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Spieghel der schrijfkonsten in den welcken ghesien worden veelderhande gheschriften met hare fondementen ende onderrichtinghe
One of the most beautiful of all writing books. “Apparently without the slightest difficulty Jan van den Velde executed every style of writing with an unparalleled virtuosity which is really astounding. He stands out as a master in the making of letterforms in any conceivable shape, but he also shows himself a great decorative artist in his inimitably complicated, yet always tasteful and harmonious, scrolls, and finally as an able draughtsman of sometimes whimsical, sometimes bizarre, but always lively figures of humans and animals which ornament his calligraphy. The ‘Spieghel’ owes much to the ability of the engraver, Simon Frisius, who translated van den Velde’s art into the medium of the copperplate. The calligrapher praised him lavishly for it” (Verwey). “Van Mander’s design for the title is in the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam, as are van den Velde’s original penned models for this celebrated book. Simon Frisius (ca. 1580- 1629) engraved the writing samples; he had previously done the same for Guillaume Le Gangneur. First published in Rotterdam by Jan van Waesberghe in 1605, the ‘Spieghel’ was soon translated into Latin and French editions and was reprinted several times. The plates were taken over in turn by two Amsterdam publisher-printsellers, Cornelisz Claesz. and Wilhelm Jansz. Blaeu, who added his engraved imprint to the bottom of the title-page for this edition of ca. 1609” (Becker). “Following Mercator’s treatise, van de Velde’s copy-book... is usually considered the most important work on calligraphy to be printed in Holland. Van de Velde’s scripts are a link between the Italienne-bastarde letters seen in the Frenchmen Materot and Barbedor and the eighteenth-century English round hand. Van de Velde enjoyed considerable fame as a calligrapher; one of his sons was the renowned artist Jan II” (Baltimore).
Met gravures van Jacob Matham en Simon Frisius. Exemplaar van de schrijver. Gedeeltelijk manuscript