An early full-color version of the RWS Tarot is the Albano Tarot, published by US Games since 1987. Frankie Albano is a man of mystery and rumor. He supposedly worked for Stuart Kaplan at US Games early on and then did not. Hints of a dire disagreement waft through the mills. No one is saying. But, and this is the important fact, Albano published a Tarot deck in 1968 that was the RWS Tarot recolored (probably another rectification of the deck), three years before US Games took over publication of the deck from Rider & Son. Was Albano perhaps the person who 'discovered' the deck that has been so successful for all these years? No one is saying. These cards appeared in various formats originally and can be obtained today from US Games with certain differences in color and line quality as always seems to be the case.

The first thing to notice about this deck is that the colors are quite different from the usual RWS; rich, vibrant, gaudy, almost lurid. I have a note from the James Wardle collection that quotes the following:

"(From Advertisement [possibly from Red Rabbit catalog-Holly]) For the first time the original Arthur Edward Waite-Pamela Coleman [sic] Smith Tarot designs are offered with complete color revisions by Frankie Albano. Proper color revisions in accordance with occult traditions make this new edition of the Waite designs the most accurate Tarot deck in existence."

Wardle purchased the deck in miniature format in March, 1978 for $6, so this is after the standard RWS edition by US Games was available.

So, what version of the original deck did Albano use for his recoloring? There is still some confusion/debate over when Rider & Company began republishing the deck after the plates were destroyed in the London Blitz in World War II, at least in my mind. That will be a topic for later. I believe that Albano used the Pictorial Key to the Tarot, in one of its reprints, perhaps even the 1911 version itself. I don't have any copy of the PKT from that time period that is either not colored or shaded. I'm sure there was one out there.

And now for a brief aside on the various editions of the PKT I do have that might have been used. The 1911 PKT was the first to show the line art of the deck. Then the de Laurence company published their pirated versions in 1918 (see the page on what those versions look like - shaded and colored artwork; probably not used by Albano for his version). Next is the University Books editions of the PKT, color in 1959 (probably NOT from the deck) and shaded artwork in the 1966 third printing. The next version I have is the 1973 edition by Causeway Books which goes back to the color illustrations (vaguely reminscent of the deck). Which version Albano used I cannot say. I may be missing some edition in the middle. The heaviness of the brickwork line in the wall on the Sun card bothers me. The 1911 version is not rare, just hard to find and a bit pricey nowadays. Perhaps not so pricey in 1968. The easiest way for Albano to have done this deck is with the pure line art, without any shading. Final votes are out on this issue for me for now.

Albano Sun detail, 1968	Pamela A Sun detail, 1909	1911 PKT Sun detail
University Books PKT Sun detail, 1959	University Books PKT Sun detail, 1966	Causeway Books PKT Sun detail, 1973

Certain aspects of the line quality vary in Albano's transcription, most noticeable in patterning in clouds.

Albano Lovers detail, 1968	Pamela A Lovers detail, 1909	1911 PKT detail
University Books PKT Lovers detail, 1959	University Books PKT Lovers detail, 1966	Causeway Books PKT Lovers detail, 1973

All in all, this is a rather accurate rendering of the line art from the original RWS deck with the noted exceptions and a certain heaviness of line that appears occasionally. It is in the coloration that this deck takes its great departure from the standard.

Once you start looking through this deck, the phrase "SIGNIFICANT OCCULT COLOR SYMBOLISM" screams at you! There is very little that is naturalistic here. There is still the limited color palette of the traditional RWS though the choice of colors is very different. Some of this can be attributed to the changes in printing technology in 60 years and the availability of brighter colors. However, the majority of the changes are deliberate attempts to imply greater significance to parts of the cards through the use of color.

Albano High Priestess, 1968	Pamela A High Priestess, 1909	Albano Death, 1968	Pamela A Death, 1909	Albano Moon, 1968	Pamela A Moon, 1909

The greatest change in coloration is evident in the Minor and Court cards. First, look at the Aces. Each suit (Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles) has a particular color theme that is more or less carried through that suit. Wands have an orange background that reflects its usual attribution to Fire. Cups have a blue background (more intense than the standard RWS) that reflects the usual attribution of Water. Swords have a yellow background that reflects the usual attribution of Air. Pentacles have a green background that reflects the usual attribution of Earth. We no longer see the standard RWS backgrounds of blue, gray, black, and yellow that can be attributed to time of day. Here in the Albano deck the backgrounds have become suit- and element-dependent.

The only place where this varies is in the 5 of Cups where the Water suit card has a green background. The cards with interior scenes (4 Swords, 9 Swords) or with dominant darkness (5 Pentacles, 10 Swords) retain that bias.

The Court cards of the suits have a blue background with a few exceptions in the Wands, which all have lavender backgrounds. Each of the figures in the Courts wear colored clothing appropriate to their element - red/orange for Wands, blue for Cups, yellow for Swords, and the variation of purple for Pentacles.

Enough on the color differentiations between the Albano deck and the standard RWS deck. When the Albano deck came out in 1968 there were several sizes and card combinations and boxes. I have no idea which came first, but I'll approach the topic in steps. First, there are two different descriptions of the color - Accurate and New. I personally have more decks with the 'New' Color and only two with the 'Accurate' Color. Using a scientific voodoo guess, I'll say that the 'Accurate' Color came first, followed by the 'New' Color. The main reason I do this is because on the 'Accurate' Color boxes there is a physical address for Tarot Productions Inc. The 'New' Color boxes show only a PO Box. The cards themselves are exactly the same.

