1st Edition Grimaud Ancien Tarot de Marseille
Designed by Paul Marteau
Published by B.P. Grimaud, Paris, France, 1930
This is the very rare 1st edition of the Ancien Tarot de Marseille, designed by Paul Marteau and published in 1930 by B.P. Grimaud, Paris, France. Marteau designed the cards after a c.1880 deck printed by the renowned card-maker Phillippe Camoin. Camoin himself printed the deck with his well-known colour palette of yellow, red, blue, and green using wood-blocks originally carved by Nicolas Conver in 1760. Paul Marteau’s redesigning of the deck greatly popularized this colour combination, becoming perhaps the most well-known 20th-century printing of the Tarot de Marseille. Made with exceptional quality, the card deck has been well preserved, including its original two-sleeve telescopic box, which bears a P. Leymarie sticker.
Deck Identifiers:
- "B.P. Grimaud, Paris" copyright written on all of the court cards; copyright is also written on all of the Trump cards except XVI, XVIII, & XVIIII.
- Numbering system based on addition rather than subtraction (i.e. 9=VIIII).
- Shield on the 4 of Coins card bears the fluer-de-lis emblem of the 1st edition.
- Atout #1 (Le Bateleur) shows the coins of the 1st edition, unlike the later inclusion of dice.
- tax-stamp on Ace of Coins (Republique Francais, Avril 12, 1890)
Deck Description: 22 Major Arcanum cards + 56 Minor Suit cards (4 suits with 14 cards per series). Cartouches written with French titles. Card reverses are patterned with blue swirls. Printed on sturdy paste-board cardstock.
CONDITION: Very good condition, 78/78 cards complete, no major damages with minor signs of wear from use; annotations in ink written on all the cards. The box is in good condition and complete with both sleeves; minor soiling & wear, scuffing of edges & corners, and also a red stain and a previous ownership sticker on the outer sleeve. (see photographs for further details)
Card Dimensions: 6.2 cm X 11.9 cm