TAGLIENTE Giovanni Antonio Lo presente libro insegna la vera arte delo excellēte scriuere de diuerse varie sorti de litere…

Bonacini 1810; Essling 2184; A.F. Johnson, Catalogue of Italian Writing-Books, p. 21; Sander 7165.

A rare early edition of one of the most influential writing manuals of the 16thcentury, among the most beautiful of all calligraphy manuals.

Tagliente served as writing master to the Venetian Chancery, and he had his manuals published for the use of diplomatic scribes. Hence the inclusion of models and instructions for a variety of European scripts as well as Hebrew (strikingly engraved in white letters on a criblé black ground), Arabic, and Gothic letters. In addition to the more traditional chancery script, the author proposed a series of other scripts in use at his time, including some derivations from Gothic. Secondly, he made his target audience explicit, defined in a cultured class of young people oriented towards public employment in chancelleries or the profession of private secretary, people who had to master a fast and professionally formalized writing of epistles and official documents. The third novelty concerns the inclusion of ‘curious’ alphabets, probably not intended for real use, but parts of an erudite game that already appeared in some famous books of the Italian Renaissance, first and foremost, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili printed by Aldus.

The brilliant woodcuts by Celebrino were first used in the first edition of 1524.

This lovely book is mostly printed in italic type with occasional Roman, Greek and Rotunda types. It contains a woodcut calligraphic title, 28 full-page cuts of calligraphic examples, including 7 printed in white on black back grounds, 5 smaller calligraphic samples, one full-page cut of writing equipment, the woodcuts by Eustachio Celebrino after Tagliente.

The work was so successful that at least thirty-five editions could be counted throughout the 16th century.

Some stains in the margins of the first 10 leaves.