Translator’s Introduction
Previously, we have published various materials relating to Paul Marteau, his writings and deck, Grimaud and the Tarot of Marseilles, and pending publication of further documentation, this article, published in the late 1980s in the gaming magazine Jeux & stratégie as part of a series by Tarot historian Thierry Depaulis, provides a concise and highly readable overview of the history of the Grimaud card company.
This series, profusely illustrated and well-documented, forms a mini history in itself of games and gaming throughout the ages, especially in France.
This article was originally published in Jeux & stratégie n° 47, Excelsior Publications, October 1987. Read the original French here. Published with the kind permission of the author.
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B.-P. Grimaud, or Cards in the Industrial Age
Thierry Depaulis
All players of cards know the name of Baptiste-Paul Grimaud, written on almost 80% of the decks sold in France. Less well known is the exemplary history of this enterprising captain of industry.
Baptiste-Paul Grimaud was born in Brulain (Deux-Sèvres) in 1817. “Gone up” to Paris at the age of twenty-three to make his fortune, he first of all sets himself up as a “transport commissioner”, a profession which the growth of railways and means of transport made indispensable.
But he certainly has something better to do; in 1851, the chance to become a manufacturer of playing cards presented itself to him. Alexandre-Eugène Martineau and Marcel Bourru had chosen to become associates to commercialise patent number 6103, patented in 1847 by Henri-Eumènes Roche, “chemist in Paris” – and who had left it to them – for the manufacture of so-called “opaque” playing cards. Set up in 66 rue de Bondy (presently rue René Boulanger, 10th arrondissement of Paris), then in number 70, Bourru and Martineau sold their business the following year to Grimaud.
The First Associates
Baptiste-Paul Grimaud was on the lookout for the slightest “deal.” Therefore he associated himself with a certain Marchand in 1853 to manufacture playing cards and domino cards. Then he decided to take part in the Universal Exposition in Paris and received an “honourable mention.” Always hungry for innovation, Grimaud signed a contract with Jean-Marie Blaquière, on March 1st 1856, to buy out his patent for “aerofrugal” or “wafer” cards, as well as the special machine he had designed.
But the great technological leap was the appearance of the metallic rounded corners, which seemingly no one had thought of before, and which Firmin Chappelier had just invented. On the 21st of January 1858, an exchange of letters sealed the deal and in a way cornered the market. Chappelier outlined the marvellous advantages of cards with rounded corners and moreover spoke of taking out patents abroad; he did not hesitate to say that “there is a fortune to be made in a very short time”! The contract was thus signed between Grimaud and Chappelier on the 25th of July 1858. This laid out the sale of the new invention to Grimaud, in exchange for 1,200 francs per month for four years to Chappelier.
The Growth of the Enterprise
In April 1865, Grimaud leaves the premises in rue de Bondy, which had become too small, to set up not very far from there, in 54 rue de Lancry (10th arrondissement of Paris), where the sign B.-P. Grimaud is still visible today above the courtyard doorway. In 1866, B.-P. Grimaud takes on a new associate called Chartier. A financial contribution which will powerfully help our manufacturer. Little by little, new machines are set to work. Then, Léo Marteau (Baptiste-Paul’s nephew) becomes an associate. In 1877, a patent – the first registered by Grimaud – marks the appearance of the corner index, today in universal use. Grimaud is then the largest French card manufacturer, and his appetite has no limits. From 1876, he buys the material and models for the cards of the famous Épinal imagery from Charles Pellerin. The latter had recently decided to end this ancestral activity, of which competition had reduced the profitability. In 1885, Grimaud bought out 65% of the capital of Camoin, in Marseilles, who had been his main rival; in 1888, the two companies merged all the while keeping their independence. Grimaud was then employing 200 workers in Paris. In 1891, the Parisian company Lequart and Mignot is bought out, followed by Bony in Lunéville, Dieudonné in Angers, and Fossorier and Amar in Paris (in 1910).
The Successors of Baptiste-Paul Grimaud
Baptiste-Paul Grimaud dies in 1899, at the age of 82. Immediately, his nephews Léo and Georges Marteau take the reins of the company. But Georges Marteau dies in 1916, not before having left his superb collection of antique playing cards to the Bibliothèque Nationale. The company then becomes known as “Chartier, Marteau et Boudin,” and remains as such until 1962. In 1920, Léo dies in turn, leaving Paul Marteau alone at the head of Grimaud. The man is more interested in philosophy than in industrial methods: in 1930 he will launch the “Ancient Tarot of Marseilles” which has since fascinated generations of occultists.
But the war and the loss of the colonial markets, the ageing machines and methods, the disappearance of the State monopoly in 1945, deal a blow to the health of the prestigious firm. In 1962, Jean-Marie Simon (of “La Ducale”, in Nancy), buys out the declining empire, but only the brand and the clientele are retained, with a new company called “J.M.S.-France Cartes,” within the bosom of the Parker Brothers group, which itself will later be bought out by the American General Mills group, who then become owners of what remains of Grimaud in 1968. The business then passes from these American hands to the German Jany group, the owners of ASS, the German equivalent of France-Cartes.
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Notes
A more comprehensive picture of the complexities behind the recent history of Grimaud has been kindly provided by the author:
Grimaud was first of all bought out (from the Marteau family) in 1963 by a consortium led by Jean-Marie Simon, associated with the Amalgamated Playing Card Co. (Waddington and Thomas De La Rue). This group took the name Ets Jean-Marie Simon France-Cartes. In 1969, De La Rue retires, and Waddington sells France-Cartes (and therefore Grimaud) to Parker, which had just been bought out in the US by General Mills (a group specialising in baking and biscuits).
The Miro Company had in the meantime also been bought out by Parker, and also found itself in the ‘games’ portfolio of General Mills in France… In 1980, all these branches (France-Cartes, Miro, Capiepa, Meccano…) were grouped into one sole entity, named Miro-Meccano, which became “General Mills Jeux et Jouets” in 1984. But in 1986, General Mills sold its toys and games interests to Hasbro, which immediately sold off France-Cartes to Hans Jany, leader of ASS in Leinfelden-Echterdingen in Germany.
However, Jany’s personal bankruptcy led to the sale of Grimaud-France-Cartes to Yves Weisbuch in 1989. Weisbuch had bought out the Héron firm (in Mérignac, near Bordeau) in 1986 from the Boéchat family, who had moved there from Switzerland shortly before WWII. In 1989, following Jany’s bankruptcy, he bought out Grimaud-France-Cartes, which he rebuilt and lead for many years before his death. Both companies would be merged as the Compagnie Européenne de Cartes, but Héron would be closed down in 2002.
Later, the Weisbuch family, then owners of Grimaud-France-Cartes, would sell the business to the Belgian giant CartaMundi in 2014.
Image courtesy of the Canadian Museum of History.
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Traditional Tarot 