Rejected Aeon?

Lillie

No, we woke up after christmas and found that they havn't quite cut os off yet.

My ignorance has already been proclaimed.

On the subject of the borders.
A 44 Bot was being sold on ebay, and they showed a pic page. The cards had the decorated borders with the hand done lettering.
I believe this is how Harris did them, and the lettering was done by her.

Why it was missed off the earliest colour editions... Who knows? they did them on the cheap, perhaps?

The borders in the book have never been seen on cards. The ones on cards are always different, even if only slightly, and the lettering is always typeset, which is a shame, as it must have been a lot of work writing them out so neat.
 

gregory

Goodness, I see what you mean. In which case even more the Aeon card is a substitute pic in my book, and I think also in Abrac's scans.

(Told you guys Lillie was the Thoth Biz !!!)
 

Aeon418

Thanks for the scans, Abrac! :)

If Hoor-paar-kraat (Harpocrates) is there, I can't see him. In fact you can even see details that are normally obscured by HPK. For instance the galaxy on Nuit's stomach.

The same pages in my 1989 Weiser edition are exactly the same as Abrac's. All the cards are displayed in Harris's hand painted borders except the Aeon card which looks like it is just a scan of an actual card, complete with printed typeface and standardised border design. Very strange.
 

Lillie

I have never seen the borders in any new book to see how the aeon stands out.
I only have this old one.
I used to have this ribbon that kept it all together, but I have lost the ribbon!
Anyhow, my book looks exactly like what Abrac has shown.

I have a vague memory of the book I had many years back (80's) having one card picture that was 'odd'. But I can no longer remember why it was odd, or if it was the aeon or some other card.
 

Antonius

Lillie said:
.

As it does not seem to be on the Weiser from 69, possibly it would have been on the Sangrall 2 colour tarot, as those pics were taken from the 1944 book.

Here are the scans of the Sangreal deck taken from Kaplans vol III from his own personal collection,......
and as you can see...... no child.

I also have an early Weiser BOT and that book shows the child...also the Aeon card borders are the odd ones out (much thinner).
 

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Lillie

Fascinating.
Thank you.

Of course, as they were copied directly from the book they did have those borders with the hand done lettering.
So when I said no deck ever had, I must have meant apart from this one.

Funny about the Weiser BoT.
Some do, some don't.

Curious.
 

Aeon418

Is it possible that Harris could have painted in Harpocrates after the deck was photographed for publication in The Book of Thoth? This would explain how different versions of the card exist in different editions of the book. It would also explain why the Simpson/Sangreal deck is the only one to feature a Harpocrates-less Aeon card.
 

Aeon418

A fragment of a letter from Harris to Crowley, no date.
[Frieda Harris to Aleister Crowley]:

I have got the rejected copy of Atu XX.

Now would you like it as a present? I have meant to give it to you for it is your Stele and you thought it satisfactory enough to be undecided whether to use it or the one we decided on. But now I don't know whether it will be an additional burden to have any possession?
 

Lillie

That's interesting.

But which one was she talking about?

I assume that the 44 book had the no kid version.
As hat was published in his life time, I would assume that was the 'corect' picture, and the 'kid' version is the rejected one.

As the photos for the plates in the 44 book were taken prior ro 44, and the pictures for the original Weiser edition were taken (presumably) in the late 60's, then perhaps something happened to the picture in the intervening time.
Or perhaps they just got the wrong one. There were a right few cock ups with those early decks, so perhaps that was one.

The Sangraal tarot is, essentially, the same pics as the 44 book, copied directly from the book, so they do not have much of a bearing here.

What we need to know is wether both versions of the card still exist in the form of original paintings, and if so, where are they. Are they together, or seperate. And what condition are they in.

Does anyone know?
 

Aeon418

Lillie said:
The Sangraal tarot is, essentially, the same pics as the 44 book, copied directly from the book, so they do not have much of a bearing here.
Well they are excellent proof of what was actually in the 44' edition. Although I would love to be proved wrong, I doubt that anyone here owns a copy.
Lillie said:
I assume that the 44 book had the no kid version.
As hat was published in his life time, I would assume that was the 'corect' picture, and the 'kid' version is the rejected one.
It might be the correct one, but then again maybe not. The differences between Crowley's description of the Hierophant and the actual card design suggest that mistakes could have been made.

I think it seems most likely that Harris painted the quiet fat kid in after the deck was photographed. Looking at both versions of the card, they seem identical apart from Harpo.