The De Laurence: Orange
Most of the words are typed, but sometimes some information has been written in by (probably) ballpoint pen.
It’s an interesting set of cards, made more interesting by the personal notes of Wardle. It just adds something nice to the cards, but I admit that that is my subjective opinion.
I find them to be a fascinating glimpse into how another reader might interpret the cards.
The cards are predominantly bright orange in nature, with more of a blue line work rather than the traditional black.
These cards were previously owned by famed Tarot collector Holly Voley who sadly passed away earlier in the year.
While we also own an unmarked de Laurence orange deck, rare in itself, I think Wardle’s marked version adds something to it. It’s a little piece of Tarot history.
Recently we managed to obtain what I suspect is a very rare copy of the De Laurence Tarot.
This is a deck which seems to have been printed back in 1960 by The de Laurence company in Chicago, U.S.A
While I am happy to be informed otherwise, I’m inclined to believe that this deck is rare in the sense that it has been marked by James D. Wardle.
The question is, should we attempt a reprint? It has occurred to us as I think a lot of people would like a copy, yet creating facsimile copies is much harder to pull off than one would think. Printing techniques from the 60s are not always easy to achieve today (although if anyone has any helpful information on this I would love to know), and confirming an exact color match is equally difficult. Then again we’ve done reasonably well at printing good quality copies of the J.K Tarot and the Thomson Leng Tarot, so we have not ruled it out entirely.
James
A little about James D. Wardle, who marked the cards.
James Durward Wardle was born on 1 November 1915 in Magna, Utah, and passed away on 1 November 1997. Being raised in the RLDS faith, Wardle was an active participant from his youth. He was an elder in the RLDS Church and served in various positions, including branch president. An intense interest in religion led him into what he termed his "avocation", collecting information on the Restoration (Mormon) churches.
By 1975 he described himself as "a member of the RLDS Church, an Elder and one time the Pastor of the Church here in Salt Lake City...More than all that, I am the local Heretic."
He became disaffected from the mainstream RLDS Church in the 1970s and from that time until his death he participated in the local expression of RLDS fundamentalism or restorationism. The 1970s were an exciting time for Mormon history researchers and Wardle's barbershop was a center for the circulation of ideas and texts.
The barbershop was a gathering place common to a few networks of historians, writers, researchers, and others interested in Mormon history; by agency of Wardle, many documents saw public light.
Wardle is remembered by many for his eccentric behavior, his knowledge of things Mormon, and his enormous, open, and always growing collection of Mormon and religion-related books and manuscripts.
While most of his extensive collection is centered around the LDS Church and articles of faith related to it, Wardle's collection clearly expressed an interest in Numerology, UFOS, and the Occult, including Tarot.
Sources
https://archivespace.lib.utah.edu/repositories/3/resources/6000
https://www.deseret.com/1997/11/4/19343716/death-james-d-wardle/
See "New Age and UFO Publications" on the link below.
https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv51220