I. E. Lebedeva. Printed Calligraphy Manuals of the 16th Century and Handwritten Sample Books // Petersburg Historical Journal, no. 1, 2026, pp. 233–245.

DOI: 10.51255/2311–603X_2026_1_233

Abstract:

Studying the relationship between printed writing manuals and handwritten books of samples will help us understand how exactly these manuals were used by master calligraphers of their time. An example of a book of samples is the Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta (MCM) manuscript, currently divided into two volumes and housed in the Getty Museum (Los Angeles, USA) and the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna, Austria). The pages of both volumes have been digitized and are available for downloading from the museums’ websites. They are striking in their sophistication and high level of writing and illumination. However, the composition of the MCM texts is extremely heterogeneous and has puzzled the researches. Comparison of the MCM texts with the texts of 16th-century writing manuals allows us to conclude that the source of at least several pages of the MCM were precisely the manuals, and not the books or original documents that the author of the MCM, George Bocskay, had to work with in the line of duty. The study of the copies and originals included their textual, linguistic and paleographic analysis. With the exception of quotations from the Bible and various prayers, these are letters — both personal and official, quotations from fiction, as well as names in the form of monograms — the so-called cryptography, notarial records, moralizing sayings and the Hebrew alphabet. Quotations from the Bible are given in Latin, the remaining texts are written in national languages. Among the copied are two decorative types of writing — Lettera Rognosa and Lettera Trattizata, as well as non-decorative ones: the classic Cancellaresca of Arrighi, the italic with some letter connections and loops in place of the ascenders, the letter of papal bulls, the classic trade letter and its regional (most likely Venetian) variety, Fraktur and Gothic cursive.

Key words: calligraphy, handwriting, early modern period, calligraphy manuals, sample book, Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta.

Author:

Lebedeva, Irina Evgenyevna — post-graduate student, St. Petersburg Institute of History
Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg, Russia).
E-mail: fra.brne@gmail.com
ORCID: 0000-0002-1120-2068

References:
Gulyás, B. The Art of the Calligrapher George Bocskay. Budapest, Eeötvös Loránd Research Network, Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute of Art History, 2023. 408 p.

Johnson, A. F. Selected essays on books and printing. Amsterdam, Van Gendt, 1971. 489 p.
Lebedeva, I. E. “Biblioteka” pridvornogo kalligrafa XVI veka (teksty knigi obraztsov “Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta”) [“Library” of a 16th Century Court Calligrapher (Texts from the Sample Book “Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta”). In Russ.]. In Prokop’ev, A. Yu. (ed.). Problemy istorii i kul’tury srednevekovogo obshchestva. Materialy XLIV Vserossiiskoi nauchnoi konferentsii studentov, aspirantov i molodykh uchenykh “Kurbatovskie chteniya” (5–7 noyabrya 2024 g.). St. Petersburg, Skifiia-print publ., 2025, pp. 150–159.

Lebedeva, I. E. Rukopis’ Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta kak prodolzhenie i pereosmyslenie traditsii uchebnikov po kalligrafii XVI v. [The Manuscript Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta as a Continuation and Reinterpretation of the Tradition of 16th Century Calligraphy Textbooks. In Russ.]. In Sonicheva, N. E. (ed.). Istochnikovedenie i kul’tura: chelovek i okruzhaiushchaya sreda: Sbornik statei po materialam studencheskikh nauchnykh konferentsii, Moskva, 18 marta 2022 goda. Moscow, Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi gumanitarnyi universitet press, 2022, pp. 69–79.

Osley, A. S. Scribes and Sources: Handbook of the Chancery Hand in the Sixteenth Century: Texts from the Writing-Masters. Boston, David R. Godine, Publisher, 1980. 291 p.

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