. And if you see 10 9 8 7 6, you would know you have the fifth printing of whatever edition.

Take the new China printing of the Deviant Moon, for example. It's the second edition of the deck (although that's not stated anywhere in the LWB), and the numbers in my LWB are 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 meaning that I have the first printing of the Chinese printed edition of the deck.

The second edition of the Sheridan Douglas says "Second Edition (restored)" in its LWB.

The Easy Tarot Set (which includes the Gilded) says inside the companion book "First Edition First Printing, 2007.

HTH,
Rodney"

rwcarter said:

In printed materials there are often a series of numbers in the inside cover. Sometimes they're in the form 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 and sometimes they're in the form 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. So if you see 5 7 9 10 8 6 4, you would know that you have the fourth printing of whatever edition. And if you see 10 9 8 7 6, you would know you have the fifth printing of whatever edition.

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And sometimes there is nothing. If you have these numbers which Rodney mentions then it is pretty easy to know which edition you have. Sometimes though, there are no numbers at all. I have a few decks which don't have this information. And if you buy a deck with no LWB, that also makes it difficult.

Another alternative which has helped me is - if it is a US Games deck, and you have no other way of dating it - you can check the address on the box. US Games had 3 different addresses at different periods. I have them written down in my tarot notebook (not at hand) and can post if anyone is interested. But I have been able to roughly date decks with this onfo.

But I have decks, with LWB, which I simply cannot date...

I concur with Le Fanu. Often you can find that info inside a LWB or companion book, but sometimes it's just not available. There are many threads where we've had to put together all the pieces about various editions of decks. So a search in Tarot Decks is a good place to start if you either don't have companion materials or your companion materials don't have that info in them.

I know you asked about editions of decks (which I expanded into printings cause they can go hand in hand), but, as Le Fanu pointed out, dating of decks can also be useful. The following are all helpful for both dating and determining editions/printings in lieu of that info accompanying the deck:

• Publisher's name (both different publishers publishing the same deck at different times and the same publisher publishing the deck under a different name at a different time)
• Publisher's address
• Changes to the outer box
• Changes to the cardstock or card size
• Varnish vs lamination and satin vs matte finish
• ISBNs

I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting in the above list, but others will help to flesh it out and I'll update accordingly.

Rodney

Ok, wow.
I had no idea the amount of information there is on this. I became curious about this from another thread, and because I have become a bit of a collector and I would like to know what I have. This looks to be quite an undertaking. Thank you so much for this food for thought. I am now staring at my shelves of deck feeling that this may be a rather large project...

divinemsm said:

This looks to be quite an undertaking. Thank you so much for this food for thought. I am now staring at my shelves of deck feeling that this may be a rather large project...

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Your words above made me think of something else to add to my list (which I'll do after I type this) - ISBNs. Different editions can have different ISBNs and whether it's a 10-digit or 13-digit ISBN can tell you how old the deck is.

It was never important to me (and therefore I didn't think of it) to track either ISBNs or Printings or Editions in my spreadsheet, so I never did it. Now I know how important it is and I need to go update over 600 entries. Large project indeed!

Rodney

All that interests me when thinking of buying a certain deck is that I get the best edition available, whether that's first or second or third or whatever. I always do a search here before buying and invariably, there is a thread that talks about cardstock and - if there is more than one edition - whether the cardstock or colouring have improved or worsened.

AT is a goldmine of useful information...