Re: Perhaps Grimaud/Fournier also...
Mari_Hoshizaki said:
1672 Marseilles, France
A complete 78-card deck by François Chosson is the earliest extant version of the most common modern TdM design. This design is the same as the 1718 Heri deck, as well as for the famous and influential 1760 Conver deck, which followed Chosson in exact detail. Modern TdM decks by Fournier and Grimaud reflect this design. (K II:310, 312.)
Hello
Mr. Thierry Depaulis thinks Chosson's deck was made in 18th century.
The following are some excerpts from the e-mails he sent to me.
" From the archives we know Chosson was active in the mid-18th century.
There were cardmakers in Marseilles as early as the 1630's. The date on the
Chosson tarot (strangely housed in the Blumenstein Museum at Solothurn/
Soleure, Switzerland) has been read as "1672" but this is impossible. The
general style is that of the 18th century."
"According to Joseph Billioud, "La carte à jouer : une vieille industrie
marseillaise", in 'Marseille. Revue municipale', 3rd s., No. 34, 1958, and
No. 35, 1958, the best and most recent study on cardmaking in Marseilles,
François Chosson is mentioned in the archives in 1734 (also in D'Allemagne),
1736, 1753 and 1756. Chosson may have been working later on. Perhaps
up to 1762."
(My question)
"Then what's the missing number, "1*72"...?
To see a photocopy of the two of coins (in Kaplan II),
it seems to me it is by no means 1'7'72."
His answer:
"I agree. There clearly is "1c72".
But this may be a woodcutter's error, just switching two figures, cutting
(reversed in the woodblock) 1672 for 1762...
(In all case this tarot has none of the features 17th-century French cards
present. On the contrary: it is quite comparable to all Marseilles
mid-18th-century tarots.)"