Some may say redefining the tarot was Arthur Edward Waite’s most important work, but - of course - I believe it is Belle and the Dragon, for what is more important than the inhabitants of Fairyland?
Those who are clever, like me, will know that Waite’s title alludes to the Greek apocryphal addition to the Book of Daniel, telling of Daniel exposing the ‘false god’ Bel, killing a sacred dragon and surviving the lions' den. Waite places himself and his merry band within the pages of this fairytale, with lightly placed clues for those human readers of knowing mind to unravel. A clever one may trace the symbolic traditions that lay their roots and go on to define his later, better known, work.
This is a book for those who thirst for medieval romance and hunger for the lore of fairy.
Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942, Occultist and creator of the Rider–Waite Tarot)
Belle and the Dragon. An Elfin Comedy
London: James Elliott & Co., 1894
Quarto, original publisher’s cloth with silver stamped pictorial cover and gilt lettered spine, top edge gilt, pictorial half title preceding title, black and white plates and vignettes to text, one final leaf of publisher’s advertisements
General Condition
Binding good and the interior generally bright with occasional dustmarks, corners of binding bumped, endpapers and initial and final pages a little foxed and toned, pages mostly uncut
Some may say redefining the tarot was Arthur Edward Waite’s most important work, but - of course - I believe it is Belle and the Dragon, for what is more important than the inhabitants of Fairyland?
Those who are clever, like me, will know that Waite’s title alludes to the Greek apocryphal addition to the Book of Daniel, telling of Daniel exposing the ‘false god’ Bel, killing a sacred dragon and surviving the lions' den. Waite places himself and his merry band within the pages of this fairytale, with lightly placed clues for those human readers of knowing mind to unravel. A clever one may trace the symbolic traditions that lay their roots and go on to define his later, better known, work.
This is a book for those who thirst for medieval romance and hunger for the lore of fairy.
Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942, Occultist and creator of the Rider–Waite Tarot)
Belle and the Dragon. An Elfin Comedy
London: James Elliott & Co., 1894
Quarto, original publisher’s cloth with silver stamped pictorial cover and gilt lettered spine, top edge gilt, pictorial half title preceding title, black and white plates and vignettes to text, one final leaf of publisher’s advertisements
General Condition
Binding good and the interior generally bright with occasional dustmarks, corners of binding bumped, endpapers and initial and final pages a little foxed and toned, pages mostly uncut
