Jean Noblet Tarot — The Oldest Surviving (Near-Complete) Tarot de Marseille Deck (Paris, c. 1650)

The oldest surviving complete Tarot de Marseille deck (the uncut Cary Sheet, c. 1500, is earlier evidence of the pattern itself), printed in Paris c. 1650 by Jean Noblet — 110 years before Conver. The single known copy lives at the Bibliothèque nationale de France and is on Gallica (ark:/12148/btv1b105109641), free to reuse non-commercially with credit to the BnF (commercial reuse needs a BnF licence). Its siblings — the Jacques Viéville deck (ark:/12148/btv1b10510963k) and an anonymous Parisian tarot (ark:/12148/btv1b105109624) — sit right alongside it: three mid-17th-century Parisian decks just upstream of the Marseille standard.

ANCESTRAL STATUS: ancestral to the Marseille standard (the oldest extant TdM of the C-order line).

SOURCES: BnF / Gallica; Thierry Depaulis.

RESEARCH NOTE (2026-06-13). Strictly near-complete (the Six–Ten of Swords are missing); 'complete' here distinguishes it from the Cary sheet (an uncut partial sheet), but the precise wording is a maintainer call. BnF dates the surviving object 1659 (Noblet active c.1659–1681), so 'c. 1650' is soft — read as c.1650/1659. It is the Type I Marseille (vs Conver's Type II). See research/decks/noblet-tarot.md.

EDITORIAL CALL (2026-06-13): title changed 'Complete' → 'Near-Complete' — the pack is missing the Six–Ten of Swords (BnF/WOPC). Still the oldest surviving TdM deck and the Type I reference.

Where the pictures come from: who holds this deck's pictures, how sharp they are and what their rights allow: Sources: Jean Noblet.