Characterising a Marseille type deck

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 23 Apr 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Kaz	23 Apr 2002
Andryh posted a thread about the suprafino deck some time ago, and i decided to have a look at it. me likes it :) , and i always said i didn't like decks with just pips and no illustrations. see what happens :P so, i was asking jmd about the different types of those pip decks and it seems there are several sorts. what characterises a marseille deck, what sorts are there, how you see that, what time in history and geographic area........ kaz

jmd	23 Apr 2002
Some books appear to include any woodcut which look somewhat similar to the Marseilles as though it was such. I personally think this is incorrect. A Marseilles type Tarot deck will be Tarot, and hence have the following general features: 22 Major Arcana cards 40 pip cards in four suits 16 court cards in four suits Of course, specifically, these will have peculiar characteristics. The Major Arcana will have the following: The numbering is additive old Roman (ie, four is written as 'IIII', not 'IV'); The Fool is un-numbered (not just because Roman does not have a zero!) VIII is Justice, XI Strength All figures have specific directions they face... some non-Marseilles decks which look similar can at times be indentified by opposite facing figures. Eg, IIII Emperor faces to his right, ie, the card's left. ... but to do full justice, a description of each card would have to be given. With regards to the pip cards, the Marseilles will have: suits which are circular 'things' (coins), cups, curved and straight swords, and straight 'staffs'; the two of Coins will specify the publisher along its lemniscatory 'belt'; ... and again, specific descriptions would have to be given. An earlier thread discussing some aspects of this is here. Hope this assists, and am looking forward to further input from others.

The Characterising a Marseille type deck thread was originally posted on 23 Apr 2002 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.