TAGLIENTE (Giovanni Antonio)

Lot 20
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TAGLIENTE (Giovanni Antonio)
Lo presente libro & insegna la vera arte de lo excellente scrivere de diverse varie sorti de litere lequali se fano p'geometrica ragione. & con la pesente opera ognuno le potra imparare impochi giorni p lo amaistramento, ragioni, & essempli, come qui seguente vedrai. Venice, Pietro di Nicolini da Sabbio, 1551. In-8 of (28) ff. : midnight blue morocco, ornamented spine, framed with cold fillets and a gilt roulette in the centre of the boards, with fleurons at the corners, gold filleted edges, decorated inner border, gilt edges (Capé). One of the most beautiful writing manuals of the 16th century, published in Venice. It had a considerable influence since its first publication in 1524. Numerous reprints up to 1565 testify to its success. Among the thirty-nine writing models, printed or woodcut, are Arabic, Hebrew, Greek and a large number of cursive scripts. There are also nine woodcuts with black or screened backgrounds, one of which reproduces Hebrew characters. The manual is also illustrated with four woodcuts featuring decorative vignettes, mottos, writing instruments and an astronomer. Giovanni Antonio Tagliente (ca. 1460-1528) was a master of calligraphy in the Venice chancery. His manual was used not only for the education of young aristocrats from the diplomatic corps of the Venetian Republic, but also for the education of future merchants, goldsmiths, jewellers etc. "We leave the scholar's study for the jostle of the market place. We catch the flavour of life as it was in Venice, the fierce, disorderly exuberance of the Serenissima, the commercial thrust of her citizens, the undertones of Byzantium, the Levant and the North" (Osley). Beautiful copy in decorated morocco by Capé. Height: 207 mm. From the Alfred Piat collection, with label (catalogue 1898, no. 175: "Very rare edition of this famous treatise on calligraphy"). (Johnson, Catalogue of Italian Writing-Books, p. 21.- Osley, Luminario, pp. 57-69.- Becker, The Practice of Letters, n° 9.)
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