The box fronts show a Sun card. There is little variation here only to describe whether this deck is the Major Arcana only, that is comes with Instructions, or on the Miniature deck nothing at all probably for space reasons. The deck is always referred to as 'Tarot Cards' only. On the Miniature Accurate Color deck, the side of the box refers to the deck as 'Albano Miniature Tarot Cards.'

So, colors, descriptive terms, and boxes - now onto the sizes of the decks. The standard Tarot deck is sized 71x120 mm or about 2-1/2" x 3-3/4". The miniature deck is sized 39x61 mm or about 1-1/4" x 2-1/4". These are full 78 card decks. There are two sizes of the Majors only deck. One is the standard 71x120 mm. The other is a much larger card, 140x235 mm or about 5-1/2" x 9-1/4". This large size is also square cornered, not rounded are is usual. It also has a different card back than the other Albano decks.

Holly's Laws of Card Edition dating:

• Square cornered cards are earlier. They use up all of the printing stock on the card sheet with no waste and are simple to cut. Rounded cornered cards waste some paper and are a more refined (and useful) card cutting technique. Square cornered cards have the liability of corner bumps and bends which is why they are not often seen.
• Glossy cards are later than matte or unfinished surface cards.
• There's another Law that completely eludes me right now.

 

I don't know if this large Majors only deck is the earliest. It has a glossy finish as do the rest of the types. The square corners may simply be the result of ease of cutting a very large sheet of cards. They still do bump easily and often.

Large Majors Only Albano Emperor, 1968	Large Majors Only Albano Card Back, 1968	Albano Emperor, 1968	Albano Card Back, 1968

I have a copy of the Accurate Color Tone standard sized deck that does not have a booklet, but has an information card with a History of Tarot Images printed on it. This is the same history as in the large booklet and is shown here.

What seems to have become the standard booklet is shown in the beige and yellow cover variations. These are small, 71 x121 mm, booklets of 32 pages. The Contents are as follows:

This all appears to be original work by Albano. I will transcribe the text one of these fine days (do NOT hold your breaths on this!) as it is quite interesting and gives a fuller perspective on the deck. Both beige and yellow covers have the same contents.

I have no booklet with the miniature deck and none with the standard sized Majors only deck. With the latter, I will assume it would have been either the beige or yellow booklet. With the miniature, I have no idea.

Now we get on to the US Games version of the LWB. The booklet I have is from the first printing in 1991. This has an Introduction which refers to the Albano-Waite Tarot Deck, transcribed here. The rest of the booklet is the standard USG generic info - Majors, Minors, a Layout. If you have three or more US Games decks, you probably have all this information already. Thrice.

The last booklet is from the US Games Miniature Albano-Waite deck. This is a fold-out sheet that contains abbreviated versions of the standard US Games LWB info.

You are very lucky to get a bonus picture of my guardian flamingos. Marsha (head up) and Frank (head down). They filled an excess space. It could have been filled with a picture of my cat, but I do have standards!

Large Albano Majors only booklet, 1968	Info Card from Accurate Color Tone Albano, 1968	Albano booklet, beige, 1968 from standard sized cards	Albano booklet, yellow, 1968 from standard sized cards
US Games Albano-Waite Tarot information leaflet, 1991	US Games Miniature Albano-Waite Tarot information leaflet, 1989, front	US Games Miniature Albano-Waite Tarot information leaflet, 1989, back	A sideview of Marsha & Frank who live in my backyard, 2004

There is an odd item I had heard about and then was able to get, also done by Frankie Albano and related to this deck. This is the Tarot Wheel, a sort of Ouija board. I have no instruction booklet or box with this item and have no idea how it is used. It is a pretty thing though. If anyone has any information on this, please contact me. I have no idea when this item was made. The planchette/indicator is missing three of the four legs.

Albano Tarot Wheel, 21-3/4" x 19-3/4"	Albano Wheel Planchette Front, 7-1/8" diameter	Albano Wheel Planchette Back

US Games now publishes this deck under the title Albano-Waite Tarot. The booklet lists a copyright of 1968 (Albano's), 1987 (US Games') in the edition I have with a booklet listing a 1991 copyright (!). A miniature US Games Albano-Waite edition shows a copyright of 1989. These latter dates are probably for the booklet only. US Games publishes/published these decks in two formats - standard size (70x120 mm) and miniature (42x53 mm).

There are of course differences in coloration between the Tarot Productions edition and the US Games edition, and again we can write them off to changes in printing technology and available colors as yet another 20 years passed from Albano's original production to the US Games' production of the deck. However, these differences are too small to comment on and I won't show pictures of them. US Games did do something I consider very nice which is provide two title cards with clips of scenes from the Albano deck.These two images, especially the Sun face, just charm the heck out of me! I have no idea if these two cards appear in later printings of this deck.

US Games Albano-Waite deck title cards, 1987

All in all, this is a very favorite deck of mine. I love the rich colors, deep blues and purples that supply me with different insights into this deck. In my opinion, this is a definite "must-have" deck!