Cat Willett - The Queen of Wands: The Story of Pamela Colman Smith, the Artist Behind the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck

Copyright 2022 by Catherine Willett

Cover copyright 2022 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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First Edition: September 2022

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2022931745

ISBNs: 978-0-7624-7569-8 (hardcover), 978-0-7624-7568-1 (ebook)

E3-20220801-JV-NF-ORI

FOR EMIL AND JONI,
MY BELIEVERS.

Why hadnt I learned about this incredibly prolific artist in art schooland what could I do to surface her story?

Spending her early childhood years just outside of Manchester, Pamela was exposed to the fight for womens rights and suffragette* ideals in this particularly progressive region of England. The Manchester Society for Womens Suffrage was founded 11 years before Pamela was born, and though it was a divided movement, it managed to spread feminist thought to London, Scotland, and Ireland, and eventually throughout Northern England.

*Suffragette (noun) A woman seeking the right to vote through organized protest.

Tragically, Corinne became ill in Jamaica while Pamela was still at Pratt. As a result, after four years of study, Pamela left the institute in 1896 without earning a degree.