Paris patterns deck. Paris P. Marc [ca. 1775] Woodcut, 52 cards, 8,3 x 5,5 cm, stencil-coloured on stiff watermark laid paper, manufacturer's name "Marc" at foot of all court cards, square corners, plain versos with stenciled colour inscriptions (very min. def., sm. contemp. ms. annotations in French on some versos). Loose. Very nice copy. Complete desk of cards "au portrait de Paris" whose design was conceived in Paris in the 17th century, with characteristic names for the court cards: Charles (Charlemagne), Judic (Judith) & Lahire for the hearts, Alexandre, Argine & Marc for the clubs (the jack is named after the master cartier in this series), Cezar (Caesar), Rachel & Hector for the diamonds, David, Pallas & Hogier for the spades. On the versos are carefully written words or parts of words in French and Latin, probably for a separate grammar or spelling game. This is confirmed by the abbreviated notes on some cards: ""v[erbe] neut[re]", "pr[onom] dém[onstratif]"), etc. The court cards are probably made from the mould registered by Trioullier in 1773 (see picture in D'Allemagne I:108). Ref. D'Allemagne I:108-sq.