Details + Condition: Tarot Productions Inc. (Los Angeles). First Giant Size Edition, 1968. Very scarce, with the words "Accurate Color Tones" written on the side of the box, which also includes a PO Box address to the back (see below for more of these points and history). Cards measure 5.5" x 9.5". By Frankie Albano, owner of Tarot Productions Inc, who was the first to market this "giant size" edition, along with other non-standard sized tarot decks based on the Albano-Waite Tarot. Included are 22 arcana cards and box. There was no instruction booklet included in the original version this giant sized tarot deck. A very scarce collector's edition, in very good condition, with only light discoloration to the reverse of two cards. Box shows minor, normal age and wear, mainly at extremities and flaps. A sticker in the same color as the box is present to the reverse - however, all known copies have had the similar sticker.
From waitesmith.org: As there is no formal title, most refer to this as the giant deck, the giant “major” Arcana deck, the giant trump deck, or just the giant 22-card deck. This was a shining example of the “first-to-market” principle in manufacturing and design. This is more of a teaching tool or an advertisement (think “window display”) than a deck you use for divination, but these cards can effectively be shuffled, with proper care. The backs of these cards have a well-known sun/moon combination image that depicts a solar eclipse, which is in fact a “perfect alignment” (north/south and east/west), which has especially potent meanings on several levels in alchemy and advanced metaphysics; far beyond the more popular (and obvious “full moon” which has the sun and moon pulling on the earth like a tug of war between two parents). The corners of this deck are purposefully squared (unlike USGS’s “giant deck” which came much later of course), and this makes a powerful statement that these are not just another oversized deck of cards. The box we have at the research library has the words “This box includes fully illustrated instruction book” emblazoned on the back of the yellow box in capital letters—in a large font so you won’t miss it! Unfortunately, this box also has “box color-matching tape” professionally applied to cover up those words, and no instruction booklet. I have never seen (or heard of) a Tarot Productions that would fit this box. That booklet may have accompanied this deck instead of a “giant LWB” being inserted into the box. As a point of fact the box this deck comes in “could fit” a thin booklet, but nothing as thick as the “TP XLWB.” Also, the deck we have is a “Deluxe Edition” and therefore is most likely a “second or later” run, as it is generally assumed among the research community that the “Accurate Color Tone” decks preceded the “New Color Deluxe Edition” decks. Supporting this idea is the fact that at the time of this printing TP was using a P.O. box instead of one of their two physical addresses.
