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PERRET, Clément (1551-1591). Exercitatio Alphabetica nova & utilissima. [Antwerp:] Christopher Plantin, 1569[-70].
Oblong 4o (each sheet approximately 220 x 290 mm, mounts extended to 252 x 331 mm). Engraved throughout, comprising 35 plates of calligraphic specimens by Perret including engraved title and colophon leaves, all within baroque architectural and scrollwork borders decorated with a variety of grotesque figures, animals, fruits and flowers, by Cornelis de Hooghe, the borders by the monogrammist ATA. Mounted into a 19th-century half vellum album, Maxwell's arms on front cover. Provenance: William Sterling Maxwell (bookplate; manuscript note on flyleaf); acquired from Marlborough Rare Books, 1970.
FIRST EDITION OF THIS OUTSTANDING WORK OF FLEMISH MANNERISM AND ONE OF THE FINEST COLLECTIONS OF ENGRAVED GROTESQUE ORNAMENT EVER PUBLISHED. Its attraction lies not only in the superb calligraphic specimens, written by Clément Perret when barely eighteen years old, but in the extraordinary cartouches which show the ornamental genius of Flemish Mannerism at its most exuberant, combining the Germanic ornamental forms of simulated cut-out metal fittings with curled ends (Beschlagwerk) with Italianate grotesque elements such as tempiettos, strange draperies, sphinxes, monkeys, etc. It is still undetermined whether Perret himself did the borders, which is highly unlikely as his second work (see next lot) does not have any grotesque ornament, or if they are the work of Jan Vredeman de Vries, the most likely candidate, or Jacob Floris. The volume's rarity is compounded by its nature as a copy book, not only intended for calligraphers but, as the title states, also for painters and architects who could copy the borders. Little is known of Perret's life save the publication of his second book and that he was still alive in 1577 when he signed Abraham Ortelius's album amicorum. A facsimile of the Exercitatio Alphabetica was published in 1968. Adams P-729; Berlin Kat. 5002; BM/STC Dutch 167; Bonacini 1404; Voet IV:1962.
Oblong 4o (each sheet approximately 220 x 290 mm, mounts extended to 252 x 331 mm). Engraved throughout, comprising 35 plates of calligraphic specimens by Perret including engraved title and colophon leaves, all within baroque architectural and scrollwork borders decorated with a variety of grotesque figures, animals, fruits and flowers, by Cornelis de Hooghe, the borders by the monogrammist ATA. Mounted into a 19th-century half vellum album, Maxwell's arms on front cover. Provenance: William Sterling Maxwell (bookplate; manuscript note on flyleaf); acquired from Marlborough Rare Books, 1970.
FIRST EDITION OF THIS OUTSTANDING WORK OF FLEMISH MANNERISM AND ONE OF THE FINEST COLLECTIONS OF ENGRAVED GROTESQUE ORNAMENT EVER PUBLISHED. Its attraction lies not only in the superb calligraphic specimens, written by Clément Perret when barely eighteen years old, but in the extraordinary cartouches which show the ornamental genius of Flemish Mannerism at its most exuberant, combining the Germanic ornamental forms of simulated cut-out metal fittings with curled ends (Beschlagwerk) with Italianate grotesque elements such as tempiettos, strange draperies, sphinxes, monkeys, etc. It is still undetermined whether Perret himself did the borders, which is highly unlikely as his second work (see next lot) does not have any grotesque ornament, or if they are the work of Jan Vredeman de Vries, the most likely candidate, or Jacob Floris. The volume's rarity is compounded by its nature as a copy book, not only intended for calligraphers but, as the title states, also for painters and architects who could copy the borders. Little is known of Perret's life save the publication of his second book and that he was still alive in 1577 when he signed Abraham Ortelius's album amicorum. A facsimile of the Exercitatio Alphabetica was published in 1968. Adams P-729; Berlin Kat. 5002; BM/STC Dutch 167; Bonacini 1404; Voet IV:1962.