Almost every tarot spread in circulation is a modern convention whose author cannot be traced. The single card draw is the one case where that is not a gap in the record.
Nothing to invent
A spread is a set of positions and a rule for what each position means. With one card there are no positions to arrange and no rule to devise, so there is nothing for anyone to have invented and no reason to expect a first appearance in print. Cards have been drawn singly for as long as they have been read.
Where the work actually happens
Because the layout contributes nothing, everything rests on the question. A single card answering what should I know today and the same card answering should I take the job are two different readings of the same object, and the difference is entirely in what was asked. Readers who work this way generally treat framing the question as the discipline, and the draw as the easy part.
What it cannot do
A single card carries no structure for comparison. It cannot show a cause against an effect, an option against an option, or a present against a likely outcome, because those readings come from having more than one position to set against another. Spreads with more cards exist to supply exactly that, and a reader who wants it from one card is asking the layout for something it does not have.
The atlas records the positions of each spread separately from this history.