signed first edition Contemporary limp vellum.
[1719] · [Madrid]
by Aznar de Polanco, J C - WRITING MANUAL
[Madrid]: [ M R de Murga ], [1719]. First Edition, second state - plates numbered.. Contemporary limp vellum.. A good copy; old ink stain to p. 74 has resulted in the loss of a few letters; some margins close ( but complete ); binding worn; text block beginning to split.. 4to. There is an eng. title, frontis. (with four saints), eng. portrait, and 39 eng. plates.
A sought after book in which the author departs from usual forms of calligraphic art and presents it as a geometrical science. It is the first Spanish writing manual listed in the Hofer catalog. Harvard has two copies, both defective. The copy offered here is, according to Palau, Hofer, and others, complete with the maximum number of plates. Palau suggests that early issues of the book may have fewer plates. The author was an orphan (born in 1663) raised by the schoolmaster of his native town (Mostoles). He was to become famous as a creative and inventive ( and favored ) member of the court as well as a didactic writer on art, a mathematician, architect, and instructor of fencing. An impressive work with plates illustrating the laying out of dials and the mathematical basis for various letter forms. This resulted in a lengthy and detailed text that is most uncommon for this kind of book. The engraving throughout is elaborate and elegant. Only one plate is signed by the engraver Juan Bernabe Palomino; Cotarelo assigns all the engraving to him. The state results from the fact that the plates are numbered consecutively - Harvard has a defective copy without the numbering. What is of special interest is the crucial siginificance ( see Corbeto ) of such books and especially Aznar de Polanco on the early development of punchcutting in Spain during the formative mid-eighteenth century. The in depth analysis of the ' letra grifa ' - a cursive type - is directly attributed to Aznar de Polanco. Hofer Coll., # 137; Palau # 21133; Cotarelo y Mori I, pp. 134 - '40; see Corbeto, The Library, v. 10, #3, esp. pp. 286 - 289. (Inventory #: 5206)
A sought after book in which the author departs from usual forms of calligraphic art and presents it as a geometrical science. It is the first Spanish writing manual listed in the Hofer catalog. Harvard has two copies, both defective. The copy offered here is, according to Palau, Hofer, and others, complete with the maximum number of plates. Palau suggests that early issues of the book may have fewer plates. The author was an orphan (born in 1663) raised by the schoolmaster of his native town (Mostoles). He was to become famous as a creative and inventive ( and favored ) member of the court as well as a didactic writer on art, a mathematician, architect, and instructor of fencing. An impressive work with plates illustrating the laying out of dials and the mathematical basis for various letter forms. This resulted in a lengthy and detailed text that is most uncommon for this kind of book. The engraving throughout is elaborate and elegant. Only one plate is signed by the engraver Juan Bernabe Palomino; Cotarelo assigns all the engraving to him. The state results from the fact that the plates are numbered consecutively - Harvard has a defective copy without the numbering. What is of special interest is the crucial siginificance ( see Corbeto ) of such books and especially Aznar de Polanco on the early development of punchcutting in Spain during the formative mid-eighteenth century. The in depth analysis of the ' letra grifa ' - a cursive type - is directly attributed to Aznar de Polanco. Hofer Coll., # 137; Palau # 21133; Cotarelo y Mori I, pp. 134 - '40; see Corbeto, The Library, v. 10, #3, esp. pp. 286 - 289. (Inventory #: 5206)