Original 1910 Rider-Waite finally arrives on eBay

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 26 Apr 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

fyreflye	26 Apr 2005
Over a month ago I reported the discovery of what appeared to be an original 1910 edition of the RWS that might soon be offered on eBay, Apparently it's here. I promised at the time to provide the link to anyone who pm'd me but in the meantime I lost all my saved pm's during a system upgrade and have forgotten who the requesters were. I apologize to those who were counting on me to report back to them; I will be happy to provide the link now to anyone who pm's me. The listing is under "RIDER - WAITE SUN A TAROT CARDS 1910 VERSION" and the item number is 5576529440. It's listed on eBay.uk but anyone can find it by widening their search parameters to "Worldwde." The seller (2 feedbacks) seems unsure of what he has (he calls the Pamela A deck "Sun A") but anyone who wants to bid should be sure to request all the scans they can get. The card back pictured shows that it's not the ORIGINAL Original. Happy bidding :D

HOLMES	26 Apr 2005
outbidded at 30 gbps, which is quite expensive currency i expect that it will go for quite a high price.

Adam McLean	28 Apr 2005
How can one recognise the original edition. Do they have some special distinguishing feature ?

truelighth	28 Apr 2005
Adam McLean wrote: How can one recognise the original edition. Do they have some special distinguishing feature ? I think what fyrefly meant is the Pamela-A with the blue Roses and Lilies Back (also called Tudor Rose back). Theories are that that deck preceded the crackled back Pamela-A that is now on Ebay. Or maybe she was referring to the back of the so-called 'original' Rider Waite that U.S. Games systems published in 1993. That also had the Tudor Rose back, but the front images are not as original as claimed.

Shade	28 Apr 2005
I would not recommend spending that much money on an item from a seller with only 2 feedbacks from previous auctions.

Adam McLean	30 Apr 2005
Trulight wrote >I think what fyrefly meant is the Pamela-A with the blue Roses and Lilies Back (also called Tudor Rose back). Theories are that that deck preceded the crackled back Pamela-A that is now on Ebay. I have a copy with the crackled back. The printing is quite poor with a few flaws in the inking on some cards. The printer seems to have a problem with the cerulean blue backgrounds on some of the cards. The cards are also not all of a uniform size. I suppose this is common with this early version.

truelighth	30 Apr 2005
Adam McLean wrote: Trulight wrote >I think what fyrefly meant is the Pamela-A with the blue Roses and Lilies Back (also called Tudor Rose back). Theories are that that deck preceded the crackled back Pamela-A that is now on Ebay. I have a copy with the crackled back. The printing is quite poor with a few flaws in the inking on some cards. The printer seems to have a problem with the cerulean blue backgrounds on some of the cards. The cards are also not all of a uniform size. I suppose this is common with this early version. So far only two copies of the blue Tudor Rose back have been sighted. And one with a brown Tudor Rose back. The other old Rider Waite decks all have the crackled back. And you are right, the early decks are not the best printings out there by far. The colors are often a bit muddy and the card size is often not uniform. So that is common. Btw, Adam, just out of curiousity, do you know which early version you have? Does it have dotted printing or line printing? And do you know if it has the extra line on the sun card (which we use to identify the decks)? In general, the Pamela-A and B versions are superior in printing to the Pamela-C or D.

Adam McLean	30 Apr 2005
Truelighth wrote : >just out of curiousity, do you know which early version you have? Does it have dotted printing or line printing? And do you know if it has the extra line on the sun card (which we use to identify the decks)? In general, the Pamela-A and B versions are superior in printing to the Pamela-C or D. It seems to be the D version, as the Sun card does have the 'mistake line' up by the Roman numeral and it does have the 'love' word under the signature in the wall.

truelighth	30 Apr 2005
Adam McLean wrote: It seems to be the D version, as the Sun card does have the 'mistake line' up by the Roman numeral and it does have the 'love' word under the signature in the wall. If it is the D-version, then I understand why you say the inking is pretty bad. The D-version inking is by far the worst of the lot. I have a Pam-D too and the colour ink is often outside the lines. The cards are definately not uniform on this version either. Btw, you can know for sure you have the D-version by checking the 6 of swords card. That card either has a little sticker or the mark of a sticker on it. It used to say 'made in britain' on the sticker.

Sulis	01 May 2005
There is another old Rider-Waite deck for sale on e-bay uk at the moment. I'm no expert about these things so I don't know what version it is. It has the reddish-brown crackle effect back. The item number is: 5577242755 Love Sulis xx

Gerbear	01 May 2005
Sulis wrote: There is another old Rider-Waite deck for sale on e-bay uk at the moment. I'm no expert about these things so I don't know what version it is. It has the reddish-brown crackle effect back. The item number is: 5577242755 Love Sulis xx This auction's deck is a Pamela "C" version

truelighth	01 May 2005
Sulis wrote: There is another old Rider-Waite deck for sale on e-bay uk at the moment. I'm no expert about these things so I don't know what version it is. It has the reddish-brown crackle effect back. That particular one is a Pamela-C. So that means the print quality is much less then the Pam-A one currently on Ebay.

The Original 1910 Rider-Waite finally arrives on eBay thread was originally posted on 26 Apr 2005 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.