Rare & Beautiful: The World’s First Engraved Writing Book
Exercitatio alphabetica by Clément Perret
By Anne Quito, Superscript August 21, 2013
With resurgent zeal for letterpress, hand lettering, wood block printing, and traditional book arts, extraordinary volumes from the past are of particular interest to illustrators, graphic designers and typographers. In the first installment of the Designers & Books “Rare & Beautiful” series, David Stang, of rare antiquarian book dealer Ars Libri, and Anne Quito discuss a lavishly illustrated calligraphy instructional manual by an 18-year-old Flemish virtuoso rumored to have become Queen Elizabeth I’s personal writing tutor. This groundbreaking copper-engraved tome is only one of four remaining first-edition copies among the 26 extant copies in public collections.
Anne Quito: What makes this book so special?
David Stang: Exercitatio alphabetica is a marvelous Flemish writing book published in Antwerp in 1569, filled with engraved grotesque ornament. All of the elaborate writing samples are in different fanciful styles—mirror writing (written backwards) surrounded by dazzlingly complex borders with monkeys, sphinxes, masks, putti, and other elements. It’s actually the first writing book in history to be engraved, rather than printed in woodcut, and amazingly, it’s the work of an 18-year-old boy, Clément Perret.
This copy is one of only a handful of surviving first issues of the book, distributed by Perret himself—in effect, almost sold by him out of the trunk of his car—before the work was taken over by the eminent Renaissance printer and publisher Christophe Plantin. It’s very exciting that this was a copy produced before it became part of the mainstream.
AQ: How did you come upon this volume?
DS: This volume is from the collection of Peter A. Wick, a renowned bibliophile, curator, and scholar. He held curatorial positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard. We acquired his library after his death in 2004. Aside from writing manuals and calligraphy books, he collected children’s books, illustrated romantic literature, and pictorial alphabet books. Mr. Wick’s copy of Exercitatio alphabetica is from the collection of the Princes of Lichtenstein with their ex-libris.
AQ: The background of the author Clément Perret is fascinating. What else do we know about him?
DS: Little is known about Perret. The scholar Croiset van Uchelen suggests that he was hired by the Queen Elizabeth I of England to be her personal tutor in Italian calligraphy. This would explain Perret’s mysterious disappearance from Dutch documents. In making Exercitatio alphabetica, he was a kid trying to produce a complete tour de force. It’s perfectly clear that its function is really not pedagogical. It’s really a demonstration of virtuosity in his part—a showpiece.
AQ: Why do you think this book is overlooked?
DS: Writing books are not something in the forefront of people’s minds these days, despite the fact that they are graphically so immediately appealing. It straddles the fields of the graphic arts as well as the book arts. People don’t see them very much.
Ars Libri Inc. is a rare antiquarian art book dealer based in Boston, MA. It maintains the largest stock of rare and out-of-print books on visual art in America. David Stang is vice president of Ars Libri.
You Might Also Like
Announcements
Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
Edited by Michael Merrill
Publisher: Lars Müller Publishers
Published: October 2021
The first in-depth study of drawings as primary sources of insight into architect Louis Kahn’s architecture and creative imagination. Based on unprecedented archival research, with over 900 illustrations and written contributions by Michael Benedikt, Michael Cadwell, David Leatherbarrow, Louis Kahn, Nathaniel Kahn, Sue Ann Kahn, Michael J. Lewis, Robert McCarter, Michael Merrill, Marshall Meyers, Jane Murphy, Gina Pollara, Harriet Pattison, Colin Rowe, David Van Zanten, Richard Wesley, and William Whitaker.
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People
By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Forthcoming: February 22, 2022
Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast Design Matters—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy by John Lobell
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy
By John Lobell
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: June 2020
Noted Louis I.Kahn expert John Lobell explores how Kahn’s focus on structure, respect for materials, clarity of program, and reverence for details come together to manifest an overall philosophy.
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
Recent Articles
