Celebrating the Tarot de Marseille Type I

Tarot de Marseille Type I is having its moment in the sun, thanks to several card makers who are recreating these rare decks from museum originals. As far as I know, there are only nine complete, or nearly complete, Type I decks in existence. All but two have been meticulously recreated by artisans in limited editions and are available to purchase. Find contact information for these card makers at the bottom of this article.

What’s a Type I Tarot de Marseille?

The term was coined by Thierry Depaulis in his 1984 exhibit catalog, Tarot, Jeu et Magie. I’ve identified twelve details that set the Type I off from the Tarot de Marseille Type II (Conver and Madenié Tarot de Marseille, for example). This article shows the two types of decks side-by-side.

The earliest Tarot de Marseille decks we know of are Type I. As new discoveries are made, the date of the earliest-known Tarot de Marseille is pushed back. Currently, the contenders for the earliest TdM are the 1639 Vachie Tarot, and the Nicolas Rolichon Tarot which might be dated as early as 1637. Initially, historians believed that Type II evolved out of Type I and eventually superseded it. But as new information comes to light, the date of the first known TdM Type II keeps getting pushed back. It was recently discovered that the 1730 François Chosson Tarot was printed with wood blocks dating to 1672, or possibly earlier.  So, both types I and II existed concurrently in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. The last Type I deck was printed in 1857, more than two centuries after the first known TdM Type II.

The rest of this article is a run-through of all nine TdM Type I decks we know of, illustrated with cards from my collection. Contact information for the card makers is listed at the bottom.

Felip Vachie/Philippe Vachier Tarot: Marseille 1639

Early in 2023, historical deck aficionados were thrilled to learn that a previously unheard of Tarot de Marseille, possibly the oldest known deck of its kind, was being auctioned off by the Drouot auction house in Paris. The Vachie deck ultimately sold for 50,000 euros. These images are from the auction catalog. Thierry Depaulis discovered the deck and wrote about it in the January 2023 edition of the publication Vieux Papier. Yves Reynaud searched the Marseille archives and found evidence of a master card maker, Philippe Vachier, in 1632 and 1637.

The 1639 date on the Two of Coins is rather puzzling. The numbers are mirrored and the carving is very crude, so not everyone accepts the date as authentic. One theory postulates that an even older date was scraped off, except for the first “1”, then the other three digits were carved by a clumsy apprentice with bad eyesight. If this is true, it makes this deck the oldest Tarot de Marseille in existence.

I was in despair, believing that the oldest known TdM had vanished into a private collection and we would never see all the cards. Then Depaulis noticed that the lines in the Vachie deck are identical to the Jean Payen deck of 1743. There are breaks and wear in some lines since the wood blocks were nearly a century old when Payen acquired them. But if you look past the worn lines and the stenciled colors, the lines are obviously identical.

It was very common for a card maker to buy up the contents of a workshop whose master has died without heirs. So let’s take a look at the Payen family.

Jean Payen Tarot: Avignon 1743 and Jean-Pierre Payen Tarot: Avignon 1713

Father and son, Jean-Pierre and Jean, relocated from Marseille to Avignon about 1710. Their combined careers spanned nearly a century, from the mid-1600s to mid-1700s. There is so much confusion about their birth and death dates that I’ve given up sorting out which of them did what and when. One of them acquired wood blocks from the Philippe Vachier workshop in Marseille and used them for his TdM I tarot of 1743. Payen scraped off the original name and date on the Two of Coins and replaced it with his own. Shown here are the Two of Coins printed by Vachie in 1639 and by Payen in 1743 after altering Vachie’s wood block.

Marco Benedetti and Florent Giraud have done facsimiles of a complete Payen 1743 deck housed in the Fournier Museum in Spain. Two of Benedetti’s cards are shown here.

Jean-Pierre Payen produced a TdM I in Avignon in 1713. Yves Reynaud has recreated this deck based on examples in three museums:  The Swiss Game Museum, the Playing Card Museum of Issy les Moulineaux, and the Yale University Beinecke Library.

