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View RulesOfPetanque_1935.pdf. Note that the first 10 pages are the rules for jeu provençal, not pétanque.
This file is from the personal archives of Jac Verheul.
For almost 20 years I have collected old petanque rules. The oldest (unofficial) rules that I have found are from 1935 and published by ‘La Manufacture Artisanale de Boules à Jouer’, a craft factory of boules.
It is a small booklet, 6,7 x 10,6 cm, with ten pages on the rules of ‘jeu provençal’ (Provençal game) and just one on pétanque.
There is also a page that says how beneficial pétanque is, also for women and children! (In those times mainly men played boules…).
— Jac Verheul, the Netherlands, 2014-05-02
Here is the single page containing the rules of petanque.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Rules of the game of petanque
Designed by the management of “la boule Fédérale” [the brand name for the manufacturer’s line of petanque balls] and adopted by nearly all clubs and federations.
Games are ordinarily played head-to-head with three boules each.
For teams of 2, 3, or 4 players, with only two boules per player.
Games are played to 12, 15, or 21 points.
Before throwing the jack, one makes the circle or a curve to mark the place from which one plays.
The jack should be thrown a distance of at least 3 meters from the circle and it should not go farther than 9 meters, except if the jack is hit, and if that makes it so that the jack cannot be seen, it is considered dead, and the game is replayed. The player that threw the jack the first time should rethrow it.
It is required when playing, whether lobbing or shooting, that the ends of the feet not leave the circle.
The Rules of Petanque 