The Pictorial Key to the Tarot
is a divinatory tarot guide, with text by A. E. Waite
and illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith
Published in conjunction with the Rider–Waite tarot deck, the pictorial version (released 1910, dated 1911) followed the success of the deck and Waite's (unillustrated 1909) text "The Key to the Tarot". Both Waite and Smith were members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Waite was very concerned with the accuracy of the symbols used for the deck, and he did much research into the traditions, interpretations, and history behind the cards.
This book and and deck became, probably the starting point that most authors and users of the Tarot, in the 20th century, started to become interested in using and writing about the Tarot. Certain well know authors often quote Waite's "Pictorial Key to the Tarot" when writing about the Tarot's history and one of the most used spreads, the Celtic Cross, which Waite suggested in this book, to use, on becoming expert in the practice. The book itself has been reproduced many times over the past hundred years by writers and authors, even to the extent of a certain L.D. de Laurence who is mocked and reviled among modern occultists for his plagiarism (produced in 1918) of A.E. Waite's 1910 book "The Pictorial Key to the Tarot".
Here are two links to Waite and the book on Wikipedia:-
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