Nicolas Rolichon Tarot: Lyon c. 1637

This mysterious deck is the phantom of the tarot world. No actual deck exists, yet we know what it looked like. The July 1919 edition of the Larousse Mensuel magazine reproduced the engraved lines of all the trumps, a court card from each suit, all aces, and examples of pip cards for each suit. The deck’s style is very similar to the Dodal and Payen decks, also printed in Lyon, so it’s not difficult to recreate the missing cards. The deck has the same backs as the Anonymous Tarot de Paris, the Jacques Vievil and Jean Noblet decks, all produced at nearly the same time in the same Parisian neighborhood, a few decades after the Rolichon was printed at the opposite side of country. It seems card makers’ guilds on both sides of France purchased pre-printed card backs in bulk from the same supplier.

The 1851 catalog of a French auction house lists 78 cards by Nicolas Rolichon of Lyon in perfect condition. Perhaps this is the same deck that was reproduced in the magazine. Let’s hope the deck is languishing in in a vault and will come to light one day.

Several generations of the Rolichon family of card makers are recorded in Lyon from 1575 to 1670. There seemed to be a Nicolas in every generation, so it’s difficult to sort them out. The printer of this deck is believed to be the Nicolas Rolichon who lived from 1595 to 1635 or 1637, and was a Master Cartier by 1611, at age 16. You could become a master before age 20 if you were the son and heir of a master card maker and both parents were deceased.

Restoration of Rolichon’s deck involves acquiring the Larousse Mensuel magazine, making high resolution scans of the illustrated cards, digitally restoring the missing cards, then coloring them. Here are examples of two radically different color choices.

Marco Benedetti chose a jewel-toned color palette. Florent Giraud drew inspiration for his palette from the Vachie deck and other decks from Lyon that are contemporary to Rolichon.

Jean Dodal Tarot: Lyon c. 1710

Jean Dodal was active in Lyon from 1701 to 1715. In the cards at left, we see his name spelled Dodal on the Two of Cups, but Dodali on the Two of Coins. The label F P Letrange on the Strength card tells us why.  He gave his name an Italian flavor on the Two of Coins because he made this deck for export, most likely to Savoy and Piedmont. Several cards in the deck say F P Letrange (Fait Pour L’Etrange – Made for Export) to avoid the heavy taxes imposed on playing cards made for domestic consumption. Another oddity of this deck: La Papesse is titled La Pances (belly) which may be a sly reference to Pope Joan.

The Dodal tarot has been reproduced more often than most other Type I decks. Here are three from my collection to show the variations. The largest card on the left, by J. C. Flornoy, has a slight yellowish cast to its cream background. Flornoy used the original lines, but hand stenciled the colors with gouache. The next two cards were meticulously hand drawn and are very faithful to the original. The center card by Sullivan Hismans has a crisp, fresh look. The smallest card on the right, by Pablo Robledo, has a pink/beige background.

Dubesset/Valentin Tarot: Lyon, 17th Century

This ugly duckling is comprised of two decks cobbled together to make a complete 78-card deck. Both decks were printed in Lyon in the mid-1600s and are characterized by sloppy stenciling, crude lettering, randomly mirrored cards, and the occasional ghost image.

The C  V  on either side of the shield on the Two of Cups tells us the card was printed by Claude Valentin.  The twenty-six cards he contributed to the deck are more refined and have neater titles. The block carver’s initials, NR, on the Chariot’s shield may be those of Nicolas Rolichon. Valentin witnessed widow Rolichon’s marriage in 1638. Several generations of Rolichon card makers had workshops in Lyon, and every generation had at least one Nicolas. One of them could easily have been the carver of Valentin’s deck.

Dubesset’s fifty-two cards are cruder than Valentin’s.  Ten of his trump cards are mirrored. The Pope holds a crook rather than a triple cross, which is typical of the Type I TdM, but the figure is mirrored and the title is badly done The wood blocks for Dubesset’s deck may have been carved by a member of the Rolichon family, as the initials NR appear on the front of the Chariot.

Jean Noblet Tarot: Paris, c. 1650

In spite of having almost all the traits of a standard TdM I, this deck is an odd duck, and many people believe it isn’t really a TdM Type I. This deck has all but two of the markers for a Type I deck: there is no numeral “4” floating in front of Emperor, and the Fool is not titled Le Fol. The Noblet was published in Paris at approximately the same time, and in the same neighborhood, as the Jacques Vieville and the Anonymous Tarot de Paris, both one-of-a kind decks with a lot of quirks.

