Item #51600 Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot Deck. First Color Printing. [ Tarot Cards ]. Aleister CROWLEY, Frieda Harris.
Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot Deck. First Color Printing. [ Tarot Cards ].

Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot Deck. First Color Printing. [ Tarot Cards ].

St Paul, Minn. Llewellyn Publishing, ND [1972]. First Edition. 78 tarot cards + "caliph card." Card size 5 1/2" x 3 3/4". Original printed outer slipcase with thumb-notches, cardboard inner box with gilt metallic finish covering. A first printing of the Llewellyn edition of the Thoth Tarot deck, the first ever colour printing of the full Thoth deck. It was published with the collaboration of Grady McMurtry (then Caliph of the O.T.O), Lee Heflin, and Gerald Yorke. Prior to that Crowley and Harris had printed seven color test cards in 1943, and Simpson Printers had published a single-color edition (known as the "Sangreal One Color Tarot") in 1968. Known within tarot collecting circles as "White Box A" this deck is sometimes said to have been printed in 1969, whereas in fact it did not appear until 1972. The cards of the deck are distinguishable by two errors: the "Eight of Cups" is lacking the numeral that is normally stamped in the upper margin, and the image on the "Ace of Disks" is printed upside down. Unlike later printings this edition was not accompanied by an explanatory booklet although it does have a separate card with a short explanatory text, and the contact details for Hymenaeus Alpha - Grady L. McMurtry - "the Caliph card." The tarot cards themselves are about Fine condition, the "Caliph card" has a light smudge in the printer's ink in the address lines. In a VG + example of the original two-piece printed box: the box is lightly rubbed and a little darkened but cards and box are in much better condition than normally encountered (the boxes are often heavily rubbed and splitting). Thanks to R. Leo Gillis for his help with this listing. Item #51600

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