![PERRET, Clément (1551-1591). Eximiae Peritiae Alphabetum. [Antwerp: Christopher Plantin,] 1571.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2013/NYR/2013_NYR_02800_0638_000(perret_clement_eximiae_peritiae_alphabetum_antwerp_christopher_plantin091230).jpg?w=1)
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PERRET, Clément (1551-1591). Eximiae Peritiae Alphabetum. [Antwerp: Christopher Plantin,] 1571.
Oblong 2o (197 x 273 mm). 36 engraved plates, including title and border design at end (plates 5-24 with ink stain in lower right corner with occasional ink-burn, ink stain in upper margins on plates 19-36). Contemporary limp vellum (stained). Provenance: Thomas Plumpton (signature on title); Ames of Norfolk (bookplate), possibly Joseph Ames (1689-1759), author of Typographical Antiquities, London, 1749; Benjamin White, London bookseller, by descent and acquired through Marlborough Rare Books, 1990.
AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE WRITING MANUAL, the second of only two produced by Clément Perret who was still a teenager at the time of its publication. The book is described as "useful and necessary to all persons of liberal mind and to young people alike, who take delight in fine lettering. By studying and copying it both beginners and those with some experience will succeed in this art." Only the title-page has a border, and there is no indication of who printed it, as with Perret's first book, the Excercitatio alphabetica nova et ultissima (1569, see previous lot). The writing models occupy only a small part of the plate, so it is possible that borders were intended. The lettering in his first work was engraved by Cornelis de Hooge, and it is possible that Perret was able to employ him for this as well, and that he could no longer employ the artist responsible for the borders. The models are in seven languages and are graduated in size. Neither in this book or in his previous are any directions given about how to write, but Perret's manuals nevertheless excersized a strong influence on the teaching of handwriting in the Southern Netherlands. See A.S. Osley, Scribes & Sources, Boston: David Godine, 1980, pp. 218-220.
Oblong 2o (197 x 273 mm). 36 engraved plates, including title and border design at end (plates 5-24 with ink stain in lower right corner with occasional ink-burn, ink stain in upper margins on plates 19-36). Contemporary limp vellum (stained). Provenance: Thomas Plumpton (signature on title); Ames of Norfolk (bookplate), possibly Joseph Ames (1689-1759), author of Typographical Antiquities, London, 1749; Benjamin White, London bookseller, by descent and acquired through Marlborough Rare Books, 1990.
AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE WRITING MANUAL, the second of only two produced by Clément Perret who was still a teenager at the time of its publication. The book is described as "useful and necessary to all persons of liberal mind and to young people alike, who take delight in fine lettering. By studying and copying it both beginners and those with some experience will succeed in this art." Only the title-page has a border, and there is no indication of who printed it, as with Perret's first book, the Excercitatio alphabetica nova et ultissima (1569, see previous lot). The writing models occupy only a small part of the plate, so it is possible that borders were intended. The lettering in his first work was engraved by Cornelis de Hooge, and it is possible that Perret was able to employ him for this as well, and that he could no longer employ the artist responsible for the borders. The models are in seven languages and are graduated in size. Neither in this book or in his previous are any directions given about how to write, but Perret's manuals nevertheless excersized a strong influence on the teaching of handwriting in the Southern Netherlands. See A.S. Osley, Scribes & Sources, Boston: David Godine, 1980, pp. 218-220.