The Rider Tarot Question (no USGames)

I've just bought a Rider tarot deck from ebay, its the one in the blue box, i think i've read on here that it is the one that was made for for UK market.

Anyway, i've noticed none of the cards have the US Games copyright mark going up the side of them and im just wondering when these would have been published?

pennywise

Rider & Co. began reissuing the deck after a mysterious
hiatus... possibly from 1939 to 1971. The first sets that
came out were through Waddingtons, then Rider's own.

Stuart R. Kaplan did much more than just "copyright"
the cards... the quality has never been what it was.
Clues to the date of your deck may be in the LWB
Like if there are any references to Bill Butler's book?

Yeah there is a little bit at the back about Bill Butler's book, so what does that mean?

I have an address of Rider & Co, 3 Fitzroy Square, London W1 on the box as well.

Fulgour could you explain a little more please.

I am about to recieve the Original Waite, ordered from Amazon as part of a trade. Is this published by Rider now? Or a fascimile of the Rider published deck, printed by USG?

I see the same deck on the USG website. Although the packaging seems to be different....

similia said:

Is this published by Rider now? Or a fascimile of the Rider published deck, printed by USG?

Click to expand...

Yes this is right - the 'Original RWS' is a fascimile of the Rider deck. This is the deck that is quite green in colour and the black lines are thicker. The backs have the blue roses and lillies pattern. It's a very nice deck.

Culgrin I have the same Rider deck as you do - no copyright mark and very little laminate - a lovely finish to the cards.
I love this deck, it's one of my favorites and the favorite RWS deck I have.
I love the sturdiness of the box. I've attatched an image

I have another deck which is in a similar box but the box is purple with The Fool on the front. That deck does have the U S Games copyright mark but appears to be of a similar age to my Rider deck.

I presume the Rider deck is an early 1970s deck made for the UK market, I've never been able to find out for sure. A few weeks ago one went for around £30 on ebay which shocked me. Mine cost about £5. I don't think they are rare but maybe they are in the States.

Enjoy your deck - it's lovely.

Love

Sulis xx

Similia here are a couple of threads you may find interesting (about the modern Original RWS)

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=36031&highlight=original
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=35858&highlight=original

Love

Sulis xx

Culgrin said:

Yeah there is a little bit at the back about Bill Butler's book, so what does that mean? I have an address of Rider & Co, 3 Fitzroy Square, London W1 on the box as well.

Click to expand...

The "Instructions" booklets were printed by several
printers at various times, but other clues are better.
Bill Butler's The Definitive Tarot was first published
by Century Hutchinson Publishing Ltd., London, 1975.

Rider is now a division of Random House, but inactive
so far as I can tell except for the "Original" Waite set.

Sulis said:

I have another deck which is in a similar box but the box is purple with The Fool on the front. That deck does have the U S Games copyright mark but appears to be of a similar age to my Rider deck.

Click to expand...

Tarot Cards
by Arthur Edward Waite (?)
Rider & Co. (Random House)
UK distribution only, March 1987
isbn 0091093406

The box is a shiny royal blue with "Tarot Cards"
printed in big letters on the front, which features
XXI The World and 0 The Fool, with a copyright
marking presumptuously printed by US Games.

The cards have the matte finish of earlier Riders.

As of this writing there is but one copy offered
by Amazon UK, used, for £7.00 and shipping, but
it does pop up elsewhere... an odd little mystery.

similia said:

I see the same deck on the USG website.
Although the packaging seems to be different....

Click to expand...

Because of VAT deck with book sets are prohibitive,
so we see different packaging with separated items.

There are basically four Rider editions, and it is hard
to pin down exact publication dates because printings
overlapped in distribution, and older decks may have
been repackaged at times by the USG warehouse.
There is a steady progression of "updates" to boxes,
numerous changes from the early 70s up to right now.

But what's inside those myriad boxes are 4 styles,
though one may often discern subtle differences:

1. No copyright, script titles, matte finish
2. Copyright script, matte finish
3. Copyright script, laminate
4. Copyright typeset titles, laminate
(now printed in China with a whopping
© U.S. Games Systems Inc. throughout)

The "Original" is a whole 'nother animal...

As far as I can tell the cards were the same for USG and Rider. They just put them in different boxes in America and UK.

Those light blue boxes have started to fetch quite a high price on Ebay.
I always wonder if the buyers know that inside they are the same cards as in the yellow magician boxes.

I just got one of them (the magician box ones) for a quid. The cards are very matt, and the box says accurate colour tones, but the cards have the copyright on the edge. Absoloutly unused and mint.
The colours are very nice, very gentle on the eye.
Judging by the other USG decks mentioned on the spare card and the LWB I would date it to the mid 80s.
Funnily there is a price tag on the box which shows the cards were bought from the USG shop in new york itself. Lord knows how they got here!