Taro As Colour. Colquhoun, Ithell.

First edition, first impression, limited issue, one of 78 uniquely named copies with a typed letter signed from the publisher loosely inserted, this copy "The Lord of Wealth". This is the first published appearance of Colquhoun's reimagining of the tarot, originally exhibited in a small gallery in Cornwall in 1977. Colquhoun's "psycho-morphological" enamel studies of the tarot strip down the symbolism of the cards into pure colour, each with titles drawn from "Book T" of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. "The Lord of Wealth" is the name given by the Golden Dawn to the card also known as the "10 of Pentacles". While interpretations of the tarot are multitudinous, in the tradition of the Golden Dawn the card primarily denotes material riches and security. Colquhoun was a celebrated artist and occultist who who was expelled from the English Surrealist Group for refusing to abandon her occult research. She "is becoming recognized as one of the most interesting and prolific esoteric thinkers and artists of the twentieth century" (Hale). As the publisher Robert Ansell states in his introductory letter, Taro as Colour is "a personal celebration of surrealist technique and esoteric teachings, no other deck like this had been conceived before". Amy Hale, "The Magical Life of Ithell Colquhoun", Nevill Drury, ed., Pathways in Modern Western Magic, 2012. Together 2 items. Book: octavo. Original vellum-backed glossy purple boards by Ludlow, illustrated with "The Lord of Wealth", spine lettered in gilt, edges gilt. Housed in original black silk chemise and slipcase, with publisher's explanatory letter loosely inserted. [With] unopened tarot deck, housed in original gilt-lettered white card box. Illustrated in colour throughout. A few marks on tarot deck box and slipcase: fine.