The Noblet has many unusual features you don’t find in any other deck. It’s more accurate to call this a unique deck strongly based on the TdM I. Here are four cards with details you won’t find on any other TdM, illustrated with a facsimile printed by Marco Benedetti.

The most obvious feature is the Fool’s bare bottom and the dangly bits in mortal danger of being clawed by the dog. Other small details make this Fool unique. There is no obvious spoon at the end of the knapsack handle. A ribbon hangs down the back of his neck with a bell at the end. In the TdM Type II, the bell becomes a detached red dot on the handle. His walking stick has a head carved at the top.

The object of the dog’s attack ends up in the Bateleur’s hand as a “penis-wand.” It’s assumed the carved wood chipped off, leaving a truncated wand. But it seems like a strange coincidence, and evidently no one made an effort to repair it. Le Bateleur has three die on his table, a unique feature. The second “L” of the title might be an incomplete “E”, but it doesn’t really look like one. It’s more likely a sleepy apprentice went on automatic pilot and duplicated the letter he just completed.

The Pope carries a Bishop’s crook, standard for the TdM I; and he stands in front of an elaborate throne rather than two pillars. The animated hands of the two people at his feet are unique to this deck. The man on the left flings his hands up in amazement at what he’s just heard. The man on the right has his palms facing forward, as if fending something off—possibly a new idea he just can’t accept.

Most tarot Hermits are rather shaggy. This fellow has a neat beard, with hair in a well-coiffed flip.

Charles Cheminade Tarot: Grenoble, mid 17th Century

The Charles Cheminade Tarot de Marseille Type I is housed in a private collection and has never been reproduced. The cards shown here come from the World of Playing Cards website. Several generations of Cheminade card makers are recorded in Grenoble from1642 to 1834. It seems every generation had at least one Charles and one Pierre, so it’s difficult to determine who created which deck. The cards shown here are from a deck probably printed by a Charles Cheminade who was born in 1675 and lived for 75 years. He retired in 1742 and turned the card making business over to his son Pierre. Yves Reynaud has published a facsimile Tarot de Marseille Type II printed by Pierre in 1742.

Nicola Novaro Tarot: Orneglia, 19th Century

This unique deck maybe the last TdM Type I ever printed, and the only existing deck of the type printed in Italy. The Novaro Tarot meets all criteria for a Type I deck, except the Emperor doesn’t have the numeral 4 floating in front of face.

The deck was created in an area of Piedmont that was controlled by France and then Savoy in the 19^th century. These cards were printed from a wood block that was registered to a different card maker in 1826. The Novaro family of card printers acquired the blocks and substituted their name on the two of Coins. By 1857, the print shop had passed from Nicola to his son Giovanni, who registered his father’s wood blocks so he could continue printing them. The deck is very similar to the Payen tarot, a classic French TdM I. Marco Benedetti is the only card maker who has done a facsimile of this deck, based on an original in the British Museum. Benedetti speculates that Novaro acquired these French-style woodblocks, then cut his own stencils for coloring the cards. The heavy use of blue is contrary to conventional French coloring. The deck is in the French style with no overlapping borders, and with misspelled French titles, like the humorously titled Swords court cards. The Fool’s balloon pants are the only Italian touch.

Where to Obtain These Decks
Below is contact information for card makers who produce TdM Type I decks as of August 2023. Most make hand crafted limited editions. Check their websites to see what’s available.

Stav Appel:  www.torahtarot.com
Noblet: Large size, trumps only, soft colors, booklet on Jewish symbolism in the cards.

Artisan Tarot: www.artisantarot.com
Noblet and Dodal redrawn and recolored on linen finish, 310 gpm commercial card stock.

Igor Barzilai: Rolichon, Conver, Wirth, Besancon, his own oracle deck
http://www.tarot-artisanal.fr/english.htm?fbclid=IwAR0SZRWh6YTIABXpJY_Gj_ylNchNaVNkwt8lufUyXRfqi
Barzilai’s Rolichon page
http://www.tarot-artisanal.fr/enquete-tarot-de-rolichon-projet-3.htm?fbclid=IwAR1A5GlfzJocUXUNoEi40lqu392PcLXBsA3f-puvz7XU7QbCf-FNnUfhFOc

Marco Benedetti: https://www.facebook.com/Marco.C.Benedetti.Tarot
Email: Benedetti.Tarot@gmail.com
(Noblet, Payen, Rolichon, Dubesset/Valentin, Novaro)
Digitally printed on 320g laid paper, hand cut, housed in either a cardboard telescope box or a handmade wooden box signed and numbered.

