THE ALPHABET [1517] Followed by a Comparison with the Alphabet of FRA LUCA PACIOLI

Sm. 4to., T.e.g., other edges untrimmed; in a matching board slipcase. As new!

Number 14 of 160 copies in English (translated by Betty Radice), printed in Dante type on Amalfi handmade paper, with an Introduction by Giovanni Mardersteig giving an account of those who collaborated in the work: Torniello who designed the alphabet and described its construction; Guillaume le Signerre who engraved the author's portrait, the decorative opening initial and probably the xylographs of the letters, and finally Gotardo da Ponte, the printer and publisher. The reprinting of Torniello's alphabet (the first construction based on the logical system of measurement which corresponds to a ninth part of the height of the letters or the thickness of the principal stroke), with its commentary is followed by a second section reproducing the famous alphabet of Luca Pacioli, the letters of which are individually compared to those of Torniello. Schmoller 170.