This important work brings into public view for the first time a unique deck of tarot cards hand painted by Austin Osman Spare. It is estimated that Spare created this deck in 1905 or 1906. With the possible exception of some of Spare’s friends and associates, nobody knew the deck existed. In 1944 Spare entrusted the deck to the conjuror Herbert J. Collings, one of the founding members of The Magic Circle, a British organization dedicated to the history and promotion of conjuring and stage magic. In November of 1969, then curator of The Magic Circle Museum, Arthur Ivey (1891- 1975), published a short article within the organization’s internally distributed periodical The Magic Circular, briefly describing Spare’s deck in the context of a general history of playing cards. The article is the only source of information available regarding the deck’s provenance. Spare’s tarot deck remained entirely unknown outside of The Magic Circle, until this volume was announced for publication. Spare’s designs for the trump cards are based on traditional tarot imagery. The remaining cards use the suits of a standard deck (hearts, spades, diamonds, clubs). All of the cards have a line or two of text to assist in interpretation with some indicating alternative interpretations if the card is shown with other cards from different suits. In addition, there are numerous incomplete glyphs and partial words that seem randomly placed on card edges. Placing certain cards next to each other allow some of these images and words to connect. The Aces of each suit, and a few other cards have the central images surrounded by what look like electro-magnetic waves of color — a precursor to some of Spare’s later “vibratory portraits.” All of the cards of the deck are shown in the book. There are also essays concerning the deck and related subject matter by Helen Farley, Gavin Semple, Alan Moore, Phil Baker, Jonathan Allen, and Sally O’Reilly.