1918 First Edition - The Illustrated Key to the Tarot, Divination by de Laurence

Author: Lauron William de Laurence.
Title: The Illustrated Key To The Tarot - The Veil of Divination. Illustrating The Greater And Lesser Arcana Embracing the Veil and Its Symbols. Secret Tradition Under the Veil of Divination. Art of Tarot Divination, Outer Method of the Oracles. The Tarot in History. Inner Symbolism. The Greater Keys.
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. The de Laurence Company, 1918. First edition. 
Size: 9 x 5.5 inches.
Pages: 176 pages.
Binding: Near fine publisher’s original dark green cloth binding with gilt titles to the upper cover within a circular serpent device and gilt lettering to the spine (hinges fine, overall slightly scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. 
Content: Very good content (bright, tight, and clean, rare light toning to endpapers - as shown, ink stamp of a previous owner on the first endpaper - as shown). 
Illustrations: Illustrated with numerous black-and-white tarot card figures and symbolic diagrams representing the Greater and Lesser Arcana, including classic early twentieth-century interpretations of the tarot imagery.

Estimate: (USD 250 - USD 450)

The book: Scarce First edition of The Illustrated Key to the Taro,  one of the influential early twentieth-century works devoted to the symbolism and interpretation of the tarot. Written by the controversial occult publisher L. W. de Laurence, the book presents an accessible yet detailed exploration of tarot symbolism, divination practices, and the historical traditions surrounding the tarot.

The work examines both the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana, offering interpretations of the cards as well as discussions of their symbolic meaning within Western esoteric traditions. De Laurence also surveys earlier occult writers and traditions, placing tarot within the broader context of mystical philosophy and symbolic systems.

Published by the well-known Chicago occult publisher The de Laurence Company, this volume forms part of the wave of early twentieth-century publications that helped popularize tarot study in the English-speaking world. Works issued by this publisher became widely circulated among students of mysticism, spiritualism, and occult philosophy, and remain collectible today as artifacts of early modern esoteric publishing.

The author: L. W. de Laurence (full name Lauron William de Laurence) (1868–1936) was an American author and publisher on occult and spiritual topics.
His publishing company (De Laurence, Scott & Co.) and spiritual supply mail-order house were located in Chicago, Illinois. De Laurence was a pioneer in the business of supplying magical and occult goods by mail order, and his distribution of public domain books, such as Secrets of the Psalms by Godfrey Selig and Pow Wows or the Long-Lost Friend by John George Hohman had a great and lasting effect on the African American urban hoodoo community in the southern United States as well as on the development of Obeah in Jamaica.