Sola Busca
History
REVIEWED
HIGH
SEED_DATA
The first complete 78-card tarot deck with fully illustrated (scenic) Minor Arcana, engraved c. 1491.
Engraved in Ferrara c. 1491, hand-colored c. 1500 in Venice. Alchemical themes throughout. Every card — including the pip cards — features a unique scene with human figures. Pamela Colman Smith saw photographs of this deck at the British Museum in 1909, and its imagery directly influenced her RWS illustrations.
Significance
The Sola Busca pioneered the concept of scenic pip cards 400+ years before the RWS deck made them standard. It is the conceptual ancestor of every illustrated Minor Arcana.