Sola Busca tarot Mayer 1998 or Sola Busca tarot (revisited)?

Essence of Winter

Zennistar said:
Dear All,

Thank you very much for your replies.

Now I know there is a version made by LS. Is it also a redone version of the original?

Thank you.

The Lo Scarabeo version is produced from drawings made of the original Sola Busca so it isn't a true copy of the original but it's not redone in the way that the Revisited deck is. The drawings are faithful to the original.

One advantage of the Lo Scarabeo version is that the details are very clear and it doesn't show any marks and wear, which will be present in the Mayer version being a reproduction of the original. On the other hand, it won't be a true copy of a deck that is hundreds of years old.

I am very happy with the Lo Scarabeo version. I wanted it primarily in order to study the alchemical symbolism of the deck. The borders of the LS version show the card names and titles, which makes it easier to get to know given that the Major Arcana differs from the traditional Tarot.

Essence of Winter

Chrystella said:
Il Meneghello also sells a version, but I don't have it so I can't comment on that one.

I believe this version is the Major Arcana only.

Zennistar

Chrystella said:
With Mayer, you get Sola Busca as it looks now. Lo Scarabeo's version has cleaner lines and is more detailed and brighter than Mayer's. Also, LoS adds a black border with white numbers and multilanguage titles. The card stock is typical of LoS, which is thinner than Mayer's. Il Meneghello also sells a version, but I don't have it so I can't comment on that one.

Tarot Heritage shows a card from each publisher side by side at the bottom of this page.

It's also worth noting that the LoS version isn't called Sola Busca. They called it the Ancient Enlightened Tarot and my version, which is from Spain, is called Tarot Alquimista.

Thank you very much for the website, it does make it easier for me to decide which deck to get. It seems that the one published by LS is sharper in color but the Mayer one sticks to the original in terms of color and size maybe.

I just took a look at ebay, the one by LS is crazy costly. Is it because it is OOP?
ok, maybe it is better to get it in ebay Spain?

Thank you.

Essence of Winter

Zennistar said:
Thank you very much for the website, it does make it easier for me to decide which deck to get. It seems that the one published by LS is sharper in color but the Mayer one sticks to the original in terms of color and size maybe.

I just took a look at ebay, the one by LS is crazy costly. Is it because it is OOP?
ok, maybe it is better to get it in ebay Spain?

Thank you.

It's 'costly' because the sellers who are advertising it with a buy-it-now price have an extremely inflated view of its worth; if they were to sell it using an auction format, there's no way the value would be anywhere near that price.

Zennistar

Essence of Winter said:
It's 'costly' because the sellers who are advertising it with a buy-it-now price have an extremely inflated view of its worth; if they were to sell it using an auction format, there's no way the value would be anywhere near that price.

Thank you.
I think I will keep on eye on the listings on ebay.

It seems that Mayer version is worth having too.

garmonbozia

Le Fanu said:
Plus it did that curious warp of twisting diagonally (does that make sense?)

Sadly, it does. I have recently discovered that all my decks printed by PrinterStudio using their smooth 300gm cardstock have warped. I've had no problems with decks printed on their 310gm linen cardstock, but I refuse to buy anymore decks printed on their smooth cardstock.

garmonbozia

Chrystella said:
The Sola Busca is not a tarot in the traditional sense

Not sure what you mean by this. The Sola Busca is a very important historical tarot because it was the first one to have illustrated pip cards. Since it dates back to about 1490, I'd say it's more traditional than most.

garmonbozia

Chrystella said:
It's also worth noting that the LoS version isn't called Sola Busca. They called it the Ancient Enlightened Tarot and my version, which is from Spain, is called Tarot Alquimista.

Zennistar,
Like Chrystella, I have a LoS deck printed for another country (France, I think) called "Tarot Alchemiques". So there are several different names you can search for on eBay.

If it's an auction style listing, and the seller doesn't put "Sola Busca" in the title, it usually sells for a much better price (as less bidders find it in a search). I got the French deck this way, and also a US one.

Chrystella

garmonbozia said:
Not sure what you mean by this. The Sola Busca is a very important historical tarot because it was the first one to have illustrated pip cards. Since it dates back to about 1490, I'd say it's more traditional than most.

I acknowledged Sola Busca is an important deck. And it's important for a few reasons.

What I mean by it not being a tarot in the traditional sense is that it's unlike what we generally think of when we think of traditional tarot, deck styles like Marseille and RWS. "Traditional" is important here because I'm referring to something that is established and passed on from one generation to the next.

The structure of the Sola Busca is the same as many other tarots, but the majors are completely different, the trumps feature military generals, Roman heroes and Biblical figures, and the court cards are numbered 11, 12, 13, 14. To me, it's a unique deck and it's not easily compared to TdMs and RWS styles if you want to read with it.

Essence of Winter

I have recently noticed that the Lo Scarabeo Sola Busca decks have two versions: one has the Major Arcana with the multiple translations at the top using the traditional equivalents e.g. 0 The Fool, and the other has the Major Arcana with the printed card title as it appears in the Sola Busca e.g. 0 Mato. So, one version will have '0 The Fool' in the various languages at the top and a box at the bottom of the image will have '0 Mato'; and the other version just has '0 Mato' printed at the top and no other text added anywhere to the cards.

In each version, the Minor Arcana appears to be the same but I don't yet have the opportunity to compare both versions in detail. There might be differences in colour, for example, or differences in text for the court cards. It will be interesting to compare.

Also, for anyone who is interested, there is a deck on Ebay at the moment for £70 Buy It Now.