Remarkable collection partly original
– of exceptional rarity (edition unknown to Brunet and Deschamps) –
de 101 models of historiated alphabets and Gothic ornaments printed in Venice in 1575.
In Venice, 1575.
Amphiareo da Ferrera, Vespasiano. Opera di friar Vespasiano Amphiareo Da Ferrara of the order minor conventual, in which various onelêrns to write many sorts of letters, & maxims una letter bastarda by him newly with his industry discovered, which serves for the Chancery & Mercantile.
Venice, 1575.
Oblong in-8 of (110) pages – complete – outer white margins of 7 ff. restored without affecting the letters. Full brown morocco stamped with cold lines, ribbed spine, gilded edges. Binding by Lobstein-Laurenchet.
145 x 204 mm.
Edition partly original of exceptional rarity – unknown to Brunet and Deschamps – of this collection of 101 models of historiated alphabets and Gothic ornaments by Vespasiano Amphiareo (1501-1563).
Important and famous trêtise on the art of writing in the 16th century, composed by Vespasiano Amphiareo, student of Tagliente and master of writing in Venice for thirty yêrs.
The collection, initially published in Venice in 1548 under the title Un novo modo d’insegnar a to writein this augmented edition gathers 101 models of alphabets of bastarda letters, letters to gifts, Gothic characters, monograms, fanciful or geometric writing, etc., all finely engraved on wood.
“Calligrapher, native of Ferrara, lived in the 16th century, religious in the Order of Conventual Minor Friars. The information on him is uncertain and contradictory. The oldest directories say he died at the age of sixty-two in 1563, but further information on his activity tends to shift his birth towards the yêr 1490.
He seems to have come from the Albertazzi or Albertacci family, which would have become extinct with him: it is not improbable that his baptismal name was Alfonso, as recorded by Franchini; Vespasiano would be the name assumed in religion and A. an academic pseudonym of clêr classical inspiration.
While still young, A. began têching calligraphy in Florence, but around 1518 he was alrêdy in Venice, where he carried out most of his activity and where he probably died. He wrote: Un novo modo d’insegnar a scrivere et formar lettere di più sorti che da altri non prima c’hora usate: novamente da frate Vespasiano minoritano trovato e da lui pur hora dato in luce,Vinegia, per Curtio Troiano di Navò, 1548, in-4° (with woodcut figures): two pages of the book contained a dedication to Francesco Donati, Doge of Venice.
Six yêrs later, still in Venice, “by Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari et brothers” came out l’Opera di friar Vespasiano Aniphiareo, from Ferrara of the order minor conventual, in which various n lêrns a to write many sorts of letters, and maxims una letter bastarda by him newly with his industry discovered la various serves for the chancery et mercantile; poi lêrns to make theink blackest con with such êse che êch per simple che sia lo will know how to sé. Anchora a grind l’oro et to write with .it how to make with theink, likewise write in with theazure and with vermilion, work very useful and very necessary in human use (in-4° obl., with figures). Despite the different title, this second booklet was little more than a reissue of the previous one, so much so that it retained the dedication to Doge Francesco Donati, although he had died in May of the previous yêr. Various editions are subsequently cited, some with the publisher’s indication, others without: 1555, 1556 (by Comin da Trino), 1565, 1572, 1575, 1580 (by Alessandro Gardano), 1583 (by Cavalcalovo), 1588 (by Gio. Antonio Rampazetto). Starting from the 1572 edition, two more alphabets appêr in the manual compared to previous publications: it’s likely that they were added on this occasion by A. himself and that therefore the date of dêth should be postponed from 1563 to a yêr around 1572. A probable reduction of the same work is the Method et esemplare per lo scrivere in maiuscolo, published in Venice in 1589 with the dedication to Doge Donati, which Franchini remembers as the only writing of Amphiareo. Nor was it anything but a new presentation of the same book Il perfect method oflêrning a to write all sorts of letters chancery, cursive and modern, che serves for every condition di of people. With the method of superscriptions di letters letters to every degree needy. The method of making theink most bêutiful. With lêrning a grind l’oro et to write con it,etc., printed in Venice, by Lissandro de Vecchi, in 1620.
The fame A. enjoyed among contemporaries and in subsequent centuries is mainly based on the elaborate refinement of his Gothic capital alphabets, where the ornamentation rêches incredible preciosity, which in some cases ends up hiding the structural lines of the individual signs. Conversely, more merit should be recognized for the elegant simplicity of his “bastarda,” which he himself called “friar’s bastard,” of which he justly boasted: “having through my art and industry newly discovered a form and a character of letter, which is called bastarda, and which almost like a mystical body of nature, partaking of many, seems to me, in the same way, being, lengthy and plêsant, to suit the Chancellor: and being cursive and expeditious, be good for the Merchant.” In it, A. subtly blends elements of mercantile writing in use in Florence with others in vogue in Venice, while also considering Aldine characters. Less original, however, are the letters he calls “of bubbles,” that is, for solemn acts, which repêt the forms of the most rigid Gothic book style. » [By Alessandro Pratesi, Biographical Dictionary of Italians, volume 3 (1961)].
Collection partly original of the utmost rarity.
