Could it be "The Dictionary of the Tarot" by Bill Butler? It has a white cover, but doesn't sound *exactly* like what you describe...This book takes each card and lists a summary of the imagery for quite a few different cards (12 for the devil) and then compares the interpretation of various sources. It also has short essays about how different decks handle the suits, etc. It's a classic, first published in 1975 and possibly out of print. The cover has "The Hanged Man" from an unnamed deck, similar in general design as RWS. IT also has a section, an overview, of divinational methods...but doesn't have those essays on the cards you mentioned.
Was it a book of only the Major Arcana, or did it include all the cards?
Another possibility (though my cover is dark blue, Llewellyn edition) is "Living the Tarot" by Amber Jayanti. It has a pic of BOTA's "Temperance" on the cover. This was recently reprinted and has a white cover, same card. This one has essays on all the majors. This same author wrote the "Tarot for Dummies," if you know that series in the UK.
The BOTA deck (Paul Case) and WRS decks are quite similar, including Temperance.