Who created the RWS Tarot deck?
A. The RWS Tarot deck was published in December 1909 by William Rider And Son of London. The deck was the product of the collaboration between the artist, Pamela Colman Smith (b. 1878 d. 1951) and Dr Arthur Edward Waite (b. 1857 d. 1942), who were both members of the Order Of The Golden Dawn, a famous occult group of the 19th Century. For some reason (sexism no doubt), Pamela Smiths’ contribution is usually ignored, and the deck is commonly called the Rider-Waite Tarot. I’ve decided to use RWS instead. Q. What is the publication data for the Pictorial Key to the Tarot? A. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (PKT) was published in 1911 in London by Rider and Sons. This contains black and white line drawings of the RWS Tarot deck. An earlier version of the same book (which didn’t have the black and white illustrations, but which was bundled with a RWS deck) titled ‘The Key to the Tarot’, was published in 1910. Thanks to Holly for pointing this out. Q. What is the US copyright status of a work
