A Survey of Spellings.

My list of occurrences of variations of "tarot" in documentary sources for the 16th and early 17th century shows that "tarots" was the preferred spelling over this time (date. place. spelling. (author. source(s))

1505. Avignon. Taraux (anonymous account-keeper; Chobaut, Depaulis)
1534. Lyon. Tarau (Rabelais (southerner) MA 131)
1553. Paris. Tarault (Estienne; MA 131)
c.1560. Paris. Tarot. Tarots (Neux, Depaulis (VxP); MA 131)
c.1560 Paris. Tarots (Christophe de Bordeaux; MA 132)
1564. ?. 1565. Lyon. Tarots (Ps.(?)-Rabelais; MA 132)
1576. Paris. Tarot (Champenois (Straparola) ; MA 132)
1578. Lyon. Tarots (Guil. des Autels; MA 132)
1579. Paris. Tarots (Ladurie; MA 132-3)
1579. Saint-André (Toulouse). Tarots (Garrisson-Estè be (1980); MA 133)
1583. Paris. Tarots (Tabourot; MA 133)
1583. Paris. Tarot (Gauchet; MA 133)
1583. Paris. Tarotz (Henri III; MA 133-4)
1585. Paris. Tarots (Perrache; MA 134)
1585. ?. Taraux (Cholières; MA 134)
1592. London. Tarots (Delamothe; MA 134)
1595. ?. Tarot (Le Poulchre; MA 134)
1607. Oxford. Taraux (Cleland; MA 134-5)
1622. Paris. Tarots (Garasse; MA 135)
1622. Lyon. Tarotz (D'Allemagne II, 246)
1637. Paris. Tarots (De Marolles)
1650. Lyon. Taros (D'Allemagne II, 258)
1659. Paris. Taros (Maison Academique des Jeux)

Totally 18 appearances are mentioned in 16th century:

9 Tarots
4 Tarot
2 Taraux
1 Tarau
1 Tarault
1 Tarotz

24 up to "Maison Academique":

11 Tarots
4 Tarot
3 Taraux
1 Tarau
1 Tarault
2 Tarotz
2 Taros

On Tarot packs for the 18-19th century, I can glean the following spellings from my few sources (letters refer to current borders, not necessarily accurate for historical purposes (B)Belgium; (D)Germany; (F)France; (I)Italy; (S)Switzerland) :

Taros (Héri, early 18th c., Soleure (S); K II, 318)
Tarots (Madenié, c. 1709, Dijon (F); K II, 315)
Taros (J.-P. Mayer, c.1730, Constance(D) ; TJM no.45 (p. 75), KII,
325; SSII, no.29 (p. 174))
Taros (Hautot, 1723-48, Rouen (F); K II, 323)
Taraut (Antoine Jar, 18th c., Bouvignes-sur- Meuse (B); K II, 329)
Taros (Thomasset, 1731, Murten (Morat)(S); K II, 319)
Taros (Laudier, 1746, Strasbourg (F); TJM no. 44 (p. 74))
Tarrau/Terrau (anon.,1755, Coppet (F or S); SS II, 21-22, 99 (cf.
Carrajat 1786)
Taraut (Dupont, 1766, Brussels (B); K II, 207)
Tareau (Ignaz Krebs, 18th c., Friburg im Bresgau; Piatnik repr.
1984, K II, 214)
Tarot (Paiche, 1780, Berne (S); K II, 334)
Taros (Rochus II Schaer, 1783, Mümliswil (S); SS II, no. 4 (p. 124))
Tarrau/Terrau (Carrajat, 1786, Chambéry(F)(engr. Milan?); K II,
210,335)
Taros (Hans Buolmann, l.18th c., Unterwalden( S); SS II, no. 31 (p.
178))
Taros (J.-B. II Benois, l.18th c., Strasbourg(F) ; SS II, no. 24 (p.
164))
Taros (Conrad Iseli, l. 18th c., Soleure (S); K II, 331)
Taraut (Galler, l. 18th c., Brussels (B); K I, 153)
Taros (Carey, 1793-1800, Strasbourg; TJM no. 47 (p. 76))
Taros (Ignace Crelier, 1791-1803, Porrentruy (S); D'Allemagne, I,
186)
Tarots (Jerger, e. 19th c., Besançon (F); TJM no.48 (pp.76-77); K
II, 211)
Taroques (Draghi, e. 19th c., Finale (I); K II, 220)

