When the tarot was invented in Italy during the early fifteenth century, it was simply a pack of cards used for playing games. Esoteric interpretations of the pack date from late eighteenth century France, and were confined to that country for a hundred years. But today the cards are used throughout the world and not only for fortune telling - for true believers they are the key to secret knowledge and the meaning of life. A History of the Occult Tarot is the classic work on the history of the tarot deck and its use in occult circles. Starting with the late nineteenth century, the Decker and Dummett examine how the tarot became the favoured divination tool of occultists, a bridge to the spirit world, and a map of the unconscious. From Theosophical to Aleister Crowley to the Order of the Golden Dawn and P.D. Ouspensky, this compelling survey of the tarot's history describes the many fascinating decks imagined over time as well as the secret histories of mystics - an essential volume for the libraries of all serious students of the tarot. AUTHORS: Ronald Decker is an art historian and curator of a notable collection of antique cards at the United States Playing-Card Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. Michael Dummett was Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford 1979-1992, and is the author of The Game of Tarot (1980) and other books on Tarot cards and games, as well as books on philosophy and voting theory.