Tarot De Marseille (Yoav Ben-Dov restoration)

Tarot de Marseille (Yoav Ben-Dov restoration). U.S. Games Systems, USA. Full divinatory tarot deck, Mediterranean suited, 80 single-headed cards + divinatory-meanings booklet. Size: 62mm x 120mm.

Deck make-up:
Trumps: 0-21.
Coins, clubs, cups, swords: 1-10, foot jack, mounted jack, queen, king.
Extras: blank card, title card.

The tarot deck was probably invented in northern Italy in the 15th century and introduced into southern France around 1499. All Italian-suited tarot decks outside of Italy are descended from the Marseilles type with the exception of some early French and Belgian packs. The earliest surviving cards of the Marseilles pattern were produced by Jean Noblet of Paris around 1650.

This deck was originally referred to as the "Italian tarot". The name "tarot de Marseille" was only adopted in the 1930s when the French manufacturer Grimaud gave this historical definition to the company's own edition of the pattern to distinguish it from the French-suited version (tarot nouveau/bourgeois tarot) by then being used for the national jeu de tarot game.

One well-known artisan producing tarot cards in the Marseilles pattern was Nicolas Conver (around 1760). It was the Conver deck, or a deck very similar to it, that came to the attention of Antoine Court de Gébelin in the late 18th century. Court de Gébelin's writings called the attention of occultists to tarot decks. As such, the Marseilles deck became the starting point for the design of most subsequent esoteric decks beginning with the deck designed by Etteilla forward.

In the early 20th century, most French tarot players turned away from the tarot of Marseilles and started using tarot nouveau/bourgeois tarot, which used French suits and "less distracting" pictures on the trumps. However, French truck drivers, for example, could be seen using the Marseilles deck as late as the 1970s.

The version of the Marseilles tarot here is a 2010 restoration by Israeli scholar, Yoav Ben-Dov, who says, "CBD Tarot de Marseille is a faithful reproduction of the traditional Tarot cards. It is based on the standard deck published in Marseille by Nicholas Conver, 1760. ... Other restored editions popular among readers also rely on Conver's deck. But often they supplement it with additional details whimsically picked from other decks. They also add to it new elements reflecting their creators' personal ideas. ... [This deck] is faithful to its details and lines, without trying to correct them or to improve on the original." This is presumably a sideswipe at the Jodorowsky-Camoin restoration. This all sounds fine and dandy but then Dr Ben-Dov adds, "However, keeping the original face expressions would make a gloomy and depressing impression on the modern eye. This is because in those days, people were used to serious and heavy faces in portraits. To avoid such an effect I had to lighten up the expressions." This declaration I find a bit dubious – in my mind, nothing that calls itself a "restoration" can go around altering the look on people's faces! Perhaps calling the project an "interpretation" would have been better (or just leave the faces alone!)

My usual moaning aside, this is a good effort and, unlike the above-mentioned Jodorowsky-Camoin version, is quite easy to obtain. Commendably, Dr Ben-Dov has authorised free use of his images from this deck for non-commercial projects (see his website). He has also written a book, Tarot – The Open Reading, selected material from which is also on the site.

Click on any card to explore the design.

(Comments or corrections, please e-mail: Click to see e-mail address.)

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