Knapp-Hall Tarot Deck
In 1929, Manly Palmer Hall, founder of the Philosophical Research Society (it still exists), compiled a tarot deck designed by J. Augustus Knapp. In this deck, like in many others, we will find Hebrew characters and French titles, close to the Tarot de Marseille (TdM). The sequence of the cards follows the traditional pattern: VIII is Justice (la Justice) and XI shows Strength. The cards of the Minor Arcana are not illustrated.
The Meditation Symbols added to the design by Manly P. Hall are not explained. Their significance must be discovered by internal experience, expanding the meaning of the cards on which they appear.
The design of the back of the cards was especially designed by R. Charles Hogart.
‘The tarot cards draw forth from the most secret recesses of the heart and mind the truths that have been stored therein for uncounted ages’ .....Manly P. Hall
The images of the cards breath the same melancholic pre/postwar sentiment also present on the cards designed by Papus, Wirth, and also more recent cards like those of the Aquarian deck and the Gareth Knight Tarot.
The deck shown is a reprint published in 1981 by the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles. The first edition was probably published around or in 1929. In 1985 US Games Systems, Inc. also published a reprint similar to the 1981 edition, but with a slightly shinier printing.
We have the 1985 edition in our collection, but the images are not (yet) shown on our website.
This 1981 edition is scarce and in good condition, all cards are present and card number 14 Temperance (La Temperance) is double. One of the doubles is slightly lighter in print, but comes from the same stock of card The World (Le Monde), has two numbers on one card: 21/22/. There is no accompanying booklet.
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