Introduction

THIS BLOG READS LIKE A BOOK. START AT THE TOP AND GO DOWN. WHEN YOU GET TO THE BOTTOM, CLICK ON "OLDER POST" FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER/POST. 

(This blog is a slightly revised version of a series of forum posts at
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=250475.)

I finally got around to reading Wirth’s 1927 tarot masterpiece, Tarot des Imagiers des Moyen Age, in the English translation (Tarot of the Magicians), and I was quite impressed with what I saw. People know his deck more than what he says about it, most of which could apply to any Marseille-based deck.

Weiser deserves our thanks for reissuing the classic, and Mary Greer for putting her prestige and thought behind it with an introduction. However that edition is also something of a disappointment, for several reasons. One is that certain definite errors that existed in the 1985 translation have not been corrected. Secondly, some new errors have been introduced in the footnotes, caused by the different pagination of the two editions. Another thing is that the illustrations, which were not high quality in 1985 compared to the original or the French reprints, are if anything more poorly reproduced in 2012 than in 1985—while repeating at least one error that got introduced into the French version of one major illustration). Perhaps in an attempt to rectify the omissions, but without consulting the original 1927 edition, the 2012 anonymous editor (not Mary Greer, she assures us) added some poor-quality inappropriate illustrations of their own. And finally, while the 1927 original and the 1985 translation had an index, the 2012 version and the later French editions do not.

There is also one other category of error: errors in the original edition that have been corrected in either the later French editions or the English translation. I have found what I think is one example of this type. This error seems to me a counter-example to the conventional wisdom that when discrepancies exist between editions, one should always take the first edition as expressing the author’s intention.

The editions I will be referring to are these:

1927 original, in French. The introductory material is all by Wirth, first a lengthy dedication, entitled "A la mémoire de Stanislas de Guati"; and second, an "Avant-Propos", also called "Preface" on its later pages, at the top of the right-hand pages. There is an index. The book came with 22 cards about 5 inches high especially designed for that edition. Black and white versions of these cards, designed originally for the 1889 Tarot des Bohemiens by Papus, appear at the beginnings of the chapters devoted to individual cards.

1966 edition, in French, published by Tchou with an introduction by Roger Caillois. The phrase "A la mémoire de Stanislas de Guaita" is given a page of its own, as though it were the dedication. The actual dedication of some pages is left untitled. There is no index. This edition is reprinted often, most recently in October 1914. I could find no differences among these printings. The book comes with 22 cards about 5 inches high especially designed for the 1966 edition, i.e. not by Wirth himself. Black and white versions of these cards also appear at the beginnings of the chapters devoted to individual cards. Many of the illustrations inserted into the text in the original edition are omitted in their first appearance but included in a chapter at the end devoted to them. Some illustrations, including all the 1889 versions of the cards, are omitted entirely, and a couple of inappropriate ones added not in the original,..

1985. English translation published by Weiser. Translator's name not given, but "help" from two named individuals is acknowledged. The layout is similar to the Tchou, except that this one has two columns on the page. "To the memory of Staislas de Guaita" appears by itself as a dedication, with what originally followed as a dedicaition of some pages called "Preface". The original "Avant-Propos" is now called "Introduction". The illustrations are much the same as in the 1966 Tchou, although with more omissions. (Details will follow later in this blog.) There is an index, with the same entries as in the 1927 edition. No cards are included. Reprinted 1990.

2012. Reprint of the 1985 translation, but now with an introduction by Mary K. Greer. Many of the illustrations inserted in the text kept in 1966 and 1985 are omitted, with a few substitutions, mostly inappropriate. Eight pages on stiffer paper in the back have color reproductions of the 1889 cards, 4 inches high, appropriate to be cut out. There is no index. Reprinted 2013.