Classics Collection of Arthur Edward Waite. Illustrated. The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts, The Occult Sciences, The Real History of the Rosicrucians, The Pictorial Key To The Tarot

Arthur Edward Waite was a British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider–Waite tarot deck (also called the Rider–Waite–Smith or Waite–Smith deck). As his biographer R. A. Gilbert described him, "Waite's name has survived because he was the first to attempt a systematic study of the history of Western occultism—viewed as a spiritual tradition rather than as aspects of protoscience or as the pathology of religion."
He spent most of his life in or near London, connected to various publishing houses and editing a magazine, The Unknown World.
He wrote texts on subjects including divination, esotericism, freemasonry, and ceremonial magic, Kabbalism and alchemy; he also translated and reissued several mystical works. He wrote about the Holy Grail, influenced by his friendship with Arthur Machen.