Um.... I just bought a secondhand deck "The Rider Tarot Deck"...

KariRoad said:

English, Dutch, French, German, and Italian

Hi linnie! Is the ISBN on the box 0-88079-304-X (978-0880793049) ?? if so the date seems to be 1996

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No, KariRoad... it's ISBN is 0-913866-13-X. The barcode on the box is just the retailer's price barcode on a sticker, whereas the ISBN is printed directly on the box.

You are both very kind going to so much trouble to discover this deck's real identity... but I somehow think you might just enjoy the chase... heh heh!!!

Of course!!!... Italian... not Spanish... doh!!! (This pea-sized brain is strictly monolingual!!!! )

PM truelighth, our resident Waite nutter; she will have ALL of them. It is her LIFE ! (ETA I have done, actually...)

BUT - the ISBN seems odd:

http://www.1-spirit.net/pages/metaphysics/tarot/rwdesc.htm

has a list.... That ISBN kicks in for the ENGLISH version.

gregory said:

PM truelighth, our resident Waite nutter; she will have ALL of them. It is her LIFE ! (ETA I have done, actually...)

BUT - the ISBN seems odd:

http://www.1-spirit.net/pages/metaphysics/tarot/rwdesc.htm

has a list.... That ISBN kicks in for the ENGLISH version.

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Thank you, gregory, for your answer and for PMing truelighth Yes.... the Rider-Waite 'Regular 78' version, according to the ISBN number which is identical! "Rider-Waite Version Number of Cards Size Copyright Order Code Price
Regular 78
22 major/56 minor 2 3/4" x 4 3/4" 1971 0-913866-13-X $15.00 (US)

Confusing, what! I wonder if whoever owned this deck before had a few versions, and put the wrong deck in the wrong box, or...... ????? So... lots of different decks had exactly the same card back design.... Me, being a non-expert, totally didn't realise that!!!!

Ok, got the pm from Gregory, but I am afraid I am not much help. I do indeed have almost every recolouring and version of the RWS, except for the multi-language things. Meaning I don't have a German, French etc version and this one also doesn't ring a bell. The only RWS I remember with multi-language titles is the one from Lo Scarabeo, but that was printed recently.

I did look in my database and the ISBN 0-913866-13-X corresponds with both the 1971 as the more recent normal RWS (English version). My RWS dates from 1999 and it has the same ISBN as my 1971 copy. So the ISBN doesn't really tell us much about when or how this deck was printed.

My guess is that since it doesn't have the calligraphy, it must be a later printing and not from 1971. Could be anywhere from 1986 (because of the mention of the Barbara Walker tarot) onwards as far as I can tell. Especially if it has the normal blue plaid back. Sorry that I am not more help as a 'certified RWS nutter'.

An idea that occured to me: maybe US Games published one deck with multi-language titles, but used the same ISBN? I haven't heared of it though. Or the box and the contents of the box don't match.

I was thinking about those typeset titles and I think that may be how the non-English versions were made from the very beginning. The pictures that accompany Kaplan's article about the 1984 French & German editions have typeset titles. That doesn't necessarily mean the cards in the pictures are from 1984, but it would make sense that they'd use typeset fonts rather making calligraphic titles for every non-English edition.

Just received a bit of exciting news.

I emailed the Stamford Public Library about US Games and got a reply from a librarian this morning, "I find US Games in the phone book beginning with the 1988-89 edition."

linnie, it's no trouble, this is what we do.

The site I linked above does show the multilanguage one, though. And by USG. With the ISBN 0-88079-304-X.

This could be like the Thoth, where owners put things in the wrong boxes a lot, and when they sell on, forget (or just don't know and decide to sell in the best box they have !)

Hmmmm.... yes..... hmmm.... and you people do this a lot???? You have the patience of saints... I am not a patient problem solver by nature... I tend to let clever people solve problems, and I just add my two cents worth during flashes of inspiration!!! Thank you again...

I agree with gregory. It's starting to look like a case of a misplaced box. I can't find any mention of a five-language edition in Kaplan until vol.4 which was first published in 2005. KariRoad said her catalog gives 1996 and Amazon also shows it as 088079304X and 1996.

It could still possibly be 14 or 15 years old, plenty of time to get signs of wear if it was used a lot.

linnie said:

Hmmmm.... yes..... hmmm.... and you people do this a lot????

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Yes.

WE are obsessed. There is another forum where we do it EVEN MORE and in GREATER DETAIL