Jean Claude Flornoy: www.letarot.com
(Noblet, Dodal) Original lines with hand stenciling.

Florent Giraud: www.tarotgraphe.com
(Rolichon, Payen, Dodal, Dubesset/Valentin)
Handcrafted facsimiles. Optional traditional soap finish and handcrafted box.

Sullivan Hismans:  Tarot Sheet Revival – Historic Tarots Revival & Traditional Cardmaking
(Dodali, Noblet, plus Rouën-Brussels and other decks)
Recreations and hand painted decks that are extremely faithful to the originals.

Yves Reynaud: https://www.tarot-de-marseille-heritage.com/
(Jean-Pierre Payen TdM I and numerous Type II TdMs.)

Pablo Robledo: Dodal, TdM II, Vandenborre, Besancon, others
Rolichon tarot by TaroTavo:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1644308189037854&type=3&mibextid=ncKXMA
Robledo fb page    https://www.facebook.com/eltarot78
Web page with his decks; Trabajos :: Pablorobledotarot (webnode.page)

78 Puertas
(Dodal) A collective of four people.
78 Puertas – Tarot y Cartomancia tradicional en Estado Puro

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This thread in the Tarot History Forum has detailed information on various card makers: genealogical information, records in city archives, and painstaking research to pin down the dates of many decks in this article.
Tarot makers of Lyon – 1601-1738 – Tarot History Forum

A visual comparison of TdM Type I and Type II cards
https://tarot-heritage.com/history-4/tarot-de-marseille-type-i-vs-type-ii/

An article on the Tarot de Marseille Type I and its background history. Written in March 2018. A bit outdated because we are aware of so many more decks now.
https://tarot-heritage.com/2018/03/06/j-p-payen-and-the-tarot-de-marseille-type-i/

List of Decks in the order they appear in this article

Sun card. Nicolas Rolichon Tarot. Lyon possibly before 1637. Restored by Marco Benedetti, Rome, 2023.

Felip Vachie/Philippe Vachier Tarot, Marseille, 1639. Photographs from Giquello auction catalog, March 2023.

Two of Coins: Philippe Vachie and Jean Payen.

Knight of Cups and Emperor cards. Jean Payen Tarot, Avignon, 1743. Facsimile by Marco Benedetti, Rome, 2023. Collection of Museo Fournier de Naipes de Álava.

World card. Jean-Pierre Payen Tarot, Avignon 1713. Produced by Yves Reynaud, France, 2016.

Lovers, Emperor and Ace of Cups cards. Nicolas Rolichon Tarot. Lyon before 1637. Restored by Marco Benedetti, Rome, 2023.

Lovers, Strength and Judgment cards. Nicolas Rolichon Tarot. Lyon before 1637. Restored by Florent Giraud, Aix en Provence, 2023.

Jean Dodal Tarot. Lyons, 1701-1715.
    Set of four cards and World card by Sullivan Hismans, Tarot Sheet Revival, Belgium, 2019.
    World card by J. C. Flornoy, France, 2002
     World card by Pablo Robledo, Argentina, 2018

Guilaume Dubesset/Claude Valentin Tarot de Marseille. Lyon, 1680s. Facsimile by Marco Benedetti, Rome, April 2023. Collection of the British Museum.

Jean Noblet, Paris, c. 1650. Facsimile by Marco Benedetti, Rome. May 2023. Collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale Française, Paris.

Charles Cheminade Tarot. Early to mid 18^th century. Accessed at World of Playing Cards website.
Charles Cheminade Tarot — Charles Cheminade Marseille Tarot — The World of Playing Cards (wopc.co.uk)

Nicolas Novaro Tarot, Oneglia, 19^th Century. Facsimile by Marco Benedetti, Rome Italy, June 2023. Collection of the British Museum.