Rider-Waite-Smith

The 1909 tarot deck illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith for A. E. Waite — the most widely used deck.

The Rider-Waite-Smith deck was published in 1909 by the Rider company, designed by the occultist A. E. Waite and illustrated by the artist Pamela Colman Smith. It's the most widely used tarot deck in the world and the one most modern decks are modelled on.

Its great innovation was giving every card — including all forty pip cards — a full narrative illustration, so a reader can respond to a scene rather than memorize an abstract meaning. Smith's artwork was long under-credited; the fuller name Rider-Waite-Smith restores her to it.

Related terms

• Pip Card
• Tarot
• Arcana

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