The Tarot: The Origins, Meaning and Uses of the Cards by Alfred Douglas

[@Aceofwands688]

I'm so pleased that you reviewed this book. It was my first Tarot book - in the original Penguin Books edition and is responsible - more than any other - for sparking my interest in the Tarot that I'm obsessed with 46 years later! It was mainly known in Britain I suspect. Just to clarify: it was the son of Alfred Douglas's partner who was the artist i.e. David Sheridan. Alfred was steeped in the world of esoterica with a direct lineage to the Golden Dawn order via his teacher. David wasn't familiar with Tarot, despite his mother's interest, but he learned as he went along. I read that Alfred was very particular in his guidance about the majors, but gave David a bit more leeway with the minors; it shows! He died quite young, sadly, but he worked with Alfred over 4 years to draw the Tarot images for the book. After the book was finished they then decided to publish a coloured version of the deck, which I have, including the restored version which came out a few years ago. The original deck is valuable and very collectable. At the time it came out the book was probably the best introduction one could read, striking a good balance between being scholarly, but not dry and dull. Over the years, some of the things he writes, we now know are not really right, but in retrospect, most of it still holds up remarkably well; the mistakes are few. He was going to update the text in a new revised version, but his wife was trying to get him to produce a totally new book. It still hasn't happened though and I'm not sure it ever will as Alfred must be quite an old man now. I don't know if he would make many changes in the cards if he could find a sympathetic artist to work with. Also, the deck is still one of my favourites, despite its simplicity and some poorly drawn and weird cards. When it's good (mainly the majors, which are still some of the finest in my opinion), it's very, very good. The minors are very hit and miss as are the Court cards, which are a bit superficial in my opinion. Thank you for a fair review of a book that is close to my heart.