Elementi della Calligrafia ossia l’arte di scriver bene con Otto Tavole di Essemplari per formar facilmente I Caratteri di Diversa Grandezza colle debite proporzioni di . . .ad uso della scuole d'Italia.
In Venezia: Presso Gaetano Martini, 1809. Item #1323 12mo. 170 x 110 mm., [6 x 4 ½ inches]. 36 pp. Eight engraved plates. Original blue drab paper wrappers; wrappers showing minor wear at edges and along the spine, otherwise a sound. An attractive copy of this calligraphy manual written for the use of children. As with most manuals from this period it begins with information on the pen, how it can be pared, how to hold it in one’s hand and the comportment of one’s body when seated in a chair. It is followed by a description of the alphabet, the difference between vowels and consonance, the different letter forms including cursive, minuscule, majuscule, proportional size of letters, and the distance between letters in a word and phrases. The eight plates are referenced in the text and are exemplars which are provided for the student to practice and make perfect. Francesco Soave (1743-1806) was a noted educational pioneer, who was born and educated in Milan and worked in various universities in the north of Italy during the final quarter of the 18th century. He was especially interested in childhood education and wrote books like Elementi della Calligrafia in addition to philosophical and pedagogical works. In 1772 he was appointed professor philosophy at the Brera Academy in Milan. He introduced important reforms in the method of teaching, wrote and translated many works of education and established numerous schools in Lombardy. His pedagogical interests induced him to write works for children. His Novelle Morali (Moral Tales) obtained the prize instituted by Count Carlo Bettoni, at Brecia, for the best collection calculated to excite in youthful minds the love of virtue and abhorrence of vice. The Novelle Morali were a landmark in Italian children's literature and went through over 100 editions between 1782 and 1909. This copy of Soave’s Elementi della Calligrafia appears to be the fourth edition of this rare little calligraphic manual. It first appeared in 1786 printed in Lugano and Milan. It was followed by editions in 1794, 1801, 1808, this edition in 1809 and a final edition in 1818. All editions appear to be rare according to holdings in ICCU (Italian Union Catalogue) and OCLC. Of all six editions, the Newberry Library holds the first 1786 and the second edition 1794. The only other copy of his work in a US libraries is at the Getty which has the 1807 edition. Giuseppe Micheli, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, v. 93, (2018). Not in David Becker’s The Practice of Letters, Cambridge, 1997.
Price: $650.00