The Encyclopedia of Tarot Volume One: Origins
Reference Art History Occult Spirituality New Age Collectibles Tarot
The Encyclopedia of Tarot, Volume One: Origins (1983 first-edition hardcover) is the cornerstone reference that transformed tarot from a cottage curiosity into a legitimate field of art-historical and esoteric study. Stuart R. Kaplan, the man who almost single-handedly repopularised tarot in the late-20th-century English-speaking world, spent years tracking down every known deck in European museums and private collections; the result is 352 oversized pages filled with hundreds of high-resolution photographs—many printed in full colour—that let you examine the Renaissance hand-colouring of the Visconti-Sforza cards or the occult symbolism of the 18th-century Marseilles designs in detail you simply cannot find online. Because this is the scarce first printing from U.S. Games Systems, the folio-sized volume is sewn-bound on heavy matte stock, so pages lie flat for study and the plates remain vivid four decades later, a tactile experience no later paperback reprint can match.
Collectors prize this 1983 edition for two reasons beyond rarity: it is the only printing that contains Kaplan’s original census of tarot archives before many of those collections were dispersed, and it documents decks that were subsequently lost in fires or WWII bombing, making the book itself an artifact. The annotated bibliography, cross-referenced to every illustration, is still the quickest way to locate primary sources on tarot iconography, whether you are researching 15th-century Italian trumps or the Golden Dawn’s secret teachings. Young adults discovering tarot today use it as a roadmap for building a serious collection, while professional readers keep it beside the table to settle debates about historical card meanings—something a quick Google search rarely settles authoritatively.
This copy retains its original dust jacket (edge-wear and two archival-tape mends noted), the binding is square and uncracked, and the colour plates remain strikingly fresh, making it an affordable entry point into high-end tarot bibliography without the four-figure price tag of a pristine copy. If you want the single volume that turns casual curiosity into informed expertise and doubles as a coffee-table conversation piece, Kaplan’s Encyclopaedia of Tarot Volume One is still the gold standard.
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