Editing Rider–Waite Tarot (section)

== Publication ==
[[File:Waite–Smith Tarot Roses and Lilies cropped.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|The original 1909 roses and lilies card back design]]
The cards were first published in December 1909, by the publisher [[Rider (imprint)|William Rider & Son]] of London.<ref name="Kaplan2018" /><ref name="Jensen2005" /> The first printing was extremely limited and featured card backs with a roses and lilies pattern. In March 1910, a much larger printing featured better quality card stock and a "cracked mud" card back design. This edition, often referred to as the "A" deck, was published from 1910 to 1920. Rider continued publishing the deck in various editions until 1939, then again from 1971 to 1977.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

All of the Rider editions up to 1939 were available with a small guide written by [[A. E. Waite]] providing an overview of the traditions and history of the cards, texts about interpretations, and extensive descriptions of their symbols. The first version of this guide was published during 1909 and was titled ''The Key to the Tarot''. In 1911, a revised version, ''[[The Pictorial Key to the Tarot]]'', was issued, featuring black-and-white plates of all seventy-eight of Smith's illustrations.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

In 2009, U.S. Games Systems published a commemorative deck titled "The Smith-Waite Centennial Deck" as part of The Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the 1909 deck.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usgamesinc.com/the-pamela-colman-smith-commemorative-set.html |title=The Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set |access-date= 19 February 2023 |archive-date= 19 February 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230219234802/https://www.usgamesinc.com/the-pamela-colman-smith-commemorative-set.html |url-status= live}}</ref> This deck notably places Smith's name first and omits the publisher's name (Rider). In this vein, some contemporary tarot readers call the original deck and its various iterations the "Smith-Waite deck" in order to give proper credit to Smith's contribution to the deck.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/pamela-colman-smith-rider-waite-tarot-2163627 |title=Pamela Colman Smith Was the Artist and Occultist Who Designed the Iconic Tarot Deck. Why Has No One Ever Heard Her Name? |date=26 August 2022 |access-date= 19 February 2023 |archive-date= 17 February 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230217182500/https://news.artnet.com/art-world/pamela-colman-smith-rider-waite-tarot-2163627 |url-status= live}}</ref>