Constance (Konstanz) German-Swiss (incl. Strasbourg) -
Taros (10)
Tarot (1)

Freiburg im Breisgau
Tareau (1)

Rouen -
Taros (1)

Brussels (Bruxelles) close to Bouvignes -
Taraut (3)

Besançon-Dijon (close together) -
Tarots (2)

Italian with French titles -
Tarrau/Terrau ("terrau" is obviously an error; Carrajat's plates were earlier used, in 1755, by an anonymous cardmaker in Coppet (France or Switzerland) )
Taroques

The most common spelling in this brief survey is "Tarots", occuring both in texts and on cards, with 14 instances.
"Taros" has 13 occurences.
"Tarot" occurs 4 times.

Clearly the plural form was preferred for most of the time of the terms' usage, mirroring the Italian preference for "tarocchi" over "tarocco".

I wish I knew what preferential spellings Lyonnais cardmakers had for their cards or wrappers.
SOURCES

(D'Allemagne) H.-R. D'Allemagne, "Les cartes à jouer du XIVe au XXe siècle", Paris, 1906
(K) S. Kaplan, "Encyclopedia of Tarot" vols. I (1978) and II (1986)
(VxP) T. Depaulis, "Roger de Gaignières et ses tarots", _Le Vieux Papier_, fasc. 301 (July 1986) pp. 117-124; (TJM)
T. Depaulis, "Tarot: jeu et magie", Paris, 1984;
(MA) M. Dummett, "Il Mondo e l'Angelo", Napoli, Bibliopolis, 1993;
(Depaulis 2004) T. Depaulis, _Des "cartes communément appelées taraux"_, "The Playing Card" XXXII, 5 (2004), pp. 199-205, and XXXII, 6, pp. 244-249
(SSII) Schweizer Spielkarten 2, 2005)

Huck wrote:This should be done better ...

Bertrand wrote:there is at least another form in Lyon late 16th. I quoted it elsewhere, "taroc",I found it in Charly Alverda's "trois figures hiéroglyphiques", himself quoting "les plaisants devis des suppôts du seigneur de la coquille", 1580
http://books.google.fr/books?id=XmQ7AAA ... oc&f=false

Huck wrote:This should be done better ...

:-w
Thanks to Ross for the previous list, because creating it demands quite more work than only filling the blanks.

Bertrand

Huck wrote: jokes about either not intentional or intentional "printing errors"

Huck wrote:

Thierry Depaulis in IPCS, vol 32/5 p. 204 (2004), noted this, partly outside the information already given by Ross.

Sources: Chambrière a louer a tout faire
Christophe de Bordeaux
Paris, BnF fr. Rés. Ye 2025
Chambrière a louer a tout faire
Traduction par Madeleine Jeay

Que si Monsieur veut en sa place
Me retenir, que je ne face
Aussi bien qu'elle ce qu'il faut,
Soit pour coucher en bas, en haut,
Au grand lict, en la garde-robe,
Mettre bas cottillon et robe,
Cela vaut jà autant que fait. [Aiiijv]
S'il vient quelqu'un pour autre effect
Voir Monsieur pour jouër et rire
Aprés soupper, et se desduire,
J'ay cartes tarots et des prests ,
De toutes sortes propres et nets,
Pour jouër au jay , à la prime ,
Au flux , au pair , à la centaine ,
Au glic , ou bien au passe-dix ,
A la raffle ou maints estourdis
Laissent bien souvent de leurs plumes.
Puis suyvant les bonnes coustumes,
Celuy qui gaigne contente tout ;
Or c'est la que je tiens mon bout,
N'y espargnant point la chandelle
Pour esclairer celuy ou celle
Qui gaigne afin d'y avoir part.
Puis, sitost qu'ils ont fait depart,