I wanted to pick up some points earlier made, but have been somewhat under the weather... and didn't know if it would come out in the way intended.
Lee mentions that there were a number of decks which appeared until the Jean Noblet.
Though I agree that there are a number of decks which bear structural or iconographic similarity to the Marseille, whether this takes the form of a slowly progressive evolution or not is a conclusion which many have made from the extant evidence. It is
possible, however, though historically unlikely, that some of the variations are
deviations which individuals saw fit to instigate - in the same way as we have seen over the past thirty years especially.
It is possible - but evidence would need to be unveiled for its plausibility - that an early Marseille pattern
was around earlier than the diversity which is presented in the
Encyclopedias and which, to my mind, should not properly deserve to be called 'Marseille' (even if the term has only emerged later, it refers to a type of woodcut with specific peculiarities).
The Marseille, as any other deck, was, in its first instance, designed by an individual or group of individuals - whether we ever get to know his, her or their names is immaterial.
What they sought to convey, again, we may only divine... it may even be that the individual(s) concerned were not even fully aware as to what it was they were giving birth to.
With regards to Kabalistic connections, I would have concurred with Lee even two years ago that there was no 'hard' evidence to suggest any connection between the Major Arcana and the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. With the work of Mark Filipas's
Alphabetic Masquerade, I now sense otherwise - even if it has not yet been either broadly properly considered. In fact, his work has caused me to at least revise the way in which I position the Fool: from second last or final, to now definitely as final. There are other iconographic reasons I would also place him as final, but the Kabalistic, or rather, the Hebrew letter connection to the Cards have certainly firmed its location...
...and so I make this post for further comments, realising it leaves room for